ECASD Board of Directors Nominate Candidate to the MIU IV Board; Ewing Park Residents Speak Against Field Usage

The Ellwood City Area School District’s Board of Directors unanimously nominated new Director Kevin Boariu to the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV (MIU IV) Board. Director Jean Biehls made the motion to nominate Boariu. The MIU IV Board will now have to accept the ECASD Board’s nomination.

According to the MIU IV’s website, “it is one of 29 IU’s serving schools in Pennsylvania. The intermediate unit serves the 27 school districts and three vo-techs in Butler, Lawrence and Mercer Counties. In addition to providing programs and services requested by area school districts, MIU IV also implements programs mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the State Board of Education, the General Assembly, and the US Department of Education.”

Residents surrounding the Old Ewing Park School property still filled visitor’s section seats to show the board they aren’t going anywhere. The residents stood up this time to speak out against an agenda item for a facility request from the Ellwood City Amateur Baseball Federation to use of Friedhoff and Sanders baseball fields area, Little League and High school concession stands, and the use of the Ewing Park Property for youth baseball practices and games throughout Spring, Summer, and Fall during March 2024 through October 2024–a request that the board passed unanimously.

Emily DeNome of Wood Street said she feels like this is the district’s way of “using little league as a backdoor” into pushing forward the implementation of the proposed softball field. She cautioned that a court battle could be on the horizon should the district continue to persue that location.

District Superintendent Dr. Wesley Shipley said the request from the ECABF is simply a facility use request.

Lynn Jones of Orchard Avenue said she doesn’t remember T-Ball being played on that land, and that she didn’t think it should be permitted. Board Director Robyn Nicklaus disagreed and said that T-Ball has been played there for years.

Jackie Powell of Beatty Street asked the board to provide more details of who will be using the field and exactly for what uses. She also asked the board to vote no to the request.

“You should deny or vote no to allow the ECABF to use Friedhoff and Sanders Fields, which would make them use Stiefel fields and in turn would enable you to reconsider your vote to use another option for the girl’s softball field and put them in the sports complex where they wanted to be in the first place. It would be a win-win for everyone. Let’s take this to the smart level and obvious solution. This is also your third chance to do the right thing for your citizens, voters, and taxpayers,” Powell said.

Motions Passed:

• Motion to approve December 4, 2023 Combined Meeting Minutes
• Motion to Approve General Fund Treasurer’s Report as follows:
  • WesBanco Checking $ 2,079,251.47
  • PLGIT GF Prime/Term $ 2, 098,047.67
  • Tax Accounts $ 4,340,174.73
  • PLGIT $ 25, 419,076.40
  • PSDLAF $ 1,453.01
  • PA Invest $ 403.02
  • Total Cash and Investments $ 33,938,406.30
• Motion to approve the General Fund Accounts Payable Report for December
• Motion to give permission for District to do a complete RFP for Food Service Management Companies as current contract expires June 30, 2024
• Motion to approve the Ellwood Area Education Association Agreement effective from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2029
• Motion to approve the following additional activity sponsors for the 2023-24 school year pending required clearances:
  • Musical Choreographer – 10 units- Taylor Lucas-Ketterer
  • Musical Producer – 15 units – Vaughn Hudspath
  • Musical Technical Director – 7 units – Dakota Marshall
  • Musical Piano Accompanist – 10 units – Levi Plassmeyer
• Motion to approve FMLA leave in accordance with the Family Medical Leave Act and Policy #335
• Motion to increase the current part time four (4) hour mail/cafeteria custodial position to a full time eight (8) hour position to include four hours at Perry Lower Intermediate
• Motion to approve Elishea Reed as a student teacher from Geneva College at Lincoln High School from January 8, 2024 through April 25, 2024 working with Brent Thiec, Chemistry
• Motion to approve Craig Alberts as volunteer wrestling coach
• Motion to reassign the following teachers for the remainder of the 2023-24 school year:
  • 1. Evan Brochinsky, Hartman grade 6, to Lincoln High School Special Ed
  • 2. Jackie Sturgeon, Elementary STEM, to Hartman grade 6
• Motion to hire David Fowler as an additional van driver from Ellwood City Transit for the remainder of the 2023-24 school year
• Motion to approve the following Facility requests:
  • 1. REC Wrestling is requesting the use of the LHS big gym, LHS cafeteria for a REC Youth Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, January 27, 2024 from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with set up Friday night at the discretion of the Athletic Director.
  • 2. The request from the ECABF as mentioned earlier in this article
  • 3. EC Football Boosters is requesting the use of the home side concession stand to store booster equipment, supplies, provide meals and snacks to football teams as well as fundraising along with access to the ticket booth to utilize refrigerator and freezer for extra supplies from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024.
  • 4. EC Baseball Boosters requests the use of the concession stand at the high school baseball field for all home games of Junior High, JV, and Varsity baseball teams for the Spring 2024 and Fall 2024 baseball seasons.
  • 5. Lawrence County Special Olympics is requesting the use of the LHS big gym for basketball practice on Saturdays beginning February 3, 2024 through June 1, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. or at the Athletic Directors discretion due to district sports use.
• Motion to approve the following field trip/social event requests:
  • a. Snow Sports Club is requesting to take approximately 25 students to Peek’n Peak in Clymer, New York on Saturday, January 20, 2024. The bus will depart at 7:00 a.m. and return at approximately 9:00 p.m.
  • b. Change to previously approved EC Girls Basketball field trip to Clarion University for a Womens basketball game. Date is being changed from January 13, 2024 to January 20, 2024 due to the Winter dance on January 13
• Approve School Physician Agreement with Dr. Sharon Dawso, Heritage Valley MultiSpecialty Group, Inc. from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024
• Motion to approve the Board Resolution for principles for governance and leadership
• Motion to approve the Global Wordsmiths Language Services Agreement from December 15, 2023 through December 31, 2025 to provide Language Translation Services and Language Interpretation Services
• Motion to approve the proposed changes to the Lincoln High School Course Catalog
• Motion to approve Stipulated Agreement Student B