MIFFLINTOWN — Citing the importance of providing special education services to students, the Juniata County School District Board of Directors approved the hiring of Margaret A. Hackenberger for the position of coordinator of special education and school psychologist, effective July 1, 2025.

The decision came on Wednesday night during the school board’s monthly meeting at the administration office in Mifflintown. The meeting was moved up a day due to Thursday being the Juneteenth federal holiday.

The school board also approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the District’s Act 93 Administrative Team for the position. Hackenberger’s annual salary will be $95,000, with annual increases of 2.5 percent from 2026 through 2030.

TJHS improvement plan

The school board approved an improvement plan for Tuscarora Junior High School that focuses on instruction and programming for students. The plan addresses the needs of each student, individually, in all facets of their learning experience, by instruction, socialization and guidance in their development during their educational journey.

Contracts and agreements

The school board approved the following contracts and agreements with:

• MOTivation Occupational Therapy, LLC, of Thompsontown, for occupational therapy-related services, at a rate of $75 per hour.

• Securly, of Pasadena, Calif., for server security. The three-year agreement has an annual cost of $13,536.67, for a total of $40,610.00.

Facility use requests

The school board approved facility use requests by Al Ream for the Juniata Boys and Girls Basketball booster clubs to use Juniata High School Gymnasium for camp on June 2-3 and 9-10, 2025, for no fee; and the Juniata Boys Basketball Booster Club for summer league basketball on June 3, 2025, for no fee.

Personnel matters

The school board approved the following personnel matters:

-Hiring Kala Marshall as a driver;

-Retirement of East Juniata Elementary School teacher Katherine L. Zimmerman, effective June 30, 2025. “Thank you to her for her service,” Juniata County School District Director Angela Varner said. “My children learned a lot from her.”

-Resignations of Mercedes Trautman, paraprofessional at East Juniata Elementary School, effective May 29, 2025; and -Kierstyn Dickinson, paraprofessional at Juniata Elementary School, effective May 20, 2025;

-Hiring of Karen L. Crossley, special education teacher at Juniata and Tuscarora Junior high schools, effective Aug. 18, 2025, in a new position;

-Hiring of Bailey C. Imes, English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at Tuscarora Junior High School, effective Aug. 18, 2025, due to the retirement of Jodi Fitzgerald;

-Hiring Maria R. Duiker, teacher at East Juniata Elementary School, effective Aug. 18, 2025, due to the retirement of Katherine Zimmerman and transfer of Erin Robinson;

-Transfer of Amanda M. Shelley from a Juniata Elementary School Title I reading teacher position to the position of Juniata Elementary School Dean of Students, effective the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, with no change in compensation;

-Hiring of Emma E. Hogan, teacher at East Juniata Elementary School, effective Aug. 18, 2025, due to transfers of Jenna Walters and Angela Rohrbach;

-Issuing permanent professional employee contracts to the following individuals after three years of satisfactory service as temporary professional employees: Ashlie M. Anderson, Erin R. Byler, Julie M. Goshorn, Laine C. Guiser, Jennifer L. Hostler, Jillian S. Ritzman, Angela I. Rohrbach, Brandon J. Sheeler, Ellie M. Shepps and Dylan Smith.

-SAP team members: Juniata Senior High School — Kurt Condo, Rachel Hayes, Jessica Heimbach, Angela Sieber and Emily Wagner; Tuscarora Junior High School –

Beverly Abram, Wendy Enrenzeller, Joelle Stahr and Robert St. Clair.

Extracurricular positions

The school board approved the following extracurricular positions for Juniata High School:

-Beth Alleman, volunteer Key Club advisor and volunteer student council advisor;

-Elizabeth Beward, majorette advisor;

-Angela Bryner, student council advisor;

-Dawn Croisette, junior class (fall) play director;

-Bradley Eargle, drama club advisor, marching band director, senior play music director and volunteer May Day advisor;

-Rachel Hayes, junior class advisor;

-Joshua Hill, yearbook advisor;

-Megan Keller, volunteer Envirothon advisor;

-Nichole Kerlin, HOSA advisor;

-Melanie King, silks advisor;

-Robert Klingler, volunteer SKILLS advisor;

-Mamie Magill, senior play (spring musical) director;

-Jessica Morgan, volunteer Envirothon advisor;

-Rachel Shepler, art director and set designer for two productions and volunteer art club advisor;

-Riley Shertzer, student council advisor and volunteer Envirothon advisor;

-Angela Sieber, senior class advisor;

-Johnna Towsey, National Honor Society advisor and volunteer Envirothon advisor;

-Brooke Vinyard, sophomore class advisor, volunteer newspaper advisor and volunteer SADD advisor;

-Angela Walters, student council advisor;

-Benjamin Wilson, marching band assistant director;

-Danielle Zimmerman, freshman class advisor;

Game staff: Beth Harris, Kelly Robinson, Joel Snyder, Sharon Storey and Neal Wolf.

Other business

The school board also approved:

An increase in the price of lunch for an adult to $4.85, effective with the beginning of the 2025-26 school year.

A field trip for the Juniata High School FFA to attend an officer team planning session at Penn Roosevelt Lodge in Centre Hall, on Monday, June 16 and Tuesday, June 17, 2025. Transportation for this trip is not funded by the district.