Steel Valley

By Michael Divittorio
Daily News Staff Writer

Homestead officials have agreed on a settlement proposal which would change the Steel Valley School District’s board of director’s election system.

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Currently, all nine school board members are elected at-large. That could change by the end of this month. The proposal establishes three voting districts, with one seat elected from each district and six at-large.

Homestead council unanimously approved the settlement at Thursday night’s meeting. Council Vice President Lynette Mariner, Councilwoman Susan Titmus and councilmen Jonathan Stewart, Donald Purifoy and the Rev. Donald Turner were present and voted in favor.

Those absent were President Drew Borcik and councilors Jack Myers, Marvin Brown and Georgianetta Miller. Turner said a prayer after the Pledge of Allegiance for Borcik, Myers and Miller, who were dealing with health issues. There was no explanation given for Brown’s absence.

[ Full story available at: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20237816&BRD=1282&PAG=461&dept_id=182121&rfi=6 ]

Families come in all shapes and sizes, face numerous challenges and, in the end, sometimes the people who love you the most don’t share any DNA.

Those were the sentiments expressed by some students in the Steel Valley School District in the essays they wrote for a contest sponsored by Green’s Funeral Home in Munhall, “What Family Means to Me.”

One student winner was chosen from each of the district’s four schools, Barrett and Park elementaries and the middle and high schools. Winners had their essays read at a recent school board meeting.

The younger students received $50 Barnes & Noble gift cards, while Ashley Wolford received a $100 check and the chance to have her essay entered into a national competition sponsored by Aurora Casket Co.

When senior Ashley, 17, — who was the winner from the high school — heard about the contest she knew it was her opportunity to pay tribute to her stepmother, Gina Wolford.

“The first thing that came to my mind was that I wanted to tell her how much she means to me,” Ashley said.

[ Full story available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08353/935734-55.stm ]

By Mary Niederberger
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

New school board officers were elected throughout the area last week, with many of the votes taking just a few minutes and involving little discussion.

But in the Steel Valley and Mt. Lebanon school districts, some unusual discussion and comments preceeded the votes.

In Steel Valley, school Director Edward McCallister said he felt compelled to disclose to the public that board members received e-mails that discussed whether or not the district’s benefactor William Campbell, chairman of Intuit Inc., was trying to influence the election by supporting a particular candidate.

In Mt. Lebanon, school Director Sue Rose read a statement in support of Alan Silhol, who was elected the new board president. But the statement was also highly critical of outgoing president Mark Hart.

In Steel Valley, school Director Pamela Terrick responded to Mr. McCallister’s disclosure by saying that she had heard that school directors Vince Natale and Thomas Olson were lobbied by Mr. Campbell to vote for school Director Joseph Ducar for president. She said if that were true, she thought Mr. Campbell’s involvement to be inappropriate.

[ Full story available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08346/934223-55.stm ]

By MICHAEL DIVITTORIO
Daily News Staff Writer

Steel Valley School District’s Barrett Elementary students received a slam dunk lesson about character, leadership skills and the importance of an education from some world-famous basketball players.

Harlem Globetrotter legend Fred “Curly” Neal and current Globetrotter Andre “Hot Shot” Branch visited the Homestead school Tuesday afternoon.

The visit was made possible by Sue Hartman, a parent of a first-grader at the school, who entered Barrett in a contest through country music station Y108.

“We’re certainly excited to have them,” Principal Sharon Fisher said.

[ Full story available at: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20217947&BRD=1282&PAG=461&dept_id=182121&rfi=6 ]

Steel Valley school directors got some bad news Monday night when auditors told them the district is not operating with a balanced budget and that a tax increase for next year is a virtual certainty.

Betsy Krisher, a partner with the auditing firm of Maher Duessel, reviewed the firm’s draft audit report for the board’s finance committee and informed the board that it had overspent its general fund budget in 2007-08 by $349,266.

She warned that if a similar scenario exists this year, “you won’t have any fund balance left all.”

To cover the overspending in last year’s budget, the district used money from its fund balance, which now sits at $243,068.

“You have to balance in 2008-2009 or you will be in the red. There is no cushion,” Ms. Krisher told the handful of board members who showed up for the finance committee meeting along with Superintendent William Kinavey and Director of Operational Services Mark Cherpak.

[ Full story available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08339/932497-55.stm ]