Cavaliers mulling options with No. 1 draft pick

Holy Redeemer High School holds open house

First Posted: 6/18/2014 UNION TWP. &#8212; The Northwest Area School Board acted Wednesday night to either furlough or terminate six teachers in the wake of a 2014-15 budget crisis that at this point will result in a real estate tax increase of 6 percent, or .2207 mills.
At the same time, the board voted to retain Betsy Ellis as part-time acting superintendent at the rate of $300 per day, with a three-day work week starting on July 9.
The vote to furlough teachers was 8-1 with director Gerald Conger casting the lone no vote.
Conger said he acted out of consideration that a void in programs will be created that will result in more students being directed to cyber schools and escalating an outlay of $400,000 that the district is already paying for cyber classes.
It has been mentioned frequently by Superintendent Ronald Grevera and the board leadership that the $400,000 going to cyber schools would go a long way in resolving Northwest&#8217;s fiscal problems. The appropriation for cyber schools, however, is mandated by the state Department of Education.
The four teachers whose furlough became effective at the end of the 2013-14 term include Darren Ryan, Karen MacDougal, Michael Nardelli and Ashlee Papadopols. Two others, Crystal Richardson and Callie Whitesell, were terminated.
The layoffs and terminations, it was said, followed the language of a collective bargaining agreement with the Northwest Area Education Association that was negotiated at the outset this term.
In addition, the board, in the face of a continuing financial crisis that according to Albert Melone, business consultant, will continue into the next two school years, approved a proposal by Director Michael Kreidler to form a committee to explore the possibility of consolidating services and/or consolidating with neighboring districts, which Kreidler named as Benton, Lake-Lehman and Greater Nanticoke area.
Kreidler said that under consideration would be the sharing of administrative services and combining education programs in the interest of cutting expenses.
He said the while there have been some exploratory discussion already, a study committee, on which Kreidler will serve as chairman, will be formed to review all options.
In that matter of the superintendent, the board said Ellis formerly served as the director of the West Side Career and Technology Center and she is a former Northwest Area teacher.
Ellis is succeeding Grevera, who has accepted the post of superintendent of the Greater Nanticoke Area School District. Grevera&#8217;s tenure at Northwest is scheduled to conclude on June 30.

Northwest Area votes to shed 6 teachers