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LEHMAN TWP. &mdash; Monday&rsquo;s virtual Lake-Lehman School Board meeting began with an appeal from Board Member David Paulauskas urging students enrolled with outside cyber charter schools to consider using the district&rsquo;s own cyber option, and ended with Superintendent James McGovern reading a letter from support staff union negotiators seeking to re-energize talks for a new contract.
				Paulauskas made his plea during discussion of what is usually a routine &ldquo;payment of bills&rdquo; motion. He noted that, while looking through the bills, one group &ldquo;jumped out&rdquo;: Payments to outside cyber charters, which are projected to be around $900,000 this year. Cyber charters are public schools approved by the state and funded by the local districts, which must pay a certain amount for each student in that district who enrolls in that cyber.
				&ldquo;The distressing thing to me is that we offer a cyber school option,&rdquo; Paulauskas said, yet district students opt for the outside cybers. He asked that those making such choices &ldquo;tell us exactly why, because if they are doing something different from what we are doing, we could adjust to meet their needs.&rdquo;
				McGovern read the letter from the support staff near the end of the meeting, in which the writers lamented months without negotiations, noted some staff has been reduced and replacements couldn&rsquo;t be found because of the low starting pay, and expressed a desire to &ldquo;work with the board&rdquo; on a new deal with fair terms regarding raises and health insurance payments. Board President Lorraine Farrell said the board is &ldquo;more than willing to sit and negotiate.&rdquo;
				The agenda included accepting the retirement of special education teacher Justine Hallenbeck, and head custodian Michael Spagnuolo, and accepting the resignation of junior high assistant cheerleading coach Kortnie Savage, and para-educator Megan Nice.
				The board appointed Lisa Wheeler as part-time food service worker (cook) for 5.5 hours per day and 186 days per year at $11.10 per hour, Holly Neville as part-time food service worker for 4.25 hours per day and 186 days per year at $11.75, and Rachelle Daniels as part-time food service worker for 5 hours per day and 186 days per year at $10.50 per hour.
				And the board appointed head coaches: Dwayne Kalinay for boys basketball, Joseph Konigus III for wrestling, and Charles Lavan for girls basketball, each at $8,021.

Lake-Lehman board member encourages use of district’s own cyber charter