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Sentinel Morning Update: CV to fill $61,000 public relations job
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A former newspaper reporter has been hired to fill the new full-time public relations position at Cumberland Valley School District.
Tracy Panzer, who was listed on the school board’s consent agenda for approval last month before action was tabled, is expected to get the nod by the board when it meets again Monday night, said Michelle Zettlemoyer, director of human resources.
During an executive session last week, district officials discussed the need for a full-time person and came out with a vote of 7-2 to fund the post. The job title was changed from public relations coordinator to communications specialist and the compensation package was reduced after the district consulted with the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
Originally budgeted for $89,500 this year, Cumberland Valley will now pay $61,234 in salary and an estimated $82,280 with benefits, according to Zettlemoyer.
Last month, the offer was $72,914 in salary and about $89,000 overall.
At that meeting, some board members voiced concerns about the day-to-day need for a full-time person. With two members absent that night – board President John Jordan and Bud Shaffner – a motion was made to table until the full board could evaluate the position and make a decision.
“We have nearly 1,000 employees and 8,000 students. There is a lot going on,” Jordan said Monday. “We need someone who can coordinate public relations and communications in the district.”
For several months, no one has directly been responsible for communications. The job has been done by about five staff members.
“There is no doubt we need a person who is focused on it,” said Bill Harner, the district’s superintendent. “When the board hired me, one of the major concerns was improving communications inside and outside the district, and getting it out in a timely manner.”
The contract dispute with teachers last school year is just one instance where a central person could have helped coordinate communication efforts, district officials say.
Along with the rest of this story from Sentinel reporter Jason Scott, here's what else to look for in today’s print and on-line editions:
Law school classrooms are under construction
Work is underway on the Lewis Katz Hall addition to the Penn State University Dickinson School of Law campus in Carlisle.
Classroom walls and steel are being put into place and foundation poured for the new building, said Nancy Jean LaMont, Assistant Death for Administration.
She added the $50 million project to renovate and expand the 89-year-old Trickett Hall is on target for completion by December 2009.
Planned for the area between Trickett Hall and the 1985 addition, the Lewis Katz Hall will house three large classrooms, a courtyard, a commons area and a 200-seat courtroom/auditorium.
LaMont explained how there are three stages to the new construction. The current stage involves enclosing the building from the elements and includes piles, foundations, flooring, roofing and steelwork.
The second stage is the rough-in phase, which involves the placement of infrastructure including plumbing, wiring and the installation of ductwork and such mechanical equipment as boilers, chillers and air handlers, LaMont said.
The third stage is the finishes, which includes terrazzo flooring, carpeting and millwork, along with special wall finishes and acoustical ceilings, she said.
Crews have completed the demolition of the 1963 and 1978 additions to Trickett Hall along with “the curtilage”, a collection of small brick buildings on South College Street that used to serve as faculty offices.
Meanwhile, work crews are well into the rough-in stage with Trickett Hall and the 1985 addition. Earlier, they had gutted the interior of Trickett Hall down to its walls, removing the old paneling and fixtures.
Loans still available for homebuyers
Mortgage money is still out there – even for people with low credit scores, according to one local mortgage adviser.
Carol Lorence of Carlisle’s American Home Bank admits that while their lending business is off about 15 percent since last year, there are still a lot of first-time homebuyers as well as financing programs for people in the low 600 range and below, including Federal Housing Administration loans.
“You can have a low credit score and a low down payment,” she said, maybe as low as 3 percent.
Standards have not tightened for those with a fair score because we’re not in a declining market, she noted, referring to the steady industries in Central Pennsylvania between government, healthcare, education and transportation jobs.
“We’ve been in a protected area,” Lorence said.
Area real estate professionals have also echoed the point about regional stability.
It is true that housing has fallen off here like it has everywhere else, but compared to most of the country, this part of the state is doing fairly well, housing experts say.
“Since no bubble was ever inflated, there is no bubble now to burst,” Mike Green, president of The Homestead Group, Camp Hill, said last week.
Compared to the third quarter last year, the median home-sale price was down 3 percent this year and residential units sold fell 12 percent.
The median sale price is the midpoint, meaning half of homes sold for more and half sold for less.
The fact is that many of the people with very low credit scores of 580 or less, such as those who have a history of loan delinquency or default, those with a recorded bankruptcy or those with limited debt experience, should have never been approved for credit in the first place, Lorence said, especially for loans they couldn’t realistically afford.
Shippensburg man released without posting cash security
Brandon Grey — charged with felony theft, endangering the welfare of children and simple assault — was released Monday without posting any cash security.
Grey, 25, has been held in Cumberland County Prison on a total of $100,000 bail since his arraignment Oct. 3 to two sets of charges linked to separate incidents.
District Magisterial Judge Harold Bender set Grey free Monday — reducing bail to $10,000 unsecured on charges Grey stole $3,000 in April, 2007; and to $50,000 unsecured on charges that Grey left three young children on their own Sept. 30, then struck the kids’ mother in the mouth when she returned home and criticized his behavior.
Unsecured bail means Grey did not post any cash security, but is liable to forfeit the bail amounts if he fails to appear in county court Dec. 23 for formal arraignment on the charges.
Grey told Bender that his ties to the local community are reasons he will appear for court.
“I have kids here that I won’t leave,” Grey said, referring the 1-year-old and 1-month-old that he left unattended Sept. 30 in the Spring Street apartment he shared with the children’s mother.
Neighbors intervened in that case after hearing the children cry for an hour, police say, and Grey struck his girlfriend when she returned and chastised him for leaving the kids alone.
Bender issued his bail reduction despite the testimony of arresting officer Craig Dunn who said Grey is wanted on a arrest warrant from California, where Grey left behind a two-year-old daughter.
Morning Update
The Sentinel Morning Update runs every weekday by 8 a.m. to take a look at what we have planned for our newspaper and Web site. Feel free to offer any suggestions, questions or feedback to jpratt@cumberlink.com
