The subject of absenteeism among board members was discussed at the Avonworth School Board’s work session on Monday, where board member David Oberdick pointed a finger at fellow board member Jeff Schmid.

Oberdick stated that he "wanted the minutes to reflect and the public to know" his concern that the board had a "non-functioning" member "who was not discharging his duties to this board."

Oberdick said that Schmid had now missed five meetings in a row, as well as 2 executive sessions and 3 work sessions. Oberdick stated that Schmid had been similarly absent in previous years.

Two schools of thought clashed in the Avonworth Elementary School gum Tuesday evening, as the district's school board sought public comment on a proposal to purchase adjacent property for the construction of a primary center that would house grades K-2.

By VICKI MORTIMER

The Avonworth School Board, at its regular meeting on Monday, voted to refund the $2,600 spent by the football boosters to purchase nameplates for the football team's away jerseys.

The board recently received a letter from an attorney representing the boosters, asking that the nameplates be allowed to go on the jerseys or the amount spent by the boosters be refunded. The letter stated that the boosters had obtained permission from the coach, athletic director and members of the school board's athletic committee before going ahead with the purchase.

The budget continued to be a hot topic at the June 14, Avonworth School Board meeting. After a heated discussion, the board voted to accept the $22,373,733 budget, and establish a property tax millage rate of 20 mills for the 2010-11 school year. This represents a .7 mill increase to taxpayers.

By ROBERTA SLANINA O'BRIEN

A determined group of parents spoke their position about jersey name-tags at the Avonworth School Board meeting on June 7.

Al Cuteri, representing the board's athletic committee, stated that the committee wishes to discontinue name plates on football jerseys. A booster committee of parents and players disagree. Their desire is to continue this practice that began last year when a decision was made by the athletic director, independent of the athletic committee.

The Avonworth-Northgate wrestling program is the latest target of school officials looking for ways to trim their budgets.

Wrestling is one of four cooperative sports programs shared by the two local school districts because neither has enough students to support its own teams. The other sports, for which the districts split the costs evenly, are golf, swimming and track.

A recent meeting of administrators from both districts produced what Avonworth superintendent Dr. Valerie McDonald termed a "collaborative agreement" to eliminate wrestling for a number of reasons.

Chief search A police officer who lives in Avalon told borough officials Tuesday not to look too far from home for a new police chief.

With current Chief Robert Howie set to retire this year, council hired a consultant to conduct a search and recommend candidates for his replacement.

School flu update Although Northgate has received confirmation of its first case of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, the illness has not yet made much of an impact on student attendance.

Superintendent Dr. Reggie Bonfield told school board members Monday that one student has been confirmed to have contracted the virus. Bonfield said they he suspects that other students have as well, but those cases have not been confirmed.

Beattie project expanded

The A.W. Beattie Career Center board has decided how to spend the last of the excess bond funds.

Approximately $3 million in bond funds were left over when bids for the renovation project came in under what was projected. The board already had decided how to spend $2 million of that money, with about $1 million going towards paying down the debt created by the bond, and another $1 million going towards more energy efficient repairs.

Avonworth may look to the junior class or create a “super-booster” group to operate the concession stand at football games.

Parents from both the band and cheerleading booster groups were present at the school board's regular meeting on June 8 to discuss who should be running the concession stand.

By JOHN DOANE

A former member of the Northgate School Board, now living in the Avonworth School District, urged the school board Monday to find alternatives to a planned .75 mill property tax increase.

"In the current economic times we are facing, it is critical every step is taken to avoid the simplistic view of just increasing the tax rate," said former Northgate School Board finance chairman Keith Egyed. "I would stress that you find a way not to increase taxes."