In a 9-0 vote, the Pleasant Valley School District's board of directors approved tabling the substitute teacher pay raise at the Thursday, April 10, board meeting.

Director Len Peeters made the motion, saying he didn't think it would pass."We need to do more research," he said.Director Susan Kresge seconded the motion.It was Peeters who had made a motion at the Feb. 27 board meeting to increase the substitute teacher pay raise to $105 a day and remove the $500 bonus for working 30 days. He said he believes raising the substitute daily pay from its current $80 a day to $105 will draw more applicants and be more of an incentive for current substitutes to accept a call at PV rather than a district that calls and offers more pay.Getting substitutes has been an ongoing issue for the district for quite a while. The board agrees something must be done about the shortage that results in asking the district's specialist teachers to forgo their own classes to fill in as substitutes.Trying to address the issue in another way, PV initiated a guest teacher program to provide substitute teacher training to people who have a bachelor's degree in any area but do not have a Pennsylvania teaching certificate. The program was held at the Pleasant Valley Administration Building April 1-3.Director Linda Micklos remarked at the end of the meeting that she knows how strongly Peeters felt about the substitute issue."I want him to know we will not abandon it. I do believe we will have something in place by the beginning of the next school year. I think the passion Mr. Peeters has shown on this as carried over to all of us," Micklos said.The board approved, 9-0, to advertise for someone to fill the vacancy of the director of food services. Bonnie Grammes, the current director, will retire as of June 30.Recognition was given to all the Polk Elementary School volunteers. Representing Polk's PTO at the meeting was Michelle Westerman, president; Denise Smale, recording secretary; Amanda Giunta, corresponding secretary; and Louise Hayes, who helped organize the "Healthy Happy Meals.""We could not run Polk as efficiently as we do without our Polk volunteers. The time and energy they put into it makes Polk special," said Greer.A special recognition of its 61 volunteers will be held on May 16.