RIDGWAY — As is routine, the Ridgway Area School District school board held a reorganizational meeting on Wednesday night at the Francis S. Grandinetti Elementary School.
Each year on the first Wednesday of December, the board meets to elect new officers.
For 2017, the board will have a new president as Kristie Bennardi was voted in as president by the board.
Bennardi was nominated by fellow school board member Michael Gerg and won the position with a 5-3 vote over long-time president Lisa Connelly.
Connelly will now hold the position of vice-president after being voted into that position; Gloria Almquist-Shull previously served as the board’s vice president.
Following the reorganizational meeting, Bennardi got her first opportunity to run a meeting as the board held its monthly meeting and worked through a brief agenda.
The resignation of two coaches was accepted during Wednesday’s meeting as Janet Redmond resigned as the school’s girls volleyball coach, and Rick Leitzel resigned as assistant wrestling coach.
In making his superintendent’s report, Ridgway Area School District Superintendent Robert Rocco briefly discussed health insurance, specifically the insurance consortium of the Seneca Highlands Intermediate Unit 9.
Several school districts, including the St. Marys Area School District and the Cameron County School District have approved motions to leave the IU9 consortium if better plans are not put into place.
Rocco said on Wednesday that the consortium is looking to find stability by looking for ways to get multi-year commitments out of schools in the future.
The consortium has appointed a task force to create a new plan for the consortium.
According to St. Marys Area School District Superintendent Brian Toth, the IU9 consortium was in the black until 2011, but in the five years since, the consortium has lost $20 million and currently has a $2 million deficit.
Both the St. Marys Area School District and the Cameron County School District are still willing to participate in the IU9 consortium pending the outcome of the task force’s efforts.
