School directors recognized Montour High School Principal Todd Price for being instrumental in retaining sustained support from the Pittsburgh Food Bank for the district’s Classroom Cupboard.
They also approved a laundry list of items during the Sept. 17 directors meeting including grants, purchases and approvals.
When Montour’s Classroom Cupboard launched in April 2019 it was the first school district-wide food pantry in Western Pennsylvania.
The Cupboard is open to all students and families within the district and is located at Montour High School. The pantry offers nonperishable food, personal care items and household supplies.
Montour serves about 10 families regularly and has an additional 25 who participate when in need, with the district’s Interact Club doing a lot of the work. Sometimes backpacks of food are sent home with elementary students belonging to a district family in need. Other times, high schoolers gather supplies to take home to their families or to send to middle schoolers.
There are now 28 school districts in Allegheny County offering a Classroom Cupboard with the support of the Pittsburgh Food Bank.
The Interact Club – associated with Rotary International – also plans to hold a Turkey Trot from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 9, at the high school campus on Clever Road in Robinson. All proceeds from registration of the 5K walk/run will go to KDKA’s Turkey Fund, which helps those in need during the holiday season.
Another school club working to make improvements is Montour’s Gay Straight Alliance. The group just received its second grant award from the internet-based nonprofit It Gets Better Project. The group’s mission is to “uplift, empower, and connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth around the globe.” This $10,000 award will add further landscaping, walkways and seating to the high school’s courtyard.
A previous $10,000 award was used to update and add fresh landscaping to the courtyard. Once completed, students will use the space to eat lunch outdoors, weather permitting.
Honoring athletes
Wrestling coach Zachary Tournay requested 8 feet of “dead wall space” near the Athletic Center’s wrestling room to honor past, current and future top wrestling athletes. The wrestling team currently shares a trophy case with the hockey team.
The goal is to honor the past and look into the future while motivating athletes to be their best in hopes of getting their names on the wall, Tournay said.
The Wrestling Booster Club is willing to pay half the cost of the proposal, which is about $2,277, said Tournay, who asked the school to pay for the other half.
Six state place winners, 11 WPIAL place winners (some multiple), 167 MAC tournament winners and 25 champions will be honored there. Also, starting with the 1988-89 school year, any wrestler with 100 wins in their varsity career will be honored.
Director Darrell Young and the rest of the board discussed options for expanding this idea stating they will discuss how to handle recognizing other Spartan champions.
With Montour the home to recent state championships in baseball, cross country and gymnastics, new signage highlighting these championships will be placed throughout the Montour community.
Montour is home to students who live in Robinson and Kennedy townships and the boroughs of Ingram, Thornburg and Pennsbury Village.
Initial approval is for three signs costing less than $5,000 total. However, directors were asked to consider if and how many additional signs they would like to see displayed throughout the community at an extra cost.
In other school news:
- Sewer lines at the former Burkett school building and the district bus garage located next door need repairs because of root issues, broken pipes and seams coming apart. The Burkett building tenants – Propel Montour High School – agreed to split the costs of the sewer line repair, which is estimated at $29,000. Darryl Yonkers, director of operations and technology, also anticipates the sewer line repair or replacement at the bus garage to be of similar cost. It was also noted, the former Burkett site’s roof will soon require repairs.
- The following purchases were approved: repair and replace the main gate at the district bus garage, additional seating and a new dishwasher for the high school cafeteria and a new reach-in freezer and café beverage cooler at David E. Williams Middle School.
- A Memorandum of Understanding with the Montour Education Association regarding virtual instruction for the 2024-25 school year was approved.
- Montour Elementary will continue its partnership with Dance Ink to provide enrichment opportunities for students in the performing arts. Two courses costing students $50 per month will be offered as part of the Carnegie-based nonprofit’s education outreach program Ink University. The group also participates in the district’s summer STEAM camp.
- Stipends of $6,000 and $5,000 respectively were approved for independent contractors to serve as the high school and middle school musical directors.
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