For the new year, students, parents and guardians at the Wyoming Area School District are getting a new way to go about the school day and stay on top of district happenings.
The Wyoming Area Board of Education voted unanimously, with one absence, at its December meeting to ratify the purchase of the Student Information System from the company Infinite Campus. The new service will consolidate several virtual programs that students, parents, and guardians use during the school day in order to do things like obtain hall passes or check grades. The motion to approve the purchase listed in the agenda for the Dec. 16 school board meeting did not include a price and allows the district to handle all associated costs related to purchase and implementation, subject to review by the superintendent, business manager, and solicitor.
Wyoming Area Superintendent Jon Pollard said the school district has an array of different systems for different school information services. Currently, Wyoming Area uses Intouch to send out “all-call” alerts and text messages to parents and guardians, and students use the Securly pass as a hall pass to move throughout the building. He said the new system would be more convenient for parents and guardians hoping to keep up with their students.
“Those two services would go away, because they’re all included in what Infinite Campus does, so it’s collapsing several other things into one program,” Pollard said at the Dec. 16 school board meeting. “I feel parents at the end of the day when we move over to this will be much more happy with how they’re able to check in on grades, check attendance, get notifications, and things like that.”
In other business, the Wyoming Area school board unanimously voted, with one absence, to ratify a new, six-month contract with UGI Energy Services. Wyoming Area Business Manager Tom Melone said the district had been coming to the end of a longer-term contract where it had been paying at a rate of $3.89. That rate, he said, has since increased to $4.75, leading the district to opt for a shorter-term deal.
The Wyoming Area school board also voted 7-1 to take out a line of credit with First Equipment Finance of at most $350,000 with expenditures subject to the approval of the superintendent, business manager, and solicitor; and to purchase one 2025 Chevy 3500 dump truck and one 2025 Ford all-wheel-drive, twelve-passenger van, with the total cost not to exceed $135,000. School board member Peter Butera cast the one vote against the measures, while school board Vice President Philip Campenni was absent.
The next Wyoming Area school board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21 in the Wyoming Area Secondary Center auditorium.