Funding sought for access channel

The township and the school district will work together to run the channel.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Public access Channel 19 will stay at Fitch High School, but a committee will try to cut costs and find funding sources for it.
School board members and administrators had debated at a work session in October whether it was cost-effective to keep the channel at Fitch at a cost of more than $65,000 a year to the district while the township was contributing $15,000. They decided to meet with township officials to form a committee on Channel 19.
Ann Marie Hiznay, the school district's director of instruction, told the school board at its meeting Monday that township officials and school board representatives met and decided the channel is an important community asset. She said a five-member panel composed of two school district representatives, two township representatives and schools treasurer Barbara Kliner will try to find revenue sources and cut costs without affecting the channel's quality.
Effective instruction
She said the committee also will make sure there is effective instruction for Fitch students.
Hiznay said after the meeting that an idea to have the Mahoning County Career & amp; Technical Center come in and run telecommunications classes for students was scrapped in favor of keeping the station.
Hiznay said she and Tom Ventresco, the district's technical systems director, Kliner, Trustee David Ditzler and township Administrator Michael Dockry met Nov. 11.
Hiznay said township officials did not say whether there would be more funding from the township.
"At this point, trustees said there are concerns and they want to work with us," she said.
Hiznay said other funding sources for the channel could include grants, using volunteers to work on it, and possibly support from businesses.
"But we don't want it to become something it's not meant to be; it's a public access station," she said.
The school board, in other business, also heard two presentations on updating school district policies. Representatives from the Ohio School Boards Association and the Northeast Ohio Law Association gave their proposals.
OSBA representative Donna Williams said that organization would take the current policy manual, three years of school board meeting minutes, and copies of student and staff handbooks to make a new manual. She said the project would take six months to a year.
OSBA and NEOLA both have online services for accessing policies.
The board also agreed to a new contract with district administrators. It includes a 2 percent raise for 2005-06 and no raise for 2006-07. Administrators get three personal days and make the same co-pays as teachers for medical and prescription drug plans.