CV directors warn of furloughs

BY JOSHUA BYERS

JBYERS@TRIBDEM.COM

The Conemaugh Valley School Board approved a “procedural notice” to teaching staff at Thursday’s meeting regarding potential furloughs for the 2025-26 school year.

This effort is directly tied to the stressful budgetary situation the district is experiencing, Superintendent Shane Hazenstab said.

“It’s just based on the way that it’s played out, and here’s where we are,” he said. “We have to do something about it. ... The furlough – nobody wants to do that and I hope that we don’t have to do that, but we also have to be fiscally responsible, too.”

The district is required to provide a 60-day notice if any furloughs could take place, which is why the motion was carried out at the April meeting.

Hazenstab said that the number of furloughs will correlate to the outcome of the ongoing negotiations with the Conemaugh Valley Education Association.

The approved resolution was for up to 12 educators, which the superintendent said was the “worst-case scenario.”

A new teacher contract was on Thursday’s agenda, but no action was taken because conversations on the details are still taking place.

Hazenstab said he’s still optimistic the sides can come to an agreement soon.

Another item not acted on was a retirement incentive, which the superintendent said could limit the number of potential furloughs, but that is unclear at this point.

“The frustrating part,” Hazenstab said, “is this board, as long as I’ve been here since 2011, has always been meticulous, thoughtful, student-centered in their spending decisions. They’ve maintained a nice physical campus, they’ve maintained a lot of nice programs that are good for students, and we have two cost categories that are to some degree outside of our control.”

He said that health care and outside cyber charter tuition costs are significant parts of the annual budget that outweigh any other section.

Conemaugh Valley recently approved leaving the Greater Johnstown Health Care Consortium June 30 in an attempt to lower costs.

Premiums are expected to cost roughly $4 million for the coming year – a more than $2 million increase since 2019.

As for cyber school costs, Conemaugh Valley pays roughly $905,000 annually.

Board member Daniel Markiewicz said the health care costs are one of his key concerns, and he knows the board will have to make tough decisions for the upcoming budget.

At this time, the district is working in a deficit, and Hazenstab said there’s a projected deficit of $1.9 million for the 202526 school year.

“We represent the kids, the taxpayers and the schools, and we’re trying to balance the three,” board member James Stiffler said.

Markiewicz agreed. Other approvals at the meeting included a new three-year support professional contract.

Hazenstab applauded the support staff for the new contract and working with the board to come to an agreement.

“They worked to identify a plan that worked for both sides,” he said.

The support union has already approved the contract.

Joshua Byers is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5054. Follow him on Twitter @Journo_Josh.