During the monthly meeting of the Bradford Area School District Monday night, Superintendent Katy Pude welcomed Mike Dennis to give the presentation.
Dennis, a Vietnam veteran, was one of the Honor Flight participants this year. He took to the podium, wasting no time, and thanked the entire board and especially Pude for the opportunity he had been given.
“There were 50 veterans and each had a companion. I was lucky and had my daughter, Debbie Kohler, as my escort,” he said. “You have never seen such happiness. 130 people on the plane in Buffalo (N.Y.) laughing, crying, shaking hands — I sat next to a 99-year-old vet who still mows his own yard.
“As a Vietnam veteran, I didn’t get a welcome home. No parades, no thanks, and lots of bad names. On this trip, I felt like Queen Elizabeth leaving Bradford that Friday. Every veteran deserves to be treated like I was that day.
“Thank you. To the Board, to the students, to everyone who made it possible — thank you.”
Pude and board member Vickie Baker both thanked Dennis for his service. Baker added, “welcome back.”
The board also discussed issues regarding attendance.
At least 9% of the student population are absent daily according to reports. Part of the issue is those who are chronically absent while others are habitually truant. Chronic absenteeism, incorporates all absences: excused, unexcused and suspensions. Whereas truancy counts unexcused or illegal absences in excess of six. Pude confirmed, “It’s a problem in all grade levels, but we are working hard to correct it.”
Eric Petrazio of McClure Company provided a presentation of Phase II renovation details to the board as well as cost estimates and items not yet included, but could be added to the scope of the project. After a bit of discussion, Director of Maintenance Gene Woodmansee was asked what his thoughts were on the project.
“If it were up to me, I would say do it. I don’t want to be the one to call in February and tell any of you that something is broken,” said Woodmansee.
Petrazio explained that the information at hand is ready for a decision at the January 2023 meeting. If all is good and the vote goes through at that time, then getting engineers and other contractors in place and materials ordered will be right on time for the project. A big question loomed: Would this interfere with the start of school — “Our goal is to be done before school starts,” said Petrazio.
The board held a reorganization meeting just before the regular meeting. Shane Oschman maintained the position of Board President and Carla Manion was voted in as Vice President.
