×

BASD says goodbye to board member

Daniel Miltenberger

BELLEFONTE — The Bellefonte Area Board of School Directors is down to eight members.

At its Tuesday meeting, the board accepted the resignation of Daniel Miltenberger, effective Aug. 5. Miltenberger had served on the board since December 2015.

“It’s been a privilege to serve this community with you. I wish I could stay and fight but we’ve got to move on,” Miltenberger said as he addressed the board Tuesday night.

After serving almost half of a four-year term, he and his wife, Mary, are looking ahead to retirement. They have recently moved to State College for a year while they sell their house in Bellefonte and Mary finishes teaching in the district, board president Rodney Musser told The Express. Afterward, they plan to move to North Carolina, where one of their four grown sons lives.

Miltenberger had served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for more than 23 years, a role he retired from in 2000 at the rank of lieutenant colonel. He has served as an instructor for the ROTC unit at Penn State, and currently works as a law enforcement training specialist at the Penn State Justice and Safety Institute.

“Dan exhibited an extraordinary desire to help in education and his love of Bellefonte was exceptional,” Musser said. “In the year and a half that Dan was on the board, he packed four years worth of activities in.”

On Aug. 31, the board will hold a special meeting to fill Miltenberger’s position, which Musser told The Express must be filled within 30 days. The position will be advertised as soon as possible and the meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in the Bellefonte Area High School library.

In other business, the board continues to look forward to feedback on its proposed activities fee. On Wednesday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m., in the high school library, a public forum will be held to gain feedback on the issue.

This forum will give community members an opportunity to talk about whether they support such a fee and what would be a fair fee, board member Kimberly Hearn said.

The need for a fee on student activities arises from earlier budget discussions about imposing a fee on student athletics to help with the ever-increasing athletics budget. At an earlier meeting, board member Michael Danneker said $50 each for an estimated 300 to 400 student athletes would produce additional revenue of approximately $70,000.

Also at the meeting, two contracts were approved: one giving Ken Bean, district director of fiscal affairs, another term of five years, and the other giving a three-year term for new athletic director James Soltis.

Bean, who has served 17 years in the district, will have his contract renewed with a start date of July 1, 2018. The salary of his new term starts at $125,395.34. Soltis, who is new to the district, will have a starting salary of $67,000. His position was formerly shared by John Clark and Deb Moore. The latter will stay on as assistant athletic director.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $3.69/week.

Subscribe Today