CLEARFIELD – During Monday night’s Clearfield Area School Board meeting, the board renewed its contract with Terry Struble as superintendent for a five-year period.
The contract will run from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2028 pursuant to the terms and conditions outlined in the agreement.
For the 2023-24 school year, he will receive $151,162, which is an increase of 1.85 percent over the past five years. For the duration of agreement, he will see an increase of 2.8 percent.
During public comment, the board heard concerns from a grandparent about a bullying situation at the Clearfield Area Elementary School.
She said that her grandson has been targeted by a bully for the past three years, and last school year she and her family had thought the issue had been resolved.
After three years, she said she didn’t understand why this was continuing. “What can we do better?” she asked.
Later in the meeting, it was announced that the schools are implementing a peer mentoring program.
Older students from the high school will be paired with elementary students to talk, do things together and help build the confidence of the younger students.
The board also learned about recent data regarding the state tests and that while COVID-19 had an impact on testing, the students actually have done well on last year’s testing and, in some cases, such as biology, there has been marked improvement.
Struble noted that the district has an open position in special education. He said the state is producing about one-third of the certificated people than five years ago and districts are competing for employees.