School board raises taxes, adopts new lunch system
By PAT FRIDGEN Echo Pilot

In perhaps the shortest meeting in history, the Greencastle Antrim school board passed the 2007-2008 budget and conducted business in 30 minutes June 7.

The board met early and omitted extraneous presentations in order to attend the Baccalaureate Service at 7:30.

The $30,917,591 general fund budget had been on the agenda for several meetings and was adopted unanimously with no discussion.

The package included a 3.5 mill increase in real estate taxes, bringing the rate to 88.9 mills. Each mill generates approximately $170,000 for the district.

Other local tax levies remained the same. They were: per capita tax (Act 511) $5, per capita tax (Section 679) $5, real estate transfer tax 1/2 of one percent, earned income tax 1/2 of one percent, and occupational privilege tax $10.

G.H.Harris Associates Inc. was hired to collect delinquent per capita taxes.

Lunch sales

Next year students will be phased in to a Lunch Box Point of Sales System. The board approved the purchase of the Penn Center System at $5,900 each for the Primary School and Elementary school, and $10,900 for the middle school.

"All four (buildings) in one year is too much," said business manager Richard Lipella.

He said the high school would be added the following year, and he hoped to get grant money to help pay for that system.

Parents will receive information about the program. The anticipated start dates are the primary school in September, the elementary school in November and the middle school in January.

According to Substitute Superintendent Greg Hoover, the electronic system will be a convenience to parents. They will be able to deposit money into their child's lunch account as needed. The student will enter a PIN into the monitor. His/her picture will appear and the meal price will be deducted from the account. When the fund level is low, parents will be notified.

A lunch attendant will still be in charge, but students will not have to fumble with lunch tickets and cash, and the line should move faster, he said.

The school district will be offering breakfast at the primary school next year, he added, so the youngest students will not have to be personally responsible for two meal tickets.

Hoover said a grant from Summit Health jump-started the project.

Food Service Director Carol Bricker said the grant covers the elementary and middle school systems. The middle school is more expensive as they will be running two points of sale lines. That building has three lunch periods but the others run continuous lines. She is excited about the project.

"It will solve the problem of lost tickets, which we have a lot of," she said. "It should also increase the free and reduced lunch participation; we think 5 to 15 percent."

Penn Center Systems, based in Mechanicsburg, said the procedure yields a processing time of four seconds per student, simplifies administration, consolidates data and meets government compliance standards for reporting and accounting.

Other business

The board awarded a bid of $20,000 to Retro Environmental Inc., Sykesville, Md. to remove asbestos from the middle school lobby. The project will take two weeks and be completed by July 4.

The asbestos was discovered when the building was inspected for renovations for secure entrances. It is encapsulated and of no danger to students or staff, said school officials.

Charles Rice's Cooperative Education Supervisor's contract was extended through the summer at a rate of $48.06 per hour up to 250 hours.

Board members used personal computers in lieu of paper at the meeting. They had received their information packets electronically instead of through the mail and expressed appreciation for the method of delivery.

The paperless system may be continued. Board members hoped to take the laptops home, but Technology Director Bill Baker made sure the school property was returned to the storage shelves.