The Tri-Valley School District plans to share its business manager with the neighboring Williams Valley School District.
The Tri-Valley board on Jan. 10 signed off on creating a business service agreement with Williams Valley in which Business Manager Jami Zelwalk will coordinate and perform business services for the district, with additional or alternative support from Tri-Valley Superintendent Matthew Horoschak.
If likewise approved by Williams Valley, the agreement would be retroactive to Jan. 1 and continue until June 30.
For their services, Zelwalk will receive a supplemental stipend of $17,326 and Horoschak, $8,500.
Further details were unavailable.
The Williams Valley board in September appointed an acting business manager, Kathy Ferraro, until a full-time replacement is hired for Kayla Perez, who resigned Aug. 24 to take employment elsewhere.
The wife of board member David Ferraro, Kathy Ferraro served previously with the district on the Dauphin County Tax Collection Committee in 2022, as acting business manager prior to Perez’s arrival about 1½ years ago, and as a band front adviser in 2015.
Also at the Tri-Valley meeting, elementary Principal Derek Stehr’s resignation, no later than Feb. 8, was approved.
Stehr, who was previously a teacher with the district, became principal in July 2019. He plans to return to teaching in another district.
“As this is my final report,” Stehr told the board, “I want to say thank you for all the opportunities you provided me. In the last four years, I have made meaningful relationships with staff, the students, and their families.”
He added, “It makes me sad to go, but I felt as though it was time to move on.”
Board President Carl Shankweiler responded, “We thank you very much for your service and for your time with us.”
Also at the meeting, the board received a presentation from auditors Kim Stank and Justin Bell with Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC, who reviewed the previous year ending June 30. They assured the board there were “no issues” and that it was “pretty comparable” to the previous year.
Shankweiler acknowledged the recent passing of his mother, Grace Shankweiler, who had served the district as a teacher in the 1960s. She died Dec. 27 at age 107.
Source: Berkshire mont