Quaker Valley School Board appoints new president, vice president

Quaker Valley School District has a school board new president and vice president.

Jonathan Kuzma and Marna Blackmer were unanimously appointed to the board’s top two leadership positions at the Dec. 1 reorganization meeting, respectively.

Kuzma is in his second four-year term on the board and served this year as vice president.

He thanked his fellow board members for their support and expressed hope in the district’s future during the covid-19 pandemic.

“Delivering education in a pandemic has been like building an airplane in flight,” Kuzma said. “This is a time to continue to strive to improve the educational experience for all learners as the board, administration and teachers work toward our common goal of safely bringing students back into the buildings full-time. While the continued spread of the virus in our region is worrying, I’m optimistic that better days are ahead and continue to be amazed by the efforts of the scientific and medical community working toward new therapeutics and vaccines.”

District students are remote learning until at least Dec. 14 because of covid-19 concerns.

Kuzma graduated from Quaker Valley in 2001 and is the chairman of the Leetsdale Municipal Authority.

He is the school board’s personnel committee chair, vice-char of the facilities and operations committee and the finance committee.

Kuzma succeeds Sarah Heres, who served as board president for at least the past few years. Heres is still on the board and received several accolades from her colleagues and Superintendent Tammy Andreyko at the reorganization meeting.

“Thank you to Mrs. Heres for being a mentor, a tour guide and also a tremendous sounding board for my time as superintendent as you served as president,” Andreyko said. “I appreciate all I’ve learned from you … Your sage advice, your knowledge of history is remarkable and is so desperately needed as we make major decisions during a very difficult time in history.”

Blackmer is in her second four-year term. She serves as the board’s policy committee chair and is on the educational services and comprehensive planning committee, as well as the facilities and operations committee.

She said she looks forward to working with the administration and school board to further student success.

Both Kuzma and Blackmer were the only nominations for their respective appointed roles.

Attorney Don Palmer of GRB Law was retained as the district solicitor for another year with a $700 monthly retainer and $160 per hour.

GRB has been the district’s law firm for many years. Palmer was Quaker Valley’s solicitor at least the past three years.

Palmer also serves as solicitor for Chartiers Valley and Pine-Richland school districts, in addition to providing legal services to Hampton Township School District.

Administrators also delivered this year’s report of student achievement.

The presentation focused on the district’s rankings in various publications, benchmarks and recommendations from last school year and how Quaker Valley has improved its educational delivery.

The presentation was posted on the district’s website.

The next board meeting is Jan. 12.