The Pleasant Valley School Board approved the purchase of new playground equipment for the elementary and intermediate schools, a tow trailer for musical equipment for the marching band, and several other items at the regular board meeting last week.

William Gasper, the director of operations, went over the details of the project with the school board at their planning meeting on March 20.

The equipment is replacing old equipment. It will include equipment that will make it easier for children with disabilities to play with their friends. Julie Harris, the director of special education, said she asked Gasper to include it.

Gasper said the district has budgeted $500,000 from ESSER III funds to pay for the project. The equipment will cost $450,000.

“We’re still on schedule as long we get to order it by the end of March. If we do get that in, we’ll have our installation during the summer of 2023,” he said.

Gasper also went over the details about a cargo trailer he found that would work well for the marching band. The band needs a trailer to carry its equipment to away football games and competitions. It amounts to at least 10 trips.

The enclosed cargo trailer is 8.5 foot x 24 foot and can be towed with a pickup truck, so the band doesn’t have to look for a driver with a CDL license. The trailer has a rear ramp door, a side door, and can carry up to 6,000 pounds.

School board director Norman Burger said he thought the proposed trailer was a good solution.

“The fact that it’s low profile and easy access, I think it will serve us well, so I’m in favor of it,” he said.

Gasper said it is available at a distributor in Quakertown and costs $11,343.

The school board approved the purchase at its regular meeting. It will be paid for with funds from the Ready to Learn grant.

Finances

On another topic, business manager Michael Simonetta recommended that the school board allow Monroe Career & Technical Institute to retain the 2021-2022 excess revenue of $1.4 million. Pleasant Valley’s portion of this amount was $323,496. The money will be set aside for MCTI to apply to its construction plans, so that it doesn’t have to come back to the four contributing school districts and request more funding.

Simonetta also listed several purchases that were paid for through the Ready to Learn grant. These include:

• $3,750.30 paid to McGraw Hill Achieve 3000 for Activity Learn AL Social Studies for High School;

• $16,130 to McGraw Hill Achieve 3000 for Activity Learn AL ELA for High School;

• $6,650 to Nearpod for Nearpod Premium Plus with training;

• $34,387.50 to Renaissance for Star Reading Subscription;

• $39,572 to Savvas for six year digital package of high school World History interactive courseware;

• $72,000 to PowerSchool for eSchoolPlus SIS data migration;

• $40,072.84 to Johnson Controls to replace four series recorders;

• $23,176.42 to Johnson Controls to upgrade security cameras at PVHS;

• $19,018.57 to Johnson Controls to upgrade security cameras at PVMS;

• $4,306.69 to Johnson Controls for additional security cameras at PVES;

• $48,670.83 to Ideum for three Presenter 65 with computer;

• $10,763.45 to TimeClock Plus LLC for four upgraded digital time clock units, hardware and maintenance.

The business office also received approval for these purchases:

• $8,274.98 to Singer Equipment for cafeteria trays paid for through ESSER II funds;

• $8,000 per year plus labor costs to SNEN Serivces for annual inspection and maintenance of freezers and coolers;

• $3,000 to NextUp for NextUp Transition Curriculum that assists special needs students;

• $2,178 to Jasmina Nakevska for bilingual psychological assessment contract per evaluation.

And James Korcienski, the director of athletics, said that $30,887.01 was made in revenue, from tickets sales, and usage of Hometown Ticketing grew as people became accustomed to it.