Thursday, May 16, 2013
School board members agreed to proceed with renovations at the Woodland Hills Academy.
Woodland Hills School District officials are considering plans to partially renovate the Woodland Hills Academy building in Turtle Creek. On Wednesday, the school board voted 6-2 to proceed with plans to renovate the school. The project is estimated to cost $12 to $15 million. Board members Tara Reis and Robert Tomasic dissented. Fred Kuhn was absent. Officials have been discussing upgrading the 96-year-old building, which is located on Monroeville Avenue. The building—formerly the Turtle Creek High School—houses the K-6 Woodland Hills Academy and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. School board members said the renovations are needed to make the school safe enough for students, as well as handicap accessible. "We are …
Thursday, March 14, 2013
The administrative offices also will not be moving to new office space in Braddock.
The Woodland Hills School Board decided Wednesday night not to sell the district's administrative building in Churchill and lease new office space in Braddock. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that the board voted 5-4 to reject the plan. Board members Fred Kuhn, Tara Reis, Bob Tomasic, Regis Driscoll and Brian Estocin voted against the plan. Colleen Filiak, Jeff Hanchett, Marilyn Messina and Robert Clanagan voted for it, according to the Post-Gazette. The agenda noted the school board would vote on approving an agreement with Trek Development for the sale of the property at 2430 Greensburg Pike. In January, the board approved the sale of the administration building with the plan to move to new office space being built by Trek in …
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Votes on moving eighth grade to the high school, establishing cyber school are pulled from tonight's (Wednesday's) agenda.
Woodland Hills School Board plans to vote tonight (Wednesday) on final approval on whether to move the administrative offices to a new office building in Braddock and sell the current administration building on Greensburg Pike to Trek Development. Votes on moving eighth grade to the high school and establishing a cyber school are pulled from tonight's (Wednesday's) agenda. To see the full agenda for tonight's meeting, click here. _______________________ "Like" Patch on Facebook. | Follow us on Twitter. | Sign up for our daily email newsletter.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
A hearing Tuesday night gave the school board feedback on the plan to close the North Braddock School and turn it into a 'Family Centre.'
Woodland Hills School Board heard the concerns of parents and North Braddock residents who don’t want to see the students have to be bussed out of the area to attend other schools. The district held a public meeting on its plan to close the school at the end of the school year. KDKA-TV reports that some parents were concerned about transportation issues should their children get sick at school. Currently, Fairless serves only pupils from North Braddock. Last week, the district introduced a plan that calls for the school to be turned into a "Family Services Centre." The center would be a one-stop shop for young families, providing them with connections to help them with heating bills, food, screenings, speech/language services, …
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Responding to citizens, Woodland Hills School Board voted to hire an independent financial analyst to review the administration building sale/lease agreement, then failed to actually appoint someone to do the analysis.
After hearing concerns of Churchill residents over the figures used to determine the cost benefits of selling the Woodland Hills administration building and leasing office space in Braddock, the school board took action Wednesday night to hire an independent financial analyst to review the numbers. Superintendent Alan Johnson even recommended someone for the job—Pat Sable, who was the long-time chief financial officer for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which provides specialized educational services to Allegheny County's 42 suburban school districts and five vocational/technical schools. He cited Sable's expertise in working with school district budgets as a plus over certified public accounts who work more with the business sector. …
Monday, January 28, 2013
The school board voted Monday night to enter a sales and lease agreement with TREK Development Group.
Woodland Hills School Board, by a 5-4 vote, decided to enter an option agreement to sell the current administration building on Greensburg Pike for $625,000 to TREK Development Group and lease office space in TREK's Braddock Overlook Development at a cost of $125,000 a year. The lease will be for three years with a no-penalty, opt-out clause in favor of the district and contingent upon TREK taking ownership of the property at 2430 Greensburg Pike. The terms of the sale and lease are subject to negotiation, approval and execution of a lease agreement and option agreement acceptable to the board within 45 days of Jan. 28. Those agreements would have to come back to the board and be approved before the sale and lease agreements are finalized…
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Forest Hills resident questions benefit to district's children if administration building is sold and offices moved to Braddock.
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Thursday, January 24
Open Letter to Woodland Hills School Board: As a Forest Hills resident, district taxpayer, and parent, I urge caution to the Woodland Hills School Board with regard to the TREK proposals to relocate district administrative offices and sell district property. TREK’s proposal offers no strong financial argument and no clear benefit to the district. Leasing space (regardless of in which community) would create a new cost that will ultimately lead to higher taxes for all district residents without providing any direct benefit to most. I look to the school board to find ways to reduce district costs and thus my taxes, not to raise them. And where is the benefit to students? None of what I’ve heard about this proposal addresses how students …
Woodland Hills School Board will resume the discussion about and then vote on the possible sale of the administration building in Churchill and moving offices to Braddock on Monday night at 7 p.m.
Woodland Hills School Board will have the weekend to mull over two presentations, and a number of citizen comments and questions, before reconvening Monday, Jan. 28, to vote on whether to sell the district administrative office building in Churchill and move to leased space in Braddock. (Those interesting in speaking at the meeting, see information at end of story.) TREK Development Group of Pittsburgh has offered to buy the administration building at 2430 Greensburg Pike for $625,000. The group would raze the former Churchill Elementary School building and construct a senior citizen apartment building with about 48 units. TREK is also offering to lease office space to the school district in a new building being constructed on the site of …
Friday, January 18, 2013
January is School Board Director Recognition Month.
In this day and age, school board members not only have to contend with hiring staff and deciding curriculum issues, but struggle with tightened state funding and fluctuating local revenue. Substitute Woodland Hills Superintendent Alan Johnson pointed out the tasks that face district school board members as he took time to recognize their efforts during Wednesday's board meeting. Johnson noted that board members are unpaid and give what's probably more than 20 hours each month to serving the district. Woodland Hills board members are: President Regis Driscoll, Vice President Marilyn Messina, Robert Clanagan, Brian K. Estocin, Colleen Filiak, Jeffrey Hanchett, Fred Kuhn, Tara Reis and Robert Tomasic. In addition to receiving a certificate, …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
The board will begin a search to replace Dr. Walter Calinger—and they might look no further than Dept. Supt. Alan Johnson.
Woodland Hills School Board voted Wednesday to notify Superintendent Walter Calinger that his contract will not be renewed and the board intends to find someone else to serve in that position. The Post-Gazette reports that Alan Johnson, deputy superintendent who has been heading the district while Calinger has been on leave, indicated an interest in the top job. Calinger has been on medical leave since April. His contract expires July 1, 2013. Calinger had applied for the Steel Valley superintendent job this year but was not hired. For details from the Post-Gazette's meeting story, click here. _______________________ Forest Hills-Regent Square Patch is on Facebook and on Twitter. Don't forget to sign up for our daily email newsletter …
Debbie
1:59 pm on Friday, May 17, 2013
Looking at the scope of work posted above...there are no projects to include any handicap renovations. more ›