Waynesboro school briefs

October 12, 2007|By JENNIFER FITCH

Messenger system up and running

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - The school messenger system sending announcements to parents and guardians has been used districtwide successfully, Assistant Superintendent Gloria Pugliano said Tuesday.

The system spent four hours Friday sending messages, and it made second attempts Saturday, she said.

About 2,500 e-mails were sent along with 489 phone calls, Pugliano said.

The district received three return phone calls from people who do not have children attending school, Pugliano said. Those were a case of mistyped phone numbers, she said.

The system sent messages at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday to the parents of high school students absent from classes. Four parents responded that they thought their children were in school, and those teenagers were found at Waynesboro's Memorial Park, Pugliano said.

"Mr. Bricker used it at the middle school to notify parents of an upcoming event," Pugliano said.

School Board member Chris Devers said he has received both e-mails and phone calls from the automated system.

A sister package could be put into place in the future to allow parents to access student grades on computers, Superintendent Barry Dallara said.

Board members agree on tax level

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Waynesboro Area School Board members in attendance at Tuesday's meeting agreed they could stay at or below a 5.1 percent tax increase for 2008-09.

Otherwise, Pennsylvania's Act 1 of 2006 would have likely sent them to voters to request a higher increase.

School officials are in the early stages of developing the budget.

"Because the Pennsylvania primary has been moved up to April, that further escalates the timeline," Business Manager Caroline Dean said.

The official resolution to cap a tax increase at 5.1 percent will appear on the board's agenda next week for consideration.

The percentage equates to 4.5 mills of property taxes, Dean said.

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