June 24, 2025 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Area School Board has approved a 2025-26 budget that holds the line on taxes.
At the June meeting, directors gave their OK to an $86.6 million spending plan that fixes property taxes at 20.96 mills. The vote came after nearly an hour of remarks concerning the end of a three-year financial partnership between the district and the Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation.
Conversation preceding the vote was brief. School Director Josh Lefcowitz praised the efforts of district business manager Joseph Villella and fellow School Director David Seropian in preparing and reviewing the document.
The annual task of passing and approving a budget is a “significant component of the board's responsibilities,” Lefcowitz said before remarking, “I think there should probably be a little bit more discussion around the budget.”
June 24, 2025 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
District Solicitor Gary Matta Jr., center, addresses questions from residents as School Board President Mark Holtzman Sr. and School Director Diane Elias look on. (Adam Reinherz photo for Tube City Almanac)
Parents and community leaders this month continued to press McKeesport Area School District officials on the end of a partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation.
At the June school board meeting, several residents asked pointed questions of board members as well as District Solicitor Gary Matta Jr., sometimes shouting them from the audience.
The conversation — lasting more than an hour — dominated the meeting.
Some residents asked whether Matta — whose firm Dodaro, Dalfonso, Matta & Cambest has worked with the McKeesport Area School District, on and off, for three decades — properly advised previous school directors in their dealings with the Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation.
Read More
June 20, 2025 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Four county pools will be open seven days a week, weather permitting. There is also a spray pad facility in Round Hill Park, Elizabeth Twp., shown here. (Allegheny County photo)
Allegheny County officials are warning residents to be prepared for dangerous conditions beginning Sunday and are opening cooling centers for people without air-conditioning.
The National Weather Service in Moon Twp. has issued an extreme heat watch beginning Sunday and continuining through Wednesday. Temperatures are expected to reach the mid to upper 90s each day, but the humidity will make it feel more like 100 to 105 degrees, forecasters said.
The county has declared its first-ever Code Red Heat Advisory as a result.
Read More
June 18, 2025 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
New McKeesport police cadets currently attending the Allegheny County police academy include Ronnell Hunt, Devin Webb, Jaison Mikelonis, Francis Aguirre, Dontae McCarthy and Matthew Hurst, shown with interim police Chief Josh Alfer and McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko. (Tube City Almanac photo)
McKeesport has promoted a longtime police officer to the department’s command staff and added two new officers from other departments.
In addition, McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko said six people interested in attending the Allegheny County police academy have been named as cadets and will join the department following the successful completion of their education.
At this month’s meeting, Cherepko asked council to approve the elevation of Sgt. Josh Byers to lieutenant. Byers became a full-time McKeesport police officer following nine years with the Liberty Borough police department.
Read More
June 16, 2025 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Superintendent Don MacFann and students Lucas Sotereanos and Michael Pfeffercorn during the June 11 McKeesport Area School District regular board meeting. (Adam Reinherz photo for Tube City Almanac)
McKeesport Area School District recognized two students and hired a police chief during Wednesday’s school board meeting.
Superintendent Don MacFann congratulated Lucas Sotereanos and Michael Pfeffercorn on participating in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association All-State Chorus. Held on April 12 at Kalahari Convention Center in Pocono Summit, the concert featured student vocalists and musicians from across the Commonwealth.
Sotereanos and Pfeffercorn, MacFann said, are the first representatives of McKeesport to “qualify for the state choir in over 30 years.”
MacFann presented each teen with a certificate of accomplishment from the district.
Read More
June 09, 2025 |
By Leslie Savisky | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
ASWP's Brian Shema (left) and Dan Mendenhall work to construct a nesting tower at Renzie Park. (Leslie Savisky photo for Tube City Almanac)
Exciting things are happening for bird lovers at Renziehausen Park as the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania builds a nesting tower for mating chimney swifts.
Native to the eastern United States, the birds can be recognized by their long, slender wings and very short legs. They feed on insects and, as their name implies, often roost in vertical structures, such as chimneys. The birds have been considered in decline since 2010 because they have been losing their habitats.
“They are not endangered,” said Brian Shema, operations director for ASWP. “The population is decreasing annually, though, which is why we want to keep these birds common.”
Read More
June 06, 2025 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Area School Director Jason Pavlecic updates attendees about the district's relationship with Dick's Sporting Goods Foundation during a meeting Wednesday. (Adam Reinherz photo for Tube City Almanac)
Amid the accusations and blame surrounding the end of a partnership between McKeesport Area School District and Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation, several parties are asking for new discourse.
“Apparently you guys need to hear from a student like me,” Founders’ Hall seventh grader Zada Carr told MASD school directors during a standing-room-only — and often heated — board meeting on Wednesday.
“Food, water, clothing, showers, those are all basic needs for a regular human being that you guys are cutting off,” she said. “If you guys really care about the kids, please try to bring back Dick’s.”
The middle schooler, who was one of two students to speak during the 90-minute contentious meeting, implored adults to remember those affected by a May 27 announcement signaling the end of a nearly four-year relationship between DSGF and MASD.
Read More
June 05, 2025 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Wednesday’s school board meeting attracted more than 70 people. (Adam Reinherz photo for Tube City Almanac)
East End Academy, an alternative school located inside McKeesport Area High School, will close June 30.
The decision, which was made during Wednesday’s special board meeting, was approved by school directors.
Several meeting attendees asked where eligible students would receive district services. School director Jason Pavlecic acknowledged local worries.
“This is not the emotional support side of things,” Pavleic told nearly 70 attendees of Wednesday’s meeting. “This is the alternative education program that deals with the expulsions … We will still maintain the emotional support stuff within the district.”
Read More
May 29, 2025 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
A Dick’s Sporting Goods store. The chain moved its corporate headquarters to the Pittsburgh area in 1994 and has been heavily involved in philanthropy over its history. (Archive photo by Mike Mozart from Funny YouTube, USA; licensed under Creastive Commons CC BY 2.0)
Nearly four years before last week’s dissolution of their partnership, Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation and McKeesport Area School District touted a future full of promise.
Speaking to school directors, parents and community members on May 26, 2021, then-Superintendent Mark Holtzman Jr. optimistically described the pair’s first project: a six-week long summer camp in McKeesport.
Holtzman, the son of McKeesport Area School Board President Mark Holtzman Sr., left the district in 2022. He is now the superintendent at Hempfield Area School District in Westmoreland County.
Geared for local students from kindergarten through eighth grade, the summer camp program provided “transportation, food and a wide range of activities and field trips such as visiting the zoo, museums and a pool,” according to the foundation. The intent was to give children a “safe and fun place to spend their summer.”
Read More
May 29, 2025 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Area School District said a decision to end its partnership with the charitable giving arm of Dick’s Sporting Goods was made by the foundation, not by school officials. (Adam Reinherz photo for Tube City Almanac)
A McKeesport Area School Board member said long-simmering structural issues between the school district and Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation led to the cessation of a nearly four-year partnership.
In an interview, School Director David Donato implored the public to wait for the facts before reaching a conclusion: “There is no doubt Dick’s stopped this arrangement.”
Following a May 27 announcement that the charitable arm of the Dick’s Sporting Goods chain had ended its partnership with McKeesport Area School District, both sides are looking back — and making accusations.
School Board President Mark Holtzman Sr., who has been singled out for much of the blame by Dick’s and some members of the public, declined comment and referred questions to District Solicitor Gary Matta.
Read More
TM
