Board appoints newest member

Superintendent Harris gets 2-year contract extension

Daniel Boone Area School Board members didn’t have to look far to fill a vacancy on the nine-member board.

In the wake of the resignation of board member Connor Kurtz, effective Oct. 21, the school board has appointment current board member David Rathgeb to fill the two years left on Kurtz’s four-year term.

Rathgeb resigned his seat, which expires at the end of November, to accept Kurtz’s seat. Rathgeb was not planning to seek reelection on Nov. 7, but he can now remain on the board for another

two years.

The board then approved the appointment of Steven Miller of Douglassville to fill Rathgeb’s current four-year term, which ends with the board reorganization meeting on Dec. 4. Miller is running unopposed for a board seat in Region 1 in the November election, so his appointment essentially gives him a month head-start as a member of the board.

In other business, the school board unanimously approved a two-year contract extension for Superintendent James P. Harris, effective from November 2018 to November 2020, and at an annual salary of $150,000.

Harris’s 2017-18 raise will be determined under the current contract.

His original three-year contract will expire on Oct. 31, 2018.

The public is invited to attend the board’s Student Scheduling Development training and information session on Nov. 8, 6:30 p.m., at the high school, 501

Chestnut St., Birdsboro.

Board members requested the training session to better understand the scheduling process and why 64 percent of seniors have 10 or more study halls a week.

High School Principal Preston McKnight said the number of study halls could be reduced by incorporating science labs into science classes, reducing the number of periods from nine to eight, or offering online learning opportunities during study halls.

Board member Carol Beitz was absent from the meeting.

With Kurtz’s departure, the board unanimously approved for Beitz to chair the Curriculum & Instruction Committee.

Also, member Dane Ochis-O’Neil was previously approved as board secretary, a position held by Kurtz.

Kurtz announced to the board on Oct. 9 that he was resigning to accept a job at the American Enterprise Institute, a free-market thinktank based in Washington, D.C.

Board members recognized his six years on the board and his efforts to keep property taxes stable while increasing students’ educational opportunities.

Kurtz made national news when elected to the school board at age 18 in 2011; at that time he was most likely the youngest elected official in the U.S.