Quaker Valley School Board reappoints president, vice president

Quaker Valley School District will head into the new year with familiar faces leading its school board.

Jonathan Kuzma and Daniela Helkowski were reappointed as board president and vice president, respectively.

The unanimous votes were made at a reorganization meeting on Dec. 4.

Kuzma, a Leetsdale resident and 2001 Quaker Valley grad, has been on the board since 2013. He served as vice president in 2020 and as president since 2021.

He thanked his colleagues for their confidence in his leadership.

“We’ve got a lot of dedicated board members, and Quaker Valley has just been a phenomenal place to live,” Kuzma said. “I’ve been really proud to represent my community here on the board.

“I think in the coming year there’s a lot of opportunity as far as moving the new high school project forward.

“We’re going to have more opportunities to engage with the community on a variety of issues. Those will be about the climate of the district. We’ve been working on this ‘portrait of a graduate’ concept. I think that’s going to be a really positive thing that we can report: once somebody graduates from Quaker Valley, what are the different paths that they take? What kind of characteristics they feel they’ve gathered here at Quaker Valley, and where they see their next steps going.”

Kuzma has a bachelor of arts degree in economics and history from the College of William and Mary.

He works as a manager at Deloitte. Kuzma also represents the district on the Sewickley Public Library of the Quaker Valley School District board and is the chairman of the municipal authority of Leetsdale.

Kuzma served as a student representative about 25 years ago.

Helkowski, a Sewickley resident and 1990 Quaker Valley grad, has been on the board for 11 years. This coming year will be her second as vice president.

She has a degree in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh and an elementary education degree from Slippery Rock University.

Helkowski is a business partner at Insurance on Walnut. Helkowski also serves as the school board representative on the Parkway West Career and Technology Center Board.

“It’s a wonderful feeling,” Helkowski said after the reappointment. “I’m honored to be part of the leadership team and honored to be part of this board. It’s a wonderful group of people and I appreciate their confidence. (My goal is) to continue to work alongside other board members to do what’s best for our students.”

Board member Gianni Floro said Kuzma and Helkowski have been great to work with and they keep meetings focused.

Floro nominated Kuzma for board president. Board member Kati Doebler nominated Helkowski as vice president.

Kuzma after the meeting commended Helkowski’s service to the district.

“We really complement each other well in a lot of ways,” he said. “She’s been a great advocate for all students, especially those with special needs. She’s always got the right interest of the staff and the students whenever we have our meetings with (administrative leadership).”

The board unanimously reappointed GRB Law, and specifically attorney Don Palmer, as district solicitor. The firm has represented Quaker Valley for at least two decades.

Its recent successes include new contracts with food service and maintenance workers as well as the teachers union, paraprofessionals, clerks and other support staffers.

Celebrating success

The board also celebrated the work of administrators and teachers as part of a presentation of student achievement.

Susan Gentile, district director of instruction and learning, and Aaron Rea, coordinator of instructional programs, led the nearly 90-minute report that featured contributions from building principals and data from the past few years.

It showed a steady student growth in English, math and science and how the district was performing better this year than before the covid-19 pandemic.

More high school students were taking and succeeding in college courses compared to previous years, according to the presentation.

Last year, the district received state funding to expand its dual credit enrollment opportunities.

Quaker Valley has dual enrollment agreements with Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh.

The presentation also highlighted Quaker Valley being recognized as one of the top 10 school districts in the state, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.