The School Board last week voted to approve the 2025 Property Assessment Appeals Report as prepared by Attorney Robert Yurchak.

There was, however, discussion on the fairness of the assessment appeals process.

Board member Gerard Grega pointed out that he did studies in 2019 and again this year. On both occasions, there were properties that met the criteria that should be challenged, but they’re not on the list of properties that were challenged.

“I believe the tax assessment challenges that have been going on in Weatherly for the past several years are improper, and they’re not consistent, because they’re not including the same criteria 100 percent of the properties that sell,” Grega explained.

The report that was voted on was an after-the-fact report, already completed. However after some discussion, it was suggested that attorney Robert Yurchak provide a monthly report to the school board.

Makeup snow days

In other business, the school board voted to add two days to the calendar to make up for two snow days used by the district.

School will be held Jan. 19 to make up for the snow day taken Dec. 3, and Feb. 3 will be added to make up for the snow day taken Dec. 10.

Other business

The school board voted to approve the Letter of Agreement with the Children’s Service Center of Wyoming Valley Inc. for the 2025-2026 school year.

“It’s for services for students in need who might need placement for hospitalization or psychiatric evaluation,” School Business Manager Edward Rarick explained. “It’s an as-needed thing; we don’t currently have any students there, but if we needed to, we could always place students there.”

The school board voted to approve the Act 1 Resolution to not increase taxes beyond the specified index of 4.8 percent.

The School Board voted to approve the purchase of new lighting fixtures for the elementary/middle school gymnasium at an estimated cost of $7,536.60 to replace the faulty fixtures. The cost will be taken from the Contingency Fund, a $100,000 fund in the budget that is for emergency and unexpected expenses. This is the school’s first use of that fund this school year.