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Remote learning can be hard on students, especially those who don’t have access to computers at home.
Teachers in the New Kensington-Arnold School District have watched their students struggle with that firsthand.
In response, they have started a GoFundMe asking people to donate money to buy laptops Google Chromebooks specifically for students whose parents can’t afford them or students who have to share them.
They haven’t been disappointed.
“We went totally grassroots, reached out to community, Viking alumni, teachers, friends, family, and it has really exploded,” said Stephanie Sakoian, a French teacher at Valley High School. “The generosity of the Viking family has been beyond expectation.”
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New Kensington-Arnold School District administrators and board members are concerned about the number of children who they say have not been participating in school since the district moved all students to remote instruction.
The district started the school year with students receiving instruction fully online or fully in person.
The district closed all of its schools before Thanksgiving, on Nov. 20, because of an increase in covid-19 transmission. Rather than bring students back after the Thanksgiving break, the district announced it would keep its schools closed and students remote through Jan. 13, with a tentative return scheduled for Jan. 14.
New Kensington-Arnold School District will spend up to $13,000 to find a new superintendent.
The school board voted unanimously Tuesday to hire the Pennsylvania School Boards Association to conduct the search. The district will pay the association $5,000, plus up to $8,000 for additional costs.
“Our longstanding relationship with school boards statewide and our network that not only reaches all corners of the state, but also outside of Pennsylvania, positions us to be able to offer up the broadest, relevant candidate pool for consideration,” PSBA spokeswoman Annette Stevenson said.
In considering how to find a new superintendent, the board heard presentations last month from the PSBA as well as Ray and Associates, an Iowa-based firm specializing in school executive leadership services.
Tribune-Review
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The New Kensington-Arnold School District may have to raise property taxes and furlough employees as it goes into a difficult budget at the same time it negotiates a new contract with its teachers union, the school board’s former president said.
The district raised the property tax rate by 3 mills, to 88.27 mills, for the current school year.
“After years of neglecting the budget, we had to raise taxes this year,” board member John Cope said. “I don’t see a way we’re not going to raise taxes again.”