On Feb. 17, the school board convened for their most recent meeting. At this meeting, board members Val Mignogna, Kelly Irwin-Adams, Stephanie McGinnis, Chris Cook, Justin McCaulley, Robert Pacifico, Michael Pappas, John Romanowicz and David Francis addressed the topics of finance, education, personnel, student services and business operations.
Board member Francis was recently appointed after another member retired.
“Dave [Francis] has served on the board for more than 30 years and he just completed a four-year term on the board,” school board president Mignogna said. “We are all familiar with Mr. Francis and we have a comfort level with him.”
Together, the board seeks to make decisions that support the Altoona Area School District and its mission, which is “to continuously improve the climate, culture and student achievement within a safe environment by fostering trust, collaboration and progressive communication.”
Despite the significance of many of these topics, being a school board member isn’t a paid position.
“Once elected as a school board member you have to attend approximately 3-5 meetings each month,” Mignogna said. “Many of the members of the school board have full-time jobs and evenings are the only time we are available. We all spend time preparing for these meetings. The administrative team provides us with the agenda for the meetings and any related materials a few days in advance. You also are provided with a lot of general information related to public education that you try and read.”
While not all meetings are necessarily “eventful,” they all amount to the important decisions that are put into effect across the district.
“The most recent accomplishment that comes to mind is agreeing to a new agreement with the teachers’ union,” Mignogna said. “During my four plus years on the board I would say the decision to hire Mr. Hatch was very important, as was our decision to increase funding to secure our buildings.”
For School Board Recognition month, before their Jan. 12 meeting, the board members got to eat and interact with students.
“FCS classes prepared a meal with some amazing hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and drinks,” school district superintendent Brad Hatch said. “It was a great event for high school students to show their appreciation and mingle with the board members.”
But beyond these meetings, board members have more responsibilities.
“We all serve on at least two committees,” Mignogna said. “Examples of these committees are policy, facilities and technology. We all serve on the board of the Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center.”
With all of this in mind, Mignogna notes that he finds the largest challenge of this position to be the amount of time it takes up. Irwin-Adams, the board’s vice president, agreed with this, but mentioned additional areas of difficulty.
“The challenges of being a school board member are navigating controversial issues, making difficult decisions especially about the budget, being in the public eye and often facing criticism, pressure from the public and social media comments, working collaboratively with the other board members and administrative while having many different opinions, and the time commitment to performing the duties,” Irwin-Adams said.
Additionally, both members agreed on the best part of being a school board member.
“The best part is having the opportunity to have a positive impact on students and the community,” Irwin-Adams said. “I love playing an active role in the district and thrive on being active with the school community by attending school performances, athletic events, award ceremonies, et cetera.”
“Any opportunity you have to interact with students is the best,” Mignogna said. “From reading to children at Learning Express to participating in graduation ceremonies with the seniors. All those times are the best.”
