Wyoming Valley West getting new STEM Lab

Mark Guydish, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
·2 min read

Mar. 13—KINGSTON — Wyoming Valley West High School will get its first STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) lab, Superintendent Dave Tosh announced at the start of Wednesday's monthly meeting. A room will be renovated and state-of-the-art equipment purchased with about $200,000 from Federal COVID-19 relief grants.

The school has had STEM programs on a smaller scale for years, but never a dedicated space, Board President Rick Kamus said after the meeting.

The board also approved a new Act 93 agreement covering principals and assistant principals, boosting the pay substantially. The district has struggled to attract and retain principals, and determined part of the reason is non-competitive pay. There were situations where teachers at the top of the pay scale were getting more than principals.

Finance committee chairman Paul Keating said the high school principal starting salary will increase by about $18,000, to $105,000. Middle School Principal starting salary will rise to $100,000, and elementary principals will start at $93,500. All assistant principals will start at $85,000. There are two assistants each at the high school and middle school, and one at State Street Elementary Center, which also has its own principal. A "floater" principal covers the other elementary schools.

Keating said the district also hopes to lure teachers at the top of the pay scale to consider becoming principals by offering $1,5oo above their teacher salary for making the switch into administration.

Federal grant money will also pay for 300 laptop computers from InegraONE at a cost of $334,538, and for Data Warehouse Software from LinkIt at a cost of $98,922. The software is intended to help collect and analyze a wide array of data to give what the company website calls "a more holistic view of student learning."

The board also:

—Hired Sarah Ferrer-Arroyo and Jessica Lewis as cleaners at $13/hour, Andrea Weiskopff and Greg Gover as computer aides at $11.50/hour, Morgan Collura and Amanda Demelfi as life skills aides at $13/hour, and Vanessa Cintron, Amanda Ruggiero and Cierra Meeker as autistic support aides at $13/hour.

—Appointed Fritzy Ortiz as secretary-registrar at $24,500, Donald Bush as high school head custodian at $13/hour, and Caitlin Thomas as social worker at $51,000.

—Accepted the retirements of Title I reading/math teacher Patricia Burns, first-grade teacher Valerie Packer, and high school Spanish teacher Madonna Ondash.

—Accepted the resignations of autistic support aide Amanda Demelfi, emotional support aide Jessica Sepulveda, general duty aide Melissa Carpenter, cleaner Gregory Gresh, and life skills aides Alora Lee and Linda Urban.

Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish