Altoona Area School District

This document presents the school calendar for AASD Learning Express Preschool Early Intervention for the 2025-2026 academic year. It details various operational dates, including school closures, teacher in-service days, holidays, early dismissals, and specific dates for IEP-related activities. The calendar also outlines weather adjustment days and snow make-up provisions, providing a comprehensive schedule for the specified period.

This document provides the academic calendar for the AASD Early Intervention Learning Express program for the 2026-2027 school year. It outlines the schedule of student attendance days, teacher inservice dates, IEP days, and observed holidays. The calendar details key operational dates including school closures, conferences, and specific events.

Key discussions included the presentation of the Single Audit and Financial Statement for the year ending June 30, 2025. A citizen expressed concerns regarding vendor connections listed in the Epstein file release. Finance actions involved approving lists of payments, financial reports for December 2025, and agreements with the County of Blair for utilizing school facilities as polling places for 2026 through 2029 elections and a special election in March 2026. The Board also approved an extension for the Goodwill of the Southern Alleghenies Library Rental Agreement. Education items included approvals for revised 2025-2026 and new 2026-2027 District Calendars, the Summer School Proposal for AAJHS, the addition of the AAHS Booktroverts club, approval for the Juniata Elementary Drama Club, an affiliation agreement with Saint Francis University, graduate credit reimbursement, volunteer approvals, and retroactive approvals for a Preschool Early Intervention Agreement Application and charitable grants from Altoona Curve Charities and First Commonwealth Bank for the Stevens Building Care Closet. Personnel decisions included approving standard personnel agenda items, an addendum to the agreement with ESS Northeast, LLC, and a contract with Red Rover Technologies, LLC. Business Operations included approval of Repository Bids, Capital Reserve List of Payments, transfers of funds to the Capital Reserve based on property sales proceeds, approval for flood repair and reconstruction contracts at AAJHS, and approval to advertise an RFP for an Emotional Support Instruction educational site. New Business included the final approval of the Single Audit & Financial Statement, and approvals for external reservations of facilities by the Red Cross and Altoona Police Department, and a rental fee approval for PJW Wrestling Area 2 usage of the AAHS Fieldhouse. The Student Representative's report detailed various student achievements in arts and athletics.

The meeting commenced with a reorganization segment, which included a brief executive session to discuss personnel issues. Key actions during reorganization involved accepting the resignation of a board member who declined their appointment and subsequently swearing in the reelected board members. The board then proceeded with the election of officers, appointing a temporary board president, Mr. Beard, followed by the election of a permanent board president (Mr. Minion) and a board vice president (Kelly Adams). The board also approved the meeting schedule for 2026. Following adjournment of the reorganization meeting, the regular board meeting began. A special presentation highlighted the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program, focusing on fostering early literacy within the community, supported by a gift in honor of Dr. Mallaloy. During public comment, citizens discussed the need to advertise the board vacancy widely to encourage applications, specifically from younger generations, and inquired about residency and age requirements for potential board members.

The meeting began with the approval of the accelerated opt out resolution certifying the tax rate will not exceed the Act One index of 5.1%. The board approved the minutes from the December 15, 2025 meeting. Financial items included the approval of payments and financial reports, with specific discussion regarding approximately $1.6 million spent on cyber charter tuition. The board also held the first reading of several policies, including those on academic standards, curriculum, interscholastic athletics, use of medication (staff only), and dress and grooming (staff only). Under general business, the board approved volunteer clearances, retroactive approval for a DonorsChoose grant to purchase non-perishable food items, affiliation agreements with Capella University and Ganon University, implementation of the extended school year program for summer 2026, approval for an employee to attend the Columbia Scholastic Press Association conference, approval for the district to host the state Thespian conference, and approval for elementary and secondary field trips. The revised 2025-2026 school district calendar was approved due to a snow day. Approval was also granted for an employee to take doctoral coursework and for an extern grant agreement for speech language pathologists. Business operations involved approving Amtra bus drivers for the 2025-2026 school year, repository bids from the Blair County Tax Claim Bureau, and the capital reserve list of payments. New business included approving a one-year renewal for cyber security advisory services, advertising RFPs for hardware licensing and support for wireless access points and network switching, advertising RFPs for roof replacement at Baker Elementary School and gutter/downspout replacement at Pleasant Valley Elementary School, approving a sole source replacement of the fire alarm system at Juniatangap Elementary School, advertising RFPs for managed print services, photography services, garbage removal/recycling services, and annual grounds maintenance services for the 2026-2027 school year. The State of the District address noted significant improvement in student attendance metrics at the junior high and high school levels, attributed to increased in-school interventions.