(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

For the majority of 2023 so far, the New Brighton School Board meetings have been largely focused towards the return of a competitive spirit team to the school district to compete in the WPIAL.

The nucleus of the dialogue has shifted back and forth between the citizens and students in support of the measure, to the school board’s wary concerns over funding and participation. In the last meeting, superintendent Dr. Joseph Guarino presented the facts and potential outcomes of restoring a WPIAL-level competitive spirit team to New Brighton. The final decision was to be rendered at their voting meeting for February 27.

As was the case throughout the entire process, a larger-than-normal crowd came out for support of a “yes” vote by the school board. Also similar to prior meetings (as is the case with all meetings of the New Brighton School Board), the citizens had the chance to speak first; allowing for one final chance for those in support of the measure (or against it, had there been any) to make their voices heard.

Four individuals came forward in support, including two of the leaders of New Brighton Cheerleading in Lindsay Johnson and Brittany Briancesco. “[The] Little Lions…have no financial backing from the school and remain successful with parents doing it all,” Briancesco stated. “All of the squads in the community are asking for is the opportunity to try.”

Briancesco also noted that the funding that the school would need to provide wouldn’t be a major issue, which Johnson echoed: “We’re just asking for a shot. There’s nothing you could actually lose concretely by giving us a ‘yes’.”

Going a step further was Little Lions coach Micah Dawn-Rombold, who pointed out that the budget for the school’s football team was at $50,000 while the budget for cheerleading was at $4,000. “If you think about it, most school programs are built strong from kindergarten to high school,” she noted, “but here in New Brighton, everyone seems to only care about the football team that hasn’t seen the section championship in how long.”

After the speaking was done, those in attendance waited patiently as the school board went ahead with their agenda, voting unanimously to finalize approval of the 2023-24 school calendar, the operation of a K-12 summer school, and renewing agreements with Penn State Beaver and the Community College of Beaver County for dual enrollment programs.

The board also unanimously approved two measures with the Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit: a $55,520.67 third-installment payment for Special Education Programs & Services for the 2022-23 school year, and a general operating budget for the 2023-24 school year at an amount of $1,608,913. Also approved were new partitions for two Middle School restrooms at a cost of $9,406 and stair tread replacements at the Middle School for $48,735 (using Costars funds).

Finally, the time to decide on New Brighton’s return to competitive cheer had come. With no further discussion from the board, the first two votes were a “no”. The next six, however, were “yes” votes. By a final count of 6-2, the New Brighton School Board voted to create a Competitive Spirit team. (Board member Amy Fazio was absent from the meeting and did not vote). No further details or discussion was provided at the meeting.

New Brighton also approved the stipend hirings of Stephanie Chioochi and Jocelyn Cornman as Student Council Sponsors for the Elementary School and Brittany Caldwell as an Instructional assistant for the current school year before adjourning to a round of applause to those who attended.

The next New Brighton school board meeting is scheduled for March 13 at 7:30 PM.