Goals, Goodbyes and Tax Caps in Pottsgrove

Pottsgrove Superintendent William Shirk.

Tuesday night's agenda was enough to put fear into the heart of any school board meeting veteran.

But to their credit, the school board took to the bit in their teeth and pushed ahead and we were done by 9:30ish.

Board President Matt Alexander thanked Diane Cherico and Rick Rabinowitz, who will be leaving at the next meeting, for their service.

Cherico opted not to run for another term, and Rabinowitz lost his bid for a second term by a mere 16 votes, according to unofficial results.

Both thanked fellow board members and the administration, and their families, for their perseverance.

The district also received a "clean" audit report on the district's finances, and Dave Nester and his team in the business office were singled out as being very good at their jobs.

Superintendent William Shirk outlined his goals for the coming year and his plan of action for achieving them.

You can find the details by clicking here.

In broad-brush terms, they are:

1. To increase student achievement
2. To improve professional development
3. To balance the 2018-19 budget while maintaining the integrity of classroom instructional programs and co-curricular activities4. To provide timely, relevant communication to each stakeholder group,

Also significant, was the board's vote to pass a resolution agreeing to cap any tax hike next year at the state-imposed index of 3.2 percent.

That does not mean that's how much taxes will go up with the next budget, only that any increase will not exceed that number.

And with that, here are the Tweets from the meeting ...