The Sto-Rox School Board welcomed its newest member Thursday night at the Upper Elementary School. Shawn Evans was sworn-in at the start of the Combined Special Legislative Voting & Agenda Review Meeting. Evans is a McKees Rocks native who attended school in the district from Kindergarten through seventh grade. He currently has three children in the district and has past family connections, including his mother, Lori Simms, who taught and was a principal.
New school board member Shawn Evans shakes the hand of the Honorable Bruce Boni, who administered the oath of office at the start of Thursday night’s board meeting.
“I just want to bring some difference - a little bit of variety and difference to school,” he said in a recent interview. “My heart is in Sto-Rox. I just want to give back.”
A graduate of the Western School of Health Business Careers, Evans works for New York Life Insurance and is attending Devry University for finance. He fills the Region 3 - At Large vacancy on the school board was appointed by the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas following an application process.
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Late Sto-Rox Teacher Terry Spencer was honored during Thursday night’s meeting. School board president Cameron Culliver read a letter from Nate McMichael. McMichael and Spencer’s family are planning on planting a memorial tree, installing a memorial bench, and holding a fundraiser in honor of Spencer.
Spencer passed away in May. His birthday was this past weekend, and during a celebration of his life, school supplies were donated. According to K-6 Principal Heather Johnston, a whole carload of those supplies were given to the district this week. A ceremony to honor Spencer is now in the works for mid-September.
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The school board unanimously approved a new contract with the Sto-Rox teachers union, the Sto-Rox Education Association. That means teachers will have a contract through the end of the 2022-23 school year. Negotiations on a successive agreement will begin in early January 2023.
School directors also heard from several teachers and coaches the district just hired.
Kevin Woods, a new substitute teacher for the Jr./Sr. High School is also the new Girls Volleyball Head Coach. “You’ve got to have the structure and build time management skills and discipline,” he said of his plans for the team.
On the education front, he said he chose Sto-Rox after working in a charter school, where there was “not as great a sense of community there.” Woods’ resume includes a variety of coaching jobs, including coaching Men’s Volleyball at Thiel College and Girl’s Volleyball in Highlands School District.
Alexandra Coyle, a new K-3 Life Skills Teacher, was also among those asked to speak. She said she was eager to be in the district, adding “I saw the reforms Sto-Rox was making, I wanted to apply - and here I am.”
Hope Schreiber was also hired as the new Girls Basketball Head Coach. Schreiber is an eighth grade math teacher at Pittsburgh Morrow PreK-8. She played high school basketball at Deer Lakes High School and later coached there, along with teaching and coaching in South Carolina.
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The school board also approved an agreement with The Commission LLC to provide security services for the district. The firm will provide security for each of the district’s three buildings as the 2022-23 school year gets underway.
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Several programs were approved by the board, including some that already have ties to the district.
Bigs in Blue
A free program through Big Brothers Big Sisters that is meant to build relationships between young people and law enforcement. A representative of the program said police departments that serve the district have expressed interest in participating. The program will cover fourth through sixth grades at the Upper Elementary, and is supported by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
YouthPlaces
An intriguing afterschool program that would target 13 to 18-year-olds who, as a program representative explained, don’t receive the highest quality services and are not equitably resourced. YouthPlaces will feature a partnership with the Pittsburgh Knights eSports team, with computers for gaming, coding, and design grounded in social-emotional learning, with backing from the Ethan Hall and Hillman Foundations.
See a complete list of approved programs - and the entire school board agenda from Thursday night - by clicking here.