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MILL HALL -- In a year that has been anything but normal, the Keystone Central school board heard some good news at Thursday night's work session.
KCSD superintendent Jacquelyn Martin said that the district will receive millions of dollars in federal stimulus funding. Earlier this week, it was announced that Pennsylvania schools would get nearly $5 billion from the federal COVID-19 aid package.
According to the Department of Education's website, KCSD is expected to receive $10,677,162.
"(We) are continuing to look at how we believe we can best effectively use this one-time stimulus money," Martin explained. "We've been attending seminars and presentations, making sure that we have the best information. I've been collaborating with other superintendents on how they plan to strategically use these funds."
According to Martin, it is critical that the funds are spent properly -- and in a timely fashion.
"This is one-time money. This is not money that's going to be here forever. This hasn't happened … maybe 10 years ago, but not to this degree. We're putting this money into six different buckets, if you will," Martin said.
She said that approximately 50 percent of the funds will be spent on "instructional needs." Approximately 25 percent will be spent on "safety needs."
"We are looking with our facilities committee to spend some of those dollars on air quality," Martin added, "as well as the community feeding program."
Martin also said that the "other chunk will go to technology."
"We've purchased a whole lot of technology equipment in a short period of time and those things do not have eternal lifespans. We believe that we will be coming forward to the board with some ideas and plans how to earmark some funds for future use," Martin said.
Martin also spoke about the auction of Dickey Elementary School, which took place on March 27. She said that the district will receive $80,000 for the sale of the building and an additional $36,000 in surplus.
"Things came out of every nook and cranny of Central Mountain Middle School … we've started cleaning out Bucktail High School. These renovation projects have really forced more stuff to keep coming out that has been stored over a number a decades. We feel it was pretty successful in getting things cleaned out," Martin said.
She noted that staff looked at all items up for auction to make certain they would not be needed by the district down the road.
"I know there was a lot of effort put into that as well," Martin said.
Board member Roger Elling attended the auction of Dickey Elementary. He was emotional as he spoke about its sale.
"It was actually a very tough day for me in particular when Dickey was sold. That is my alma mater … I had a lot of fond memories from there," Elling said.
He thanked KCSD business manager Susan Blesh, manager of property services Rob Pacella and custodian supervisor Ronda Phillips for readying Dickey for the sale.
"I think they did a great job, a bang-up job," Elling said.
The Keystone Central school board will meet for a voting session at 6:30 p.m., on Thursday, April 8. That meeting is closed to the public but is accessible through the district's website.