The Panther Valley school board recognized high school math teacher Susan Solt for receiving the Ripple Effect Award, presented by the Pennsylvania Office of Financial Education, at last night's board meeting. "I am trying my best to better our curriculum," said Solt, after receiving a round of applause from the board and the audience. "It is important for our students to understand how to function in the adult world," she added.

Superintendent Rosemary Porembo also announced that three former Panther Valley students have been awarded Thomas Boyle Scholarships: John Owens, Scott Nevenglosky, and Kayla Pecha. These students are pursuing a career in business.

In other matters, the board approved the hiring of Mary Louise Guaronsky as a permanent full time secretary at the middle school. Guaronsky has previously served as the transportation secretary. Benjamin Tkach was added to the list of substitute teachers for the upcoming school year. Scott Weiss was added as a substitute secretary. Miriam Hoffer was appointed as mentor for Tanya Lilly, the new elementary art teacher. Diane Buchman was appointed as the 100 Book Challenge coordinator at a stipend of $1500.

The board granted tenure and professional contracts to the following teachers: Corrine Gates, Allison O'Connor, Richard Evanko, Jr., Courtney Delazio, Mary Hoffman, Frank Karnish, and Richard Karnish. Board member Anthony Pondish abstained from that vote.

A motion made at the request of board member R. Mickey Angst to rescind the drug and alcohol policy failed with a vote of 2-7. Prior to the vote, board president Jeff Markovich noted that even if the district rescinds the policy, any current litigation related to the policy would continue.

At the request of the borough of Summit Hill, the board changed a school bus stop back to Ludlow and Elm Streets. Earlier this month, the board had changed that stop to White and Elm Streets.

A motion to change the status of a posting for a high school math teacher from full time permanent to a one year position caused some confusion between board members. Although a majority of the board members voted against the motion the first time, the solicitor clarified that if the motion was denied, the position would remain as a full time permanent one. After that clarification, the board revoted and the motion passed with a vote of 7-1 and one member, Irene Genther, not voting. Markovich voted against the motion, citing the AYP scores from last year and saying that the district needs to commit to a permanent position to get the scores up.

Board member Koreen Nalesnik said that she has reviewed the schedule of high school math teachers and does not feel that the additional teacher is warranted, based on some of the smaller class sizes. High school principal Joe Gunnels said that the education committee has been reviewing the schedule for the last several months. "Each of our students has a proscribed course of study to get to the levels of proficiency that we need to," he said. "I had the scheduling done. I was going by the plan that we had been working on throughout the year."

The September 15th board meeting has been rescheduled for September 22nd at 7pm.