Bradford High Football Coach Jeff Puglio has been approved to return for another year, despite some contention during Monday’s meeting of the Bradford Area School Board.
An addendum to Monday’s agenda included the recommendation to approve Puglio as the varsity football coach for the Fall of the 2020-2021 school year. A motion was made by board member Frances Forbes and seconded by Carla Manion.
When Board President Shane Oschman asked if there was further discussion, Dave Feely suggested a motion to open the position for applications and interviews of interested parties. Because a motion was already in front of the board to approve Puglio as coach, a vote had to be made on that matter. That motion passed on a vote of 6-1, with the one nay from Hiel Bartlett and an abstention from Feely. When asked, Feely said he abstained because of information he had recently received.
The Owls finished with a record of 1-8 for the Fall 2019 football season.
The board unanimously approved the following coaches for the 2020-2021 fall season: head varsity cross country coaches Mark Kelley (girls) and Thomas Tessena (boys); head varsity girls’ tennis coach Rhett Kennedy; head varsity girls’ soccer coach Warren Shaw and assistant coach James Warnick; head varsity boys’ soccer coach Wesley Lohrman and assistant coach Patrick Conneely; head varsity volleyball coach Steven Daniels and assistant coach Alyssa Osani; head varsity boys’ golf coach Travis Faulkner; head middle school boys’ soccer coach Peter Butler and assistant coach Matthew Franz and head middle school girls’ basketball coach Sarah Baker. A head varsity girls’ golf coach has not yet been named for the fall 2020 season.
Superintendent Katy Pude assured those in attendance and the public that the school district is “closely monitoring the situation with the coronavirus and have taken all precautions recommended by both the CDC and the PA Department of Health.” Pude explained those measures include cleaning and disinfecting the district’s buildings daily, washing down the buses, having extra hand sanitizers and Clorox wipes available to teachers and making sure that students wash their hands and cover coughs appropriately.
Pude also announced that Leadership Days are scheduled for April 3 at George G. Blaisdell Elementary School and May 8 at School Street Elementary, and a Student Leadership Summit will be held on March 27 at Floyd C. Fretz Middle School in the Large Group Instruction room, presented by the McKean County Department of Health and Human Services through a grant they secured.
In other matters, the board approved the resignations of Wade Confer as a bus aide effective Feb. 12; Tiffany Campbell as a Pre-K teacher at George G. Blaisdell Elementary effective Feb. 14; Stacey Nelson as a part-time special education aide at Floyd C. Fretz Middle School, effective Feb. 13 and Scot Oxley as Carpentry teacher at Bradford High, with appreciation for his 20 years of service, which will be effective June 4.
The board also approved hiring Aileen McGinnis as an Emotional Support teacher at School Street Elementary School, effective March 16. McGinnis already works for the district in another building.
The board approved the sale of 35 Bon Aire Road, currently part of the County Repository, to Brian and Tawney Milne. However, they declined the sale of four properties in Foster Township, which the township had also declined the sale of, including: a parcel on Bates Road and one on Tuna Crossroad, 176 South Kendall Avenue and 16 Rew Bradford Road.
