The Sto-Rox School board met last Thursday to discuss its agenda for September, ahead of its Legislative Voting Meeting this Thursday, September 28. Read on for an update on the issues brought before the board. You can read the complete agenda here.
Steel City Impact Update
“They say it takes a village,” remarked Steel City Impact’s Executive Director Tyra Grant. “We are a part of that great village.” Grant spoke to the board about the progress made by Sto-Rox students through Steel City Impact’s after school programming. Grant lauded the students who participated in the program. The impact was obvious: Last school year, in the third quarter, just one program student made the honor roll. The next quarter, 15 students made it, three of them for the very first time. As if that were not enough evidence of the program’s success, there is currently a waiting list to get into the program.
Grant and Steel City Impact are also working on more programming outside of the after school variety: She is proposing Community Cleanup Days from 10:00 a.m. - Noon on Wednesday, October 25 and Wednesday, April 24 (2024). The plan for the fall event is to both rake leaves and gather trash. Steel City Impact will work with Tri-State Office Furniture to provide gloves and other equipment and Doughboy’s Pizza to provide pizza for lunch.
“When you’re trying to find your purpose, you should lose yourself in the act of serving others,” said Grant. “That’s what I try to instill in my kids.” Grant highlighted other events, including inviting Black entrepreneurs in to speak with the students, field trips to Washington, D.C. and other locations for activities like horseback riding, rock climbing and viewing medical surgeries.
DonorsChoose Donations
As the school has gotten underway, the district has been inundated - in the best possible way - with donations.
“I just wanted to share my sincere appreciation for every staff member that completed a Donors Choose project. Some of them completed multiple DonorsChoose projects,” said Superintendent Megan Van Fossan. “I mean the list was extraordinary. Every time I turned around I was getting one to add to the agenda.” Van Fossan praised teachers for going above and beyond to provide resources for their students, especially during the summer months.
“They’re doing this on their own time,” she explained. “And then when they get funded, they seem to get motivated and more (DonorsChoose projects) and more come.”
Other Proposed Donations
• From the American Heart Association on behalf of Toni Daloiso of two boxes of sports equipment.
• From PNC Bank through the Education Partnership for the Upper Elementary School. Each student will receive their own Power Tools Homework Kit full of new supplies.
• From Holy Trinity Polish National Catholic Church and Father Michael Selep on behalf of Sherri Koger of school supplies.
• From Carol Saylor, Pennsylvania Department of Education consultant, of $575 for Sto-Rox Band and Chorus trip to Baltimore and Hershey in Spring of 2024.
Properties and Taxes
The board also heard from real estate investor Mike Santi, owner of Flipping 412 The company recently renovated a house along Railroad Street. Santi said his company is “not your traditional house flipper.” His goal is to rehabilitate houses and get them back on the market so they can be bought and have taxes paid on them.
‘What we really want to do is raise the bar as far as what you can get for value,” he said. What he doesn’t want to do, though, is to push a house’s value beyond what’s affordable. To that end, the 20-year construction veteran had a proposal for the board to consider.
“We’ve noticed there are a lot of vacant properties and you guys have a ton of delinquent tax properties on your record, so we try to come up with a win-win for everyone and see if the school board will forgive the taxes on these, which well exceed the values of the properties currently.”
Such an idea could help the district receive tax revenue from properties that aren’t generating any, though outstanding taxes would be forgiven.
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Next Up
The next school board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 28 at the Sto-Rox Jr./Sr. High School Cafeteria at 7:00 p.m.