Greater Johnstown School Board appoints Jordan to vacant seat; hires school police officers and supervisor
May 7—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Bruce Jordan was appointed with a unanimous decision by the Greater Johnstown School Board to fill the vacant seat at Monday's special meeting.
The school director position was opened when James McMillen died in April and Jordan was one of seven candidates who applied to fill the role.
Jordan was also the only person nominated by the board as McMillen's successor.
"He's a high-character guy," board member Randy Romesburg said. "I think he'll be an asset to our board and we're happy to have him."
Fellow board member Thomas Dadey agreed, describing Jordan as a good addition to the group.
School director Michael Allen added that every candidate was qualified and board member Kimberly Murray said it was a tough decision to pick someone.
Jordan is a former Greater Johnstown football coach, longtime military member serving more than 30 years with the United States Army and is a member of the local African American Heritage Society.
He was not in attendance Monday and could not be reached for comment.
In other business, the board hired a school police officer supervisor and three SPOs to replace the school resource officers that have served the district for years.
John McFalls will lead the group as supervisor with Jeff Janciga, Karissa Lupton and Michael Plunkard as officers.
Amy Arcurio, superintendent, cited staffing troubles with Johnstown Police Department as the reason the board went in this direction.
"It's unfortunately the current situation of jobs in our community and the inability to fill those jobs," she said.
The elementary has not had an SRO since October 2022, and the high school has been without since last November.
Hiring SPOs will allow for consistent coverage in every building, Arucrio said.
A school police officer is an employee of the district, unlike an SRO, which is an employee of a local police department who works in the district.
Some community members raised concerns about losing Johnstown police officer Charles "Chas" Cypher, who's served as an SRO.
Arcurio said administrators and board members met with JPD to discuss the issue and wanted to keep Cypher but a joint resolution could not be reached.
There was also a question about how the SPOs will be armed, and solicitor Ronald Repak said the group will be armed, as other SROs and guards have been in the past, but the district will work with supervisor McFalls on specifics.
During Monday's meeting, the school board also approved a proposed budget.
Samantha Williams, business director, said the estimated revenues for the upcoming year are $68,786,120, which includes the final $3.7 million of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund, and expected expenditures are $70,597,141.
The difference will be bridged with money from the general fund, and that account is projected to end next year at roughly $10.3 million.
Upcoming expenditures for the 2024-25 school year include the final elementary school sewer work, improvements to the high school roof and an updates to an elementary bathroom — that collectively will cost about $945,000.
Projected increases include medical, Public School Employees Retirement System, transportation and property and liability insurance, Williams said.
Another expenditure approved by the board was for updated artificial turf at the football field.
FieldTurf USA was awarded the proposal to replace the existing turf at Trojan Stadium for no more than $528,428.33 and perform a track surface replacement there not to exceed $246,108.20.
Romesburg said the work was bring done because it was time.
The turf and track were 12 years old and exceeded the life expectancy of the material, he said.
