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After hearing feedback from the student body, administration and the community over the past few months, McKeesport Area School Board has approved a new student dress code for the 2012-13 school year by a vote of 8-1. School Director Joe Lopretto was the lone vote against the policy.

School Director Trisha Gadson reported that Wal-Mart's corporate office has agreed to send coupons to the district for students to use to purchase dress code approved apparel and that the district will try to arrange special pricing at the North Versailles Township store.

The board's approval of the policy comes with its expectation that the dress code will continue to evolve, as several school directors, including School Board President Patricia Maksin and School Director Tom Maglicco, expressed reservations over specific requirements but felt that the policy needed to move forward.

In other business at April's school board meeting, a $529,000 grant from the state Department of Education will fund a literacy program for pupils in kindergarten through fifth-grade at McKeesport Area School District.

Superintendent Timothy Gabauer said the Keystone to Opportunity Grant is only a portion of a total $38 million awarded to Pennsylvania schools through the federal Striving Readers Comprehensive Literary Program grant.

Gabauer said he will elaborate on the district's plan to implement the program at the school board's May meeting, but said that parents would be "quite pleased with the programming in place."

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Sound System Bids Rejected: The board rejected two bids for a new high school auditorium sound system and plans to seek additional bids for revised specifications. Business Manager David Seropian reported that the district received two bids for the same amount.

School Director Terri Kisan questioned the need to replace the current system, which she reported sounded satisfactory during performances of the high school's annual spring musical, "Beauty and the Beast."

However, Gabauer said the school usually supplements the current system with outside equipment for special events and performances. The sound system has not been updated since before the last renovation to the auditorium.

"It has been a concern of mine for quite a while," Maksin said.

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