Metro

While addressing the Altoona Area School Board during Monday’s meeting, Superintendent Brad Hatch said he met with local legislators last week, who told him it’s unlikely the state’s budget allocations will be released in the foreseeable future.

Board member David Francis asked Hatch whether state officials mentioned anything related to cyber funding during their meeting.

“Cyber funding is a part of the puzzle right now,” Hatch said, noting a “favorable” reform for school districts has been proposed in terms of limiting the amount districts pay for per student for outside charter school tuition.

In his opinion, Hatch said cyber charter reform is being utilized as a “bargaining chip” for some other parts of the state budget.

When the state budget is finally approved, it remains to be seen what the proposed reform will look like, Hatch said, adding district officials are taking aggressive steps to attract students currently attending outside cyber schools back to the district.

Without a passed state budget, some school districts may struggle to pay bills and maintain operational costs, but Altoona Area is “in good shape” financially, Hatch said, noting officials are eager to welcome students back to school in a couple weeks.

“It’s an exciting time. We’re always excited to have the next year start,” Hatch said, adding there are “a lot of really cool initiatives going on in the school district this year.”

Hatch said district officials are particularly excited about Altoona Area’s extracurricular groups since a lot of programs have new directors this year, including new band, chorale and strings directors.

Many students involved in extracurriculars were on the high school campus preparing for the upcoming school year while one of the board’s two regular meetings this month was underway, Hatch also noted in his report to the board.

“Students are back on campus for all of our extracurricular programs,” Hatch told the board. “This is a very busy time in the school district and it’s a very exciting time.”

One of the five new business items the board voted on during Monday’s meeting included an agreement to pilot the Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies’ new weapon detection systems in all of the high school’s facilities.

Hatch said the weapon detection systems are “very streamlined, newer versions of metal detectors” that only pick up on potential weapons — not just anything metal.

“They’re not just magnetic,” Hatch said of the weapon detection systems, adding the district may also pilot the systems at Mansion Park for its athletic events this year.

Ultimately, as grant funding becomes available, district officials want to expand the weapon detection systems into both the junior high school and its elementary schools, Hatch said.

The board also voted to finalize the district’s collective bargaining agreement with the Altoona Area Education Association, which was given tentative approval in June.

The board’s vote on the collective bargaining agreement Monday was “just a finalization of some minor language adjustments and some edits we had to make to the agreement,” Hatch said, adding the district negotiated with its teachers union for nearly four months to reach “a very amicable contract” for teachers.

“Hopefully (teachers) recognize that we very much value and appreciate the hard work that they do and that we were able to arrive at a very fair contract for everybody,” he said.

One of the district’s new initiatives this year is to integrate some artificial intelligence usage in its curriculum, Hatch said after the board approved a final reading of its policy to allow generative artificial intelligence in education.

“We’re taking a very proactive approach to AI in terms of embracing the possibilities,” Hatch said. “It’s a tool that we want to make sure is being utilized appropriately.”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.