Greater Latrobe moves ahead with $2.6M stadium project as teachers contract talks continue

Greater Latrobe School Board is moving forward with an estimated $2.6 million upgrade to the running track and other features at Memorial Stadium, but one board member and at least one parent think the district should delay that investment.

Parent Josh Cunningham, who also is a teacher at the nearby River Valley School District, suggested the board should focus on settling a new contract with the Greater Latrobe teachers and making improvements to school buildings and academics before devoting resources to athletic facilities.

As more than 75 of the Greater Latrobe Education Association’s 260 members packed this week’s board meeting, Cunningham urged the board, “Table the stadium improvements tonight. Let’s get this (teacher) contract done.”

The teachers are working under the terms of a contract that expired on July 31 as negotiations continue for a new labor agreement.

Andrew Repko cast the sole vote against the track project and an agreement with consultant SHP to perform related work on engineering and design, contract bidding and administration. He wanted the board to delay its vote until it hears SHP’s presentation, slated for November’s meeting.

The project at Memorial Stadium involves widening the track from six to eight lanes, installing new fencing, replacing lights with energy-efficient LED fixtures and upgrading audio and visual systems.

Bidding is slated for early next year, with construction projected at the end of the 2025 fall sports season.

“I’m not against stadium improvements,” Cunningham said, but he argued that student safety and academics should come first — in addition to settling with the teachers.

Since the board was reconfigured in December, with four newly elected members, he said, “We don’t have any meaningful improvements to any buildings for the safety and health of our students, nor did you change anything academically of any note.”

The school board is considering a proposed update of aging climate control systems, lighting and other equipment at the senior high and junior high at a projected cost of $21.5 million.

Among the new academic offerings this year are a series of aviation courses.

Cunningham also took issue with the board’s move in September to approve replacement of artificial turf on two high school athletic fields, at a cost of $1.68 million.

Board member Dr. Rhonda Laughlin agreed that, in the long run, other facility needs should take priority over turf replacement. But, she said, while new board members were brought up to speed, the turf project was one on which they all could agree.

“Those who didn’t have all the background knowledge needed to be given more information,” she said of new members, but added, “We still have to move forward.”

Greater Latrobe had been considering an overall facilities plan calling for at least $182 million in proposed construction and renovations. That plan was projected to raise district property taxes by 24 mills by 2039, but it was halted in January by a seven-member majority of the school board that included the four new members elected in November.

Laughlin, who is on the district team involved in the teacher contract talks, said she thinks both the district and the union are negotiating in good faith. She said the retirement and replacement of a veteran Pennsylvania State Education Association negotiator involved in the talks “slowed things down a little bit.”

“We are hopeful that the contract will be settled in the very near future,” GLEA President Anthony Seranko told TribLive following the board meeting. “We did have a very well-respected UniServ representative from PSEA retire during the process, but we have had the privilege of working with another veteran member of the PSEA team who has a lot of experience and is quite knowledgeable. The transition was smooth and did not impact the negotiations process.”