From the Charlotte (SC) Observer. To save money, they're playing all the high school basketball games in the same gym, rather than JV at one and varsity at another. The result? Games ending way too late at night, incomplete homework, and a slow teacher day tomorrow.
Saving money, but at a cost to kids?
Schools reduce travel by holding games at one site, but some students get home late.
By Langston Wertz Jr. Posted: Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009
On Feb. 10, a high school basketball game featuring the top two boys' teams in the state started at 8:41p.m. Hopewell's team, ranked No.1, left Vance's gym, after an exhilarating 70-62 win, just before 11 to take a bus back to campus.
By the time the players got home and ready for bed, it was going to be after midnight.
This season, many games, like Hopewell-Vance, increasingly started – and ended – later.
“I've got homework to do and on game nights, a lot of times, you can't do it after school. You have to wait until you get home after the game,” said Hopewell guard Brandyn Curry, a 4.6 student who has signed with Harvard. “It's tough to stay awake in class.”
About 10 years ago, Mecklenburg County principals changed from playing three games at one gym and junior varsity boys at another to playing four games at one site.
Principals thought that by combining games, they could save on expenses.
Until last season, the JV games were played with running clocks, except during the final two minutes of the second and fourth quarters. Before the 2007-08 season, JV coaches asked to remove the running clock in exchange for shortened warm-up and halftime sessions.
In some cases, it's working fine. Myers Park athletics director Greg Clewis said his school has made a point to enforce 10-minute breaks between games and halftimes – five minutes shorter than some schools. His goal is to be done by 9:30 each night.
“I know you'll have something from time to time,” Clewis said. “You'll have a girls' overtime or something like that, but if kids leave the gym at 10:30, then you've got an issue.”
Most CMS teams are mainly playing in Charlotte. In neighboring counties like Cabarrus, late game times, plus long bus rides, can be a bad mix.
Concord boys' coach Scott Brewer has had games start as late at 8:50 more than an hour's bus ride from campus.
“That teacher who coaches is so fatigued that they're affecting 90 to 100 kids because they're too dad-gum tired to teach,” Brewer said. “So it's video day or worksheet day, especially for somebody who teaches, say, English or Chemistry. And even a PE teacher will just sit on their can and roll the balls out.”
Cabarrus County School Board member Wayne Williams said county principals were recently asked if they would like to continue playing four games at one site. Two principals voted to split the games. Six voted not to maintain status quo.
“It makes a whole lot more sense to play JV at one school and varsity at another,” Williams said. “Then you don't have possibility of starting varsity boys too late. Usually this doesn't affect girls teams because when they get done playing, they get on the bus and go home.”
In Union County, teams play four games at one site, but the JV has seven-minute quarters, down one from the norm.
In Wake and Guilford counties, teams either play the JVs at a different site or split games up by boys and girls.
In Gaston County, teams play four games at one site, but the JV plays with a running clock, stopping in the final two minutes of each quarter – a version of CMS' old policy.
“Our games are over by 9, 9:30,” said East Gaston athletics director Ken Howell.
At last week's Hopewell-Vance game, the fourth quarter started at 9:37.
“We need to get (kids) home earlier,” CMS school board member Joe White said. “Some years ago, when boys were at home, girls traveled and that interfered with wrestling. But I would say now as both a grandparent and a school board member, we need to figure this thing out.”
Next fall, CMS schools will be reorganized into new conferences, whose officials will meet in May. Vicki Hamilton, the CMS system AD, said one of the agenda items for that meeting are these late games.
Myers Park's Clewis estimates that if CMS played JV and varsity games at separate sites, for example, there would be no additional bus costs, but schools would add about $400 per night for game staffing.
Hamilton said schools would work hard to find a good solution.
“I've been in gyms this year where I looked at the clock and it's 10:40, and that's difficult when our student-athletes have to travel back to the home school, get in their parents' car and drive home and take care of academic work, and then be back at school at 7a.m. So we're going to get our heads together and see what we can come up with that can reduce the length without stepping on the integrity of the basketball games.”
Showing posts with label news from other districts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news from other districts. Show all posts
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Supervision or Snoopervision?
From the BCCT.
Officials discussing student drug testing
By CHRISTINA KRISTOFIC
A decision may come before the end of the school year.
Central Bucks School District psychologists have spent the past three months meeting with focus groups to discuss the possibility of implementing a random student drug testing program.
They will continue the meetings through March and school district administrators will likely share the information with the school board in late spring. Superintendent N. Robert Laws said this week, "We just don't know yet how we're going to do this and if we're going to do it."
"We're coming on this at a time when our budget doesn't allow for a lot of frills, either," he said. "This isn't free. We're going to have to contract with a lab. No matter how much you invest in it, if you save a life, it's worth it."
Central Bucks has lost graduates to drug overdose in recent years. Jeramiah Seger and John H. Warren IV, both graduates of CB East, overdosed in 2006 on heroin laced with fentanyl. And Kyle Houck, a CB West graduate, overdosed on heroin about a year later.
Laws said the decision to discuss random student drug testing wasn't directly related to those deaths, but they were an influence.
"The unfortunate part is when you deal with young people, there are always cases," he said. "The motivation for us is that we want to put everything in place we can to help students make better decisions. A lot of kids tell us that if they know they might have to pee in a cup and they never know when that's coming, that's a deterrent."
School district officials started talking last spring about implementing a voluntary random student drug testing program in the high schools. They brought Christina Steffner, principal of Hunterdon Central Regional High School in New Jersey and an advocate for random student drug testing, to speak about how drug testing has worked at her school. And they surveyed parents.
The drug testing discussion was put on hold over the summer months and resumed in the fall with the focus groups. Laws said school administrators have met with "just about anyone who would talk to us," including officials from other schools, chiefs of police and business leaders.
Students from Hunterdon Central Regional High School will come to Doylestown early in March to share their thoughts on random student drug testing with students at Central Bucks.
If school officials decide to pursue a random student drug testing program, school officials will also have to research the legality of such a program, negotiate a contract with a lab, seek funding (Laws said the district will apply for grants) and draft a policy to be approved by the school board.
"At this point, I don't know what I'll even be recommending to the board," Laws said. "We want this to be something the community wants us to do. We don't want it to be talked down. We don't want it to be something we're forcing on people. If it's a benefit to keep the kids clean, then we'll provide it as a service."
Laws believes a random student drug testing program could be good for the community if the community wants it.
He said, "It's not about supervision or snoopervision; it's about getting into our kids' lives and protecting them."
Officials discussing student drug testing
By CHRISTINA KRISTOFIC
A decision may come before the end of the school year.
Central Bucks School District psychologists have spent the past three months meeting with focus groups to discuss the possibility of implementing a random student drug testing program.
They will continue the meetings through March and school district administrators will likely share the information with the school board in late spring. Superintendent N. Robert Laws said this week, "We just don't know yet how we're going to do this and if we're going to do it."
"We're coming on this at a time when our budget doesn't allow for a lot of frills, either," he said. "This isn't free. We're going to have to contract with a lab. No matter how much you invest in it, if you save a life, it's worth it."
Central Bucks has lost graduates to drug overdose in recent years. Jeramiah Seger and John H. Warren IV, both graduates of CB East, overdosed in 2006 on heroin laced with fentanyl. And Kyle Houck, a CB West graduate, overdosed on heroin about a year later.
Laws said the decision to discuss random student drug testing wasn't directly related to those deaths, but they were an influence.
"The unfortunate part is when you deal with young people, there are always cases," he said. "The motivation for us is that we want to put everything in place we can to help students make better decisions. A lot of kids tell us that if they know they might have to pee in a cup and they never know when that's coming, that's a deterrent."
School district officials started talking last spring about implementing a voluntary random student drug testing program in the high schools. They brought Christina Steffner, principal of Hunterdon Central Regional High School in New Jersey and an advocate for random student drug testing, to speak about how drug testing has worked at her school. And they surveyed parents.
The drug testing discussion was put on hold over the summer months and resumed in the fall with the focus groups. Laws said school administrators have met with "just about anyone who would talk to us," including officials from other schools, chiefs of police and business leaders.
Students from Hunterdon Central Regional High School will come to Doylestown early in March to share their thoughts on random student drug testing with students at Central Bucks.
If school officials decide to pursue a random student drug testing program, school officials will also have to research the legality of such a program, negotiate a contract with a lab, seek funding (Laws said the district will apply for grants) and draft a policy to be approved by the school board.
"At this point, I don't know what I'll even be recommending to the board," Laws said. "We want this to be something the community wants us to do. We don't want it to be talked down. We don't want it to be something we're forcing on people. If it's a benefit to keep the kids clean, then we'll provide it as a service."
Laws believes a random student drug testing program could be good for the community if the community wants it.
He said, "It's not about supervision or snoopervision; it's about getting into our kids' lives and protecting them."
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Blogging the Inauguration With the PDE
From the Inquirer.
Springfield High students blogging the inauguration
By Dan Hardy, Posted on Sat, Jan. 17, 2009
A group of students from Springfield High School will share the Obama inauguration online with other high school students on Tuesday.
The 10 students will be blogging and videocasting from Washington for the Delaware County high school's Inauguration Project.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has picked up and promoted the project as part of its effort to make the inauguration an educational experience for students. The Springfield program also will include live broadcasts at the National Constitution Center, where Springfield High students will talk to visitors on Inauguration Day.
The coverage, which will include taped segments on a variety of inauguration-related topics, will be coordinated at the high school's broadcast studio. The project will be online at http://shsinaugurationproject.blogspot.com
Since Obama's election, excitement about the trip to the capital has been building, especially among the students who will be standing on the Mall on Inauguration Day.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience," senior Stephanie Scoleri said at the high school on Thursday. "There will be so many people with a common interest and common excitement together in one spot. It's going to be amazing."
Sophomore Rob Toomey added: "It makes me proud to be there. Years from now I will tell my kids about it, that we were there for a historic moment in our history."
Though only a few Springfield High students will personally witness the inaugural events, hundreds of district students got involved in a broad range of activities preparing for the broadcast. They taped segments on presidential and inaugural history and policy questions Obama will face, recited the presidential Oath of Office in several languages, and videotaped musical performances by the school's orchestra and chorus.
Some students even recorded their solution to an "Inaugural Math" problem involving how many police will be needed at the event and how many people will be there. Middle school students recorded messages of support to the Obama children.
"It has been an extraordinary experience," said David Jurkiewicz, a broadcast journalism teacher at the school.
The Springfield High students going to Washington will spend a week there as part of a civic-engagement program run by the Close Up Foundation, which seeks to help students understand their government by giving them an inside look at how it works.
On the day of the inauguration, they will be between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial, interviewing people in the crowd and sharing their impressions. They said they would attempt to broadcast the events live, though there are predictions that the volume of Internet traffic during the inauguration may make that difficult.
That evening and later in the week, the Springfield students will interview their Close Up peers from other states about their perspectives on the Obama administration, and respond to online questions from high school students who are looking at their Web site. They will also talk with area politicians and national policymakers, and visit government sites throughout the city. Upon their return home, they plan to put together a documentary about their experience.
Several of the students said that Obama's election, coupled with the inauguration project, had gotten them to look ahead to the role they will play in society as adults. "[Obama] focuses on the youth; once he started becoming involved, he gave me something to relate to, so because of him, I got more involved in politics," said Scoleri.
Said senior Paul Jamrogowicz: "Our goal [for the Inauguration Project] is to enlighten and help educate kids and teens around the nation about how our government works, and to rejuvenate our youth and get them excited for our future, because we are the ones who will be running things."
That kind of comment is just what the teachers who are helping organize the Inauguration Project hoped for, said Jurkiewicz, the broadcast journalism teacher. "We've been able to pull back; they've taken the reins, they've taken control. . . . They're completely invested in it all."
Added Rob Nelson, a social studies teacher who will go to Washington with the students and is helping put together the technology for the event:
"This is why I got into teaching, watching what these kids have done. I'm amazed."
Springfield High students blogging the inauguration
By Dan Hardy, Posted on Sat, Jan. 17, 2009
A group of students from Springfield High School will share the Obama inauguration online with other high school students on Tuesday.
The 10 students will be blogging and videocasting from Washington for the Delaware County high school's Inauguration Project.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has picked up and promoted the project as part of its effort to make the inauguration an educational experience for students. The Springfield program also will include live broadcasts at the National Constitution Center, where Springfield High students will talk to visitors on Inauguration Day.
The coverage, which will include taped segments on a variety of inauguration-related topics, will be coordinated at the high school's broadcast studio. The project will be online at http://shsinaugurationproject.blogspot.com
Since Obama's election, excitement about the trip to the capital has been building, especially among the students who will be standing on the Mall on Inauguration Day.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience," senior Stephanie Scoleri said at the high school on Thursday. "There will be so many people with a common interest and common excitement together in one spot. It's going to be amazing."
Sophomore Rob Toomey added: "It makes me proud to be there. Years from now I will tell my kids about it, that we were there for a historic moment in our history."
Though only a few Springfield High students will personally witness the inaugural events, hundreds of district students got involved in a broad range of activities preparing for the broadcast. They taped segments on presidential and inaugural history and policy questions Obama will face, recited the presidential Oath of Office in several languages, and videotaped musical performances by the school's orchestra and chorus.
Some students even recorded their solution to an "Inaugural Math" problem involving how many police will be needed at the event and how many people will be there. Middle school students recorded messages of support to the Obama children.
"It has been an extraordinary experience," said David Jurkiewicz, a broadcast journalism teacher at the school.
The Springfield High students going to Washington will spend a week there as part of a civic-engagement program run by the Close Up Foundation, which seeks to help students understand their government by giving them an inside look at how it works.
On the day of the inauguration, they will be between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial, interviewing people in the crowd and sharing their impressions. They said they would attempt to broadcast the events live, though there are predictions that the volume of Internet traffic during the inauguration may make that difficult.
That evening and later in the week, the Springfield students will interview their Close Up peers from other states about their perspectives on the Obama administration, and respond to online questions from high school students who are looking at their Web site. They will also talk with area politicians and national policymakers, and visit government sites throughout the city. Upon their return home, they plan to put together a documentary about their experience.
Several of the students said that Obama's election, coupled with the inauguration project, had gotten them to look ahead to the role they will play in society as adults. "[Obama] focuses on the youth; once he started becoming involved, he gave me something to relate to, so because of him, I got more involved in politics," said Scoleri.
Said senior Paul Jamrogowicz: "Our goal [for the Inauguration Project] is to enlighten and help educate kids and teens around the nation about how our government works, and to rejuvenate our youth and get them excited for our future, because we are the ones who will be running things."
That kind of comment is just what the teachers who are helping organize the Inauguration Project hoped for, said Jurkiewicz, the broadcast journalism teacher. "We've been able to pull back; they've taken the reins, they've taken control. . . . They're completely invested in it all."
Added Rob Nelson, a social studies teacher who will go to Washington with the students and is helping put together the technology for the event:
"This is why I got into teaching, watching what these kids have done. I'm amazed."
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Pennsbury: Tentative agreement would extend contract
From the BCCT.
Tentative agreement would extend contract
In Neshaminy, where they’re also negotiating, teachers have worked under terms of an expired contract for several months, officials said.
By MANASEE WAGH and RACHEL CANELLI
One more year?
The Pennsbury Education Association and the Pennsbury school board have reached a tentative agreement to forgo raises and extend the current contract, pay scale and benefit package for one year, officials said Monday.
Both the board members and the more than 800 Pennsbury teacher union members, though, still have to review and ratify the deal, administrators said.
If approved, the contract would take effect when the current agreement expires on June 30. But most teachers would not receive an increase in this time of recession, said board President Gregory Lucidi. Those who are eligible for longevity and educational attainment increases would still receive them, he said.
The newspaper was unsuccessful Monday in reaching union President George Miller for comment.
After one year, the board and the union would return to bargaining for a new, long-term contract, according to district officials.
The district’s previous contract talks in 2005 resulted in a 21-day teacher strike over a salary and benefits dispute. The final solution was a 4-year deal that provided 2.25 to 2.45 percent salary increases and required educators to kick in between 7 and 10 percent toward health care contributions, administrators said.
Before state law required that Pennsbury begin bargaining this month, the school board surveyed the public’s opinion on a contract, officials said.
Pennsbury’s starting salaries are roughly $41,176 and top out at about $98,222. At $77,524, Pennsbury’s average teacher salary ranks within the top 10 of 727 school districts in the state, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Representing Pennsbury’s school board in the talks is Jeffrey Sultanik, a solicitor involved in Souderton’s tense contract negotiations that are in arbitration, administrators said.
In September, teachers in that district went on strike for 15 days partly because their starting salaries are lower than other Montgomery County school districts. But the school board there is concerned because many of its teachers are in the top tiers of the salary schedule, officials said.
Pennsbury and Bristol Township are the only two Lower Bucks public school districts out of eight whose contracts are due to expire in June. Negotiations on a new pact in Bristol Township got under way last week during a preliminary meeting, district spokeswoman Eileen Kelliher said.
Meanwhile, bargaining is scheduled to continue Wednesday in the Neshaminy School District. Educators there have already worked under their expired deal since June, administrators said.
The Neshaminy school board and the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers are still waiting to review health insurance information from Independence Blue Cross, officials said.
The board there wants teachers to start contributing a percentage toward their insurance premiums, while the teachers have so far proposed no change to the current package. Talks are being held with state-appointed mediator Jill Leeds-Rivera, administrators said.
Tentative agreement would extend contract
In Neshaminy, where they’re also negotiating, teachers have worked under terms of an expired contract for several months, officials said.
By MANASEE WAGH and RACHEL CANELLI
One more year?
The Pennsbury Education Association and the Pennsbury school board have reached a tentative agreement to forgo raises and extend the current contract, pay scale and benefit package for one year, officials said Monday.
Both the board members and the more than 800 Pennsbury teacher union members, though, still have to review and ratify the deal, administrators said.
If approved, the contract would take effect when the current agreement expires on June 30. But most teachers would not receive an increase in this time of recession, said board President Gregory Lucidi. Those who are eligible for longevity and educational attainment increases would still receive them, he said.
The newspaper was unsuccessful Monday in reaching union President George Miller for comment.
After one year, the board and the union would return to bargaining for a new, long-term contract, according to district officials.
The district’s previous contract talks in 2005 resulted in a 21-day teacher strike over a salary and benefits dispute. The final solution was a 4-year deal that provided 2.25 to 2.45 percent salary increases and required educators to kick in between 7 and 10 percent toward health care contributions, administrators said.
Before state law required that Pennsbury begin bargaining this month, the school board surveyed the public’s opinion on a contract, officials said.
Pennsbury’s starting salaries are roughly $41,176 and top out at about $98,222. At $77,524, Pennsbury’s average teacher salary ranks within the top 10 of 727 school districts in the state, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Representing Pennsbury’s school board in the talks is Jeffrey Sultanik, a solicitor involved in Souderton’s tense contract negotiations that are in arbitration, administrators said.
In September, teachers in that district went on strike for 15 days partly because their starting salaries are lower than other Montgomery County school districts. But the school board there is concerned because many of its teachers are in the top tiers of the salary schedule, officials said.
Pennsbury and Bristol Township are the only two Lower Bucks public school districts out of eight whose contracts are due to expire in June. Negotiations on a new pact in Bristol Township got under way last week during a preliminary meeting, district spokeswoman Eileen Kelliher said.
Meanwhile, bargaining is scheduled to continue Wednesday in the Neshaminy School District. Educators there have already worked under their expired deal since June, administrators said.
The Neshaminy school board and the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers are still waiting to review health insurance information from Independence Blue Cross, officials said.
The board there wants teachers to start contributing a percentage toward their insurance premiums, while the teachers have so far proposed no change to the current package. Talks are being held with state-appointed mediator Jill Leeds-Rivera, administrators said.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Bad Economy = Lower Costs?
From the NJ Star-Ledger.
So? Dust off the old K-12 school plans and let's see if it can be built for less money. Stop trying to cram kids into a school that was built for the 1950s and lets have a 21st century school that can accommodate everyone.
Taxpayers save on two school projects
Construction slump leads to cut-rate bids
Thursday, January 08, 2009
BY RUDY LARINI Star-Ledger Staff
The dismal economy does have its bright spots.
The New Jersey Schools Development Authority, the state agency responsible for school construction, is benefiting from a depressed construction market that will save taxpayers nearly $9 million to build two schools in South Jersey.
Eighteen bids were received for the two projects, including a dozen for one of the schools. James Poole, the authority's senior director for procurement and contract services, said the dozen bids was "unprecedented" for a project of that magnitude in his experience with the authority and its predecessor, the Schools Construction Corp.
Kris Kolluri, the authority's chief executive officer, attributed the high number of bidders to a "robust and competitive" construction industry in a depressed economy where residential and commercial development have slowed to a crawl.
"The market conditions have a lot to do with it," Kolluri said. "And the low cost is a benefit that the taxpayers will enjoy."
The project attracting 12 bidders was the Egg Harbor Middle and Elementary School in Atlantic County, whose cost had been estimated at $17.9 million. Yesterday, the authority's board accepted a low bid of $15.2 million by Tamburro Bros. Construction Co. of Millville.
The board also approved awarding the low bid of $21 million by Chanree Construction Co. of Ortley Beach for the Morgan Village Middle School in Camden, a project whose cost had been estimated at $27.2 million.
Both the Egg Harbor school for 364 students and the Morgan Village school for 520 students are scheduled to open in September 2010.
Kolluri also said plans are proceeding to preserve either the full facade or just the tower portion of the 92-year-old Camden High School while building a new $110 million school behind it.
Saving only the tower would cost about $4 million, while restoring the entire facade would cost about $6 million, he said.
The board had held off last month approving a $21 million exterior renovation as part of a $120 million project to modernize the school after questions arose over whether it would be more cost effective to build a new school.
The iconic high school, known as the "castle on the hill," is regarded as an inspirational landmark overlooking the Parkside neighborhood southeast of downtown Camden.
So? Dust off the old K-12 school plans and let's see if it can be built for less money. Stop trying to cram kids into a school that was built for the 1950s and lets have a 21st century school that can accommodate everyone.
Taxpayers save on two school projects
Construction slump leads to cut-rate bids
Thursday, January 08, 2009
BY RUDY LARINI Star-Ledger Staff
The dismal economy does have its bright spots.
The New Jersey Schools Development Authority, the state agency responsible for school construction, is benefiting from a depressed construction market that will save taxpayers nearly $9 million to build two schools in South Jersey.
Eighteen bids were received for the two projects, including a dozen for one of the schools. James Poole, the authority's senior director for procurement and contract services, said the dozen bids was "unprecedented" for a project of that magnitude in his experience with the authority and its predecessor, the Schools Construction Corp.
Kris Kolluri, the authority's chief executive officer, attributed the high number of bidders to a "robust and competitive" construction industry in a depressed economy where residential and commercial development have slowed to a crawl.
"The market conditions have a lot to do with it," Kolluri said. "And the low cost is a benefit that the taxpayers will enjoy."
The project attracting 12 bidders was the Egg Harbor Middle and Elementary School in Atlantic County, whose cost had been estimated at $17.9 million. Yesterday, the authority's board accepted a low bid of $15.2 million by Tamburro Bros. Construction Co. of Millville.
The board also approved awarding the low bid of $21 million by Chanree Construction Co. of Ortley Beach for the Morgan Village Middle School in Camden, a project whose cost had been estimated at $27.2 million.
Both the Egg Harbor school for 364 students and the Morgan Village school for 520 students are scheduled to open in September 2010.
Kolluri also said plans are proceeding to preserve either the full facade or just the tower portion of the 92-year-old Camden High School while building a new $110 million school behind it.
Saving only the tower would cost about $4 million, while restoring the entire facade would cost about $6 million, he said.
The board had held off last month approving a $21 million exterior renovation as part of a $120 million project to modernize the school after questions arose over whether it would be more cost effective to build a new school.
The iconic high school, known as the "castle on the hill," is regarded as an inspirational landmark overlooking the Parkside neighborhood southeast of downtown Camden.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Bensalem Band Gets Lessons From Experts
From the BCCT.
Musicians to get lessons from experts
By: JOAN HELLYER
About 100 Bensalem students have signed up to take part in "An Evening of Master Classes."
Pawel Bogdanowicz believes musicians, just by their nature, are constantly looking for ways to improve.
"We're always striving for perfection," said Pawel, 17, a trumpet player in the Bensalem High School band.
That's why the high school senior said he's looking forward to Jan. 14, when he and about 100 other Bensalem students will work with professional musicians, actors, teachers and college professors in free, performance-based workshops at the school off Hulmeville Road.
During "An Evening of Master Classes," clinicians will provide the students in third through 12th grade with an outside perspective on how to improve their techniques and delivery, organizers said.
"Something might click for you that didn't click before. That's what you are waiting for, that one bit of inspiration," Pawel said during a band rehearsal Monday afternoon.
High school instrumental music teacher Michael Drobish came up with the idea for the workshops after serving as a visiting clinician at a master class in the Centennial School District. The program is similar to fine arts workshops hosted by other area districts, he said.
The goal is to help students develop their talents to improve their performances and be better prepared for talent-type competitions against their peers, Drobish said.
"He cares," Bensalem senior Katie Schlenker, 17, said. "He wants us to all be better musicians."
Katie, an oboe player, hopes working with a college professor during the master class will help her build on her previous success in district band competition, where she was first chair in the oboe section last year.
The future music major said she also welcomes the opportunity to get a feel for what college will be like, since she expects to be working with a professor during the workshop.
"I think anyone who has an opportunity like this should take advantage of it," Katie said. "The [clinicians] are great performers. I hope everyone learns a lot."
Musicians to get lessons from experts
By: JOAN HELLYER
About 100 Bensalem students have signed up to take part in "An Evening of Master Classes."
Pawel Bogdanowicz believes musicians, just by their nature, are constantly looking for ways to improve.
"We're always striving for perfection," said Pawel, 17, a trumpet player in the Bensalem High School band.
That's why the high school senior said he's looking forward to Jan. 14, when he and about 100 other Bensalem students will work with professional musicians, actors, teachers and college professors in free, performance-based workshops at the school off Hulmeville Road.
During "An Evening of Master Classes," clinicians will provide the students in third through 12th grade with an outside perspective on how to improve their techniques and delivery, organizers said.
"Something might click for you that didn't click before. That's what you are waiting for, that one bit of inspiration," Pawel said during a band rehearsal Monday afternoon.
High school instrumental music teacher Michael Drobish came up with the idea for the workshops after serving as a visiting clinician at a master class in the Centennial School District. The program is similar to fine arts workshops hosted by other area districts, he said.
The goal is to help students develop their talents to improve their performances and be better prepared for talent-type competitions against their peers, Drobish said.
"He cares," Bensalem senior Katie Schlenker, 17, said. "He wants us to all be better musicians."
Katie, an oboe player, hopes working with a college professor during the master class will help her build on her previous success in district band competition, where she was first chair in the oboe section last year.
The future music major said she also welcomes the opportunity to get a feel for what college will be like, since she expects to be working with a professor during the workshop.
"I think anyone who has an opportunity like this should take advantage of it," Katie said. "The [clinicians] are great performers. I hope everyone learns a lot."
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Bristol's $34M School Opening Soon
While Reiter is shuttered, and Grandview and the high school are serving temporary duty, lets think about "what if"...
$34M school expected to be completed by spring
Posted in News on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 4:17 pm by Joan Hellyer
The price tag for Bristol’s new pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade school is pushing $34 million thanks to a 2007 soil remediation delay, change orders and contractor claims, officials said.
That’s almost $4 million more than originally estimated when construction got underway in late 2006, and about $800,000 more than the most previous estimate on the project. The school board plans to use bond money and about $1.7 million from the district’s capital reserve fund to cover all the expenses, said Joseph Roe, Bristol’s business manager.
The building, located at 450 Beaver Street adjacent to Warren Snyder-John Girotti Elementary School, is designed to serve approximately 1,110 students, district officials said.
It was supposed to open in September, but various delays, including the removal of about 2,000 tons of urban fill last year, have forced officials to push its scheduled opening to Sept. 2009.
Construction on the expansive, two-story brick building with a red and gray color scheme is about 80 percent complete, said Angelo Rago, the district’s project representative, during a tour of the school last week.
The building’s roof, structural supports, and heating and cooling systems are in place. Crews are now working on the school’s interior. The project should be finished by the spring, Rago said.
The school includes about 70 classrooms spread across a couple different floors and wings to separate the different age groups of the students, he said. The early learning center is positioned on the west side of the building and includes a separate entrance for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students.
The first floor of the classroom wing on the building’s east side will be for first- through fifth-grade students and the wing’s second floor will be for middle school-aged students, said Rago and Snyder-Girotti Principal Rosemary Parmigiani during the tour. Special education classes will be spread throughout the building.
The school includes a cafeteria, gymnasium and auditorium, and not just one space for all three, as is the case at the old Snyder-Girotti.
“Now we’ll be able to have three events going on at the same time,” Parmigiani said. “It’s something we didn’t have before.”
The school also includes a family and consumer science room and a state-of-the-art media center and library.
Along the tour, Principal Parmigiani, Rago, and John D’Angelo, the school board’s vice president, repeatedly pointed out areas designated for storage. “That’s because we don’t have any room now,” Parmigiani said.
At this point in the project, district officials don’t foresee any major problems developing, D’Angelo said.
“But we remain vigilant, because we want to stay on top of the [project’s] expenses,” he said.
$34M school expected to be completed by spring
Posted in News on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 4:17 pm by Joan Hellyer
The price tag for Bristol’s new pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade school is pushing $34 million thanks to a 2007 soil remediation delay, change orders and contractor claims, officials said.That’s almost $4 million more than originally estimated when construction got underway in late 2006, and about $800,000 more than the most previous estimate on the project. The school board plans to use bond money and about $1.7 million from the district’s capital reserve fund to cover all the expenses, said Joseph Roe, Bristol’s business manager.
The building, located at 450 Beaver Street adjacent to Warren Snyder-John Girotti Elementary School, is designed to serve approximately 1,110 students, district officials said.
It was supposed to open in September, but various delays, including the removal of about 2,000 tons of urban fill last year, have forced officials to push its scheduled opening to Sept. 2009.
Construction on the expansive, two-story brick building with a red and gray color scheme is about 80 percent complete, said Angelo Rago, the district’s project representative, during a tour of the school last week.
The building’s roof, structural supports, and heating and cooling systems are in place. Crews are now working on the school’s interior. The project should be finished by the spring, Rago said.
The school includes about 70 classrooms spread across a couple different floors and wings to separate the different age groups of the students, he said. The early learning center is positioned on the west side of the building and includes a separate entrance for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students.
The first floor of the classroom wing on the building’s east side will be for first- through fifth-grade students and the wing’s second floor will be for middle school-aged students, said Rago and Snyder-Girotti Principal Rosemary Parmigiani during the tour. Special education classes will be spread throughout the building.
The school includes a cafeteria, gymnasium and auditorium, and not just one space for all three, as is the case at the old Snyder-Girotti.
“Now we’ll be able to have three events going on at the same time,” Parmigiani said. “It’s something we didn’t have before.”
The school also includes a family and consumer science room and a state-of-the-art media center and library.
Along the tour, Principal Parmigiani, Rago, and John D’Angelo, the school board’s vice president, repeatedly pointed out areas designated for storage. “That’s because we don’t have any room now,” Parmigiani said.
At this point in the project, district officials don’t foresee any major problems developing, D’Angelo said.
“But we remain vigilant, because we want to stay on top of the [project’s] expenses,” he said.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Special Education Inclusion
From the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
Schools aim for inclusion with special-needs
Amy Crawford, TRIBUNE-REVIEW Saturday, December 20, 2008
Most of the first-graders at Bon Air Elementary in Lower Burrell raised their hands, eager to sound out the words that teachers Courtney Barbiaux and Jennifer Hartung spelled with magnetic letters on the blackboard.
As Hartung spelled out jump, hump, and stump, Barbiaux, a special education teacher, scanned the room, looking for students who were having trouble grasping the concept of blended consonants.
Schools aim for inclusion with special-needs
Amy Crawford, TRIBUNE-REVIEW Saturday, December 20, 2008
Most of the first-graders at Bon Air Elementary in Lower Burrell raised their hands, eager to sound out the words that teachers Courtney Barbiaux and Jennifer Hartung spelled with magnetic letters on the blackboard.
As Hartung spelled out jump, hump, and stump, Barbiaux, a special education teacher, scanned the room, looking for students who were having trouble grasping the concept of blended consonants.
Among the 19 children in the class are two with autism and one with a learning disability. Despite their special education status, they were fully a part of the class, working on the same lesson as everybody else.
A few years ago, those students would have been sent to another room for separate lessons. Today, students with special needs are more often included in the mainstream classroom, an approach proponents say helps special education students academically and socially.
The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, passed in 1990 and revised in 1997 and 2004, says that students with disabilities should spend as much time as possible with their non-disabled peers. In 2004, the Pennsylvania Department of Education settled a class-action lawsuit over that requirement, and since then the state has held school districts more accountable.
Four years later, many schools still are scrambling to get it right, often simply "dumping" all of their special education students in mainstream classes, said Bernard Miller, director for exceptional programs at the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
Critics, including some advocates for the disabled, say mainstreaming can be taken too far, when students with serious learning problems are left to fend for themselves in regular classrooms.
"Inclusion is really big right now," Miller said.
But, while the teachers' union favors inclusion when appropriate, Miller said, "This is a big state and there are huge differences district to district."
Ideally, Miller said, general education teachers would be trained and prepared to have special-needs students in their classrooms, and those students who need extra help would still have access to a special education teacher. For many students, Miller said, pulling them out of the regular classroom is still the best option.
"Inclusion isn't an exact science," Miller said. "When it is working, we need to celebrate it, and when it's not, we need to go back to the drawing board."
One strategy used by several districts in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties is co-teaching, where two teachers team up to teach a class, as in the first grade at Bon Air.
It's an idea that has been around since the 1990s, but in recent years has become more widespread.
Ellen Estomin, who directs the special education programs in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, said every school in the city district has an inclusion program.
Some of those schools use co-teaching, she said, and the district plans to expand the method to more schools.
"For inclusion to work, it takes a team of people," Estomin said. "We are really working hard to make it work well."
The Franklin Regional School District has used co-teaching since 2000, longer than most districts, said special education director Ron Tarosky.
"Our kids do very well," Tarosky said proudly, noting that the district's special education students met requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act every year.
Most general education teachers do not have much experience with special education, Tarosky said, and that can make mainstreaming difficult. The benefit of co-teaching is that it allows a teacher who knows the content --- reading, math or science, for example ---- to work together with one who understands how to adapt it for special-needs students.
Recently at Franklin Regional Senior High School in Murrysville, English teacher Susan White and special education teacher Tina Girt were guiding ninth-graders, several of whom have learning disabilities, through the play "A Raisin in the Sun."
Using tests and evaluations, the pair could tell which students were grasping the material and who needed extra help or a modified assignment. White said the two-teacher team seemed to benefit all the students, not just those with special needs.
With more than a decade's experience in special education, Girt remembered a time when students with learning disabilities usually were segregated from their peers. The push for inclusion was an improvement, she said.
"The minute you put them in the special ed class, they misbehave because they feel like the expectations are lower there," Girt said.
Nancy Janicak, whose son Justin, 14, has Down syndrome, said she noticed that inclusion can boost a student's confidence.
The family moved to Export from Indiana County last year, and Justin now is part of an inclusion program at Franklin Regional Middle School. He still works on math and English with a special education teacher, but goes to class with his seventh-grade peers for other subjects, learning the same lessons.
"He doesn't have to remember as much as the other children," Nancy Janicak said, "but he's held accountable for the curriculum."
Being included has made Justin more excited about school, his mother said, and he has been making friends.
"He's one of the gang now," she said, "instead of the kid in 'that room.' "
At Bon Air Elementary, administrators said the first official year of co-teaching has been going well. Barbiaux and Hartung, who co-teach language arts, were pleased with their first-graders' progress.
"We've seen them improve," said Hartung, who attributed gains over last year's class to having a second teacher in the room. "It's easier for us to pick up on a lot more --- who's struggling, who needs more help."
Every student benefits from a lower student-teacher ratio, Hartung said.
Administrators in Burrell School District have high hopes for the co-teaching program, which operates under the motto "Every child can learn."
"There have been some times when students have been mainstreamed and it hasn't worked out," said Matthew Conner, who began the program last year as the special education director. "But with this model, they have more support and it hasn't been an issue."
Conner, who now is principal at Burrell's Charles A. Huston Middle School, said he hopes to find that co-taught students will do better on the PSSA, the standardized test Pennsylvania uses to determine whether schools are making progress under No Child Left Behind.
Bon Air officials already were noticing substantial improvements on scores for the 4Sight test, which projects PSSA scores.
"If they're mainstreamed and they're successful, it increases their confidence," Conner said. "We hope that spills over into the PSSAs."
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Neshaminy: Tax hike ‘inevitable’
From the BCCT.
What's the Morrisville budget like?
District official: Tax hike ‘inevitable’
By REGIS D’ANGIOLINI
The financial outlook for the Neshaminy School District is bleak.
That was the picture business administrator Joseph Paradise painted at Monday night’s board strategic action committee meeting — a meeting that also saw presentations on the proposed fullday kindergarten program and the relocation of the Tawanka Learning Center.
While real estate tax collection in the district remains high, according to Paradise, the amount of revenue generated from the real estate transfer tax, the business privilege tax and the mercantile tax are all down. As a result, anticipated revenue for tax collection in the district could be one half of one percent — or $500,000 — lower than what was anticipated as early as last spring.
“We [in the Neshaminy School District] are not isolated from the larger economic crisis involving our country,” Paradise said.
When asked whether this would result in a property tax increase in next year’s budget, Paradise responded that such an increase would be “inevitable.” He would not give a figure, but said that the amount would be determined in budget development meetings slated to begin in January, although the district has already been working on the budget.
A major concern of his at the present time, however, is the district’s depleted fund balance, which has been dipped into during the past few years, he said. Three years ago the fund balance was $13.6 million, but as of last June it had been reduced to $4.8 million, with another $3.5 million scheduled to be used in this year’s budget.
“These are scary numbers to me — when you start putting together declining savings and sliding revenue,” he said.
Money could be made up by selling the closed Eisenhower Elementary School, which hasn’t been used as an elementary school by the district in 32 years, Paradise said.
However, one of the proposals on the table for relocating the Tawanka Learning Center is to the Eisenhower Elementary School. That move would cost the district $116,000, while the proposal to move it to an unused wing of the high school would cost $62,000, Paradise said. Both proposals were presented to the board, which is expected to continue discussing the issue at its Jan. 13 work session.
January will also see the continuation of the full-day kindergarten proposal outlined Monday night by Jaqueline Rattigan, director of elementary education. Rattigan estimated the cost at $1.3 million and said it would require the hiring of 17 more teachers and the utilization of 17 additional classrooms to serve an estimated 532 students.
In order to reduce costs, Rattigan said she will investigate a possible pilot program at the suggestion of several board members.
Prior to the committee meeting, the board elected Kim Koutsouradis as its new vice president in a 5-4 vote at the continuation of it reorganization meeting.
What's the Morrisville budget like?
District official: Tax hike ‘inevitable’
By REGIS D’ANGIOLINI
The financial outlook for the Neshaminy School District is bleak.
That was the picture business administrator Joseph Paradise painted at Monday night’s board strategic action committee meeting — a meeting that also saw presentations on the proposed fullday kindergarten program and the relocation of the Tawanka Learning Center.
While real estate tax collection in the district remains high, according to Paradise, the amount of revenue generated from the real estate transfer tax, the business privilege tax and the mercantile tax are all down. As a result, anticipated revenue for tax collection in the district could be one half of one percent — or $500,000 — lower than what was anticipated as early as last spring.
“We [in the Neshaminy School District] are not isolated from the larger economic crisis involving our country,” Paradise said.
When asked whether this would result in a property tax increase in next year’s budget, Paradise responded that such an increase would be “inevitable.” He would not give a figure, but said that the amount would be determined in budget development meetings slated to begin in January, although the district has already been working on the budget.
A major concern of his at the present time, however, is the district’s depleted fund balance, which has been dipped into during the past few years, he said. Three years ago the fund balance was $13.6 million, but as of last June it had been reduced to $4.8 million, with another $3.5 million scheduled to be used in this year’s budget.
“These are scary numbers to me — when you start putting together declining savings and sliding revenue,” he said.
Money could be made up by selling the closed Eisenhower Elementary School, which hasn’t been used as an elementary school by the district in 32 years, Paradise said.
However, one of the proposals on the table for relocating the Tawanka Learning Center is to the Eisenhower Elementary School. That move would cost the district $116,000, while the proposal to move it to an unused wing of the high school would cost $62,000, Paradise said. Both proposals were presented to the board, which is expected to continue discussing the issue at its Jan. 13 work session.
January will also see the continuation of the full-day kindergarten proposal outlined Monday night by Jaqueline Rattigan, director of elementary education. Rattigan estimated the cost at $1.3 million and said it would require the hiring of 17 more teachers and the utilization of 17 additional classrooms to serve an estimated 532 students.
In order to reduce costs, Rattigan said she will investigate a possible pilot program at the suggestion of several board members.
Prior to the committee meeting, the board elected Kim Koutsouradis as its new vice president in a 5-4 vote at the continuation of it reorganization meeting.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Honors for CB East and West
From the BCCT.
CB East and West ranked among top schools by U.S. News
By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
Central Bucks East High School and Central Bucks West High School are among the best high schools in America.
U.S. News & World Report and School Evaluation Services placed them in the top 604 out of more than 21,000 public high schools recognized in 48 states, based on their students' college readiness.
“We are incredibly proud of our student body, our staff and our surrounding community. An achievement of this nature is the result of a caring school community, and we're excited by the opportunities our school creates for its students,” said Abe Lucabaugh, the principal at Central Bucks East.
CB West and CB East serve about 3,000 Doylestown-area students in grades 10 through 12.
School Evaluation Services, a K-12 education data research business run by Standard & Poor's, only assigned individual rankings to the top 100 Gold Medal schools.
No other area school was ranked on the America's Best High Schools list. However, not all high schools provided sufficient data to be rated for the list, according to School Evaluation Services.
In Pennsylvania, two schools won a Top 100 distinction. Masterman Julia R Secondary School in Philadelphia is No. 53 and Conestoga Senior High School in Chester County is No. 79.
Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Va., is No. 1 in the country for the second year in a row.
School Evaluation Services placed participating schools at gold, silver or bronze levels or honorable mention, depending on how well they achieved the following criteria:
* Achievement levels for all students in reading and math core subjects on state accountability tests.
* Ability to achieve proficiency rates on state tests for the school's least advantaged student groups.
* Providing students with a challenging college-ready curriculum, measured through a college readiness index derived from participation and performance on AP tests.
The ranking system by School Evaluation Services is the only one that considers the performance of students at every level within a school, according to the organization.
CB East and CB West were placed in the silver medal level.
The top 100 high schools include 18 charter schools and 16 magnet schools. Student populations in the top schools vary greatly, ranging from 125 in Limestone, Maine, to 4,296 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
CB East and West ranked among top schools by U.S. News
By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
Central Bucks East High School and Central Bucks West High School are among the best high schools in America.
U.S. News & World Report and School Evaluation Services placed them in the top 604 out of more than 21,000 public high schools recognized in 48 states, based on their students' college readiness.
“We are incredibly proud of our student body, our staff and our surrounding community. An achievement of this nature is the result of a caring school community, and we're excited by the opportunities our school creates for its students,” said Abe Lucabaugh, the principal at Central Bucks East.
CB West and CB East serve about 3,000 Doylestown-area students in grades 10 through 12.
School Evaluation Services, a K-12 education data research business run by Standard & Poor's, only assigned individual rankings to the top 100 Gold Medal schools.
No other area school was ranked on the America's Best High Schools list. However, not all high schools provided sufficient data to be rated for the list, according to School Evaluation Services.
In Pennsylvania, two schools won a Top 100 distinction. Masterman Julia R Secondary School in Philadelphia is No. 53 and Conestoga Senior High School in Chester County is No. 79.
Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Va., is No. 1 in the country for the second year in a row.
School Evaluation Services placed participating schools at gold, silver or bronze levels or honorable mention, depending on how well they achieved the following criteria:
* Achievement levels for all students in reading and math core subjects on state accountability tests.
* Ability to achieve proficiency rates on state tests for the school's least advantaged student groups.
* Providing students with a challenging college-ready curriculum, measured through a college readiness index derived from participation and performance on AP tests.
The ranking system by School Evaluation Services is the only one that considers the performance of students at every level within a school, according to the organization.
CB East and CB West were placed in the silver medal level.
The top 100 high schools include 18 charter schools and 16 magnet schools. Student populations in the top schools vary greatly, ranging from 125 in Limestone, Maine, to 4,296 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Who Let the Dogs Out?
From the BCCT.
Canine team to seek out drugs
By JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
The Bensalem school board has hired a canine search company to help find prescription drugs that students bring to school without permission.
The searches are needed because the medications could be misused as stimulants or depressants, said Superintendent James Lombardo on Monday night after the board approved the random searches.
The Partnership for a Drug Free America's annual tracking study suggests prescription drug abuse among teens and young adults is a serious problem in the United States.
The recently released study found that one in five teens has abused a prescription pain medication, one in five reported abusing prescription stimulants and tranquilizers and one in 10 teens has abused cough medication.
Hiring Interquest Detection Canines of Eastern Pennsylvania is part of the district's ongoing effort to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for its students, Lombardo said.
Bensalem is among several area school districts to enlist Interquest searches in its anti-drug enforcement efforts. Centennial, Central Bucks and Council Rock also have utilized the firm in the last several years.
“We want to make sure the schools are as safe as they can be,” the Bensalem superintendent said after the school board agreed to hire the firm at a cost of $215 per three-hour search.
District officials will decide when and where the searches take place, Lombardo said.
They began considering the searches in the spring after dealing with a couple of cases where students brought prescription medications to school.
Lombardo would not say what medications were brought in or identify the schools where the incidents took place.
Students who are prescribed medication are supposed to bring it to the school nurse, Lombardo said. Students who bring medications to school without going through proper channels face suspension. If they bring the prescriptions to school to give to other students, they face expulsion, he said.
The agreement with Interquest runs through June.
Canine team to seek out drugs
By JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
The Bensalem school board has hired a canine search company to help find prescription drugs that students bring to school without permission.
The searches are needed because the medications could be misused as stimulants or depressants, said Superintendent James Lombardo on Monday night after the board approved the random searches.
The Partnership for a Drug Free America's annual tracking study suggests prescription drug abuse among teens and young adults is a serious problem in the United States.
The recently released study found that one in five teens has abused a prescription pain medication, one in five reported abusing prescription stimulants and tranquilizers and one in 10 teens has abused cough medication.
Hiring Interquest Detection Canines of Eastern Pennsylvania is part of the district's ongoing effort to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for its students, Lombardo said.
Bensalem is among several area school districts to enlist Interquest searches in its anti-drug enforcement efforts. Centennial, Central Bucks and Council Rock also have utilized the firm in the last several years.
“We want to make sure the schools are as safe as they can be,” the Bensalem superintendent said after the school board agreed to hire the firm at a cost of $215 per three-hour search.
District officials will decide when and where the searches take place, Lombardo said.
They began considering the searches in the spring after dealing with a couple of cases where students brought prescription medications to school.
Lombardo would not say what medications were brought in or identify the schools where the incidents took place.
Students who are prescribed medication are supposed to bring it to the school nurse, Lombardo said. Students who bring medications to school without going through proper channels face suspension. If they bring the prescriptions to school to give to other students, they face expulsion, he said.
The agreement with Interquest runs through June.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Education Coalitions Forming
From the Allentown Morning call. Forging coalitions between teachers and the community that's been left out of the education process...what an interesting idea.
"There's a lot to be said for an organization working independent of the school board."
"Quality education is an issue that affects everybody."
Sounds like change that would benefit everyone.
New coalition flexes muscle in Bethlehem
BASD: Minorities, teachers union join on education issues.
By Steve Esack | Of The Morning Call November 23, 2008
Separately, advocates for teachers and Bethlehem's growing minority community have felt left out of the city's education debate.
Together, under the banner of the newly formed Bethlehem Coalition for Quality Education, they're making themselves heard.
If successful, the coalition, which made school board members take notice at a recent meeting, could turn into the biggest union-backed political movement Bethlehem has seen since the steelworkers union became a power in City Council elections.
''The teaching job today is a very political job,'' said Craig Zieger, teachers union president for 12 years. ''I've probably become the most political president and I am moving the union in that direction. We will be running candidates [for school board].''
The coalition formed in September, comprising the Bethlehem Education Association, Pennsylvania State Education Association, Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations of the Lehigh Valley and the Bethlehem branch of the NAACP. It went public Monday by opposing an administrative proposal to make passing the 11th-grade PSSA tests -- or some other exam -- a graduation requirement. The board tabled the proposal.
Superintendent Joseph Lewis did not respond during the meeting to coalition members' comments. He did not return calls later in the week.
School Board Vice President Judith Dexter said Thursday the coalition swayed her during the meeting with their arguments, among them that a PSSA graduation requirement could increase the drop-out rate and cost the cash-strapped district more than $600,000 for tutoring.
''It was the first time I heard of them,'' Dexter said, ''and I was influenced by the people who took the podium.''
As the Bethlehem Area School Area District grappled with low state test scores, a federal voter discrimination lawsuit, periodic infighting and financial deficits, teachers and minorities have felt relegated to the sidelines. The coalition has given them a stronger voice.
Esther Lee, longtime leader of the Bethlehem branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said she often thought her concerns, especially those about low test scores among minority students, were not being addressed by the board and administration. The union gives her more support, she said.
''The NAACP has on many occasions voiced concern over the PSSA,'' Lee said Tuesday. ''The strength of having Craig Zieger, president of the Bethlehem Education Association, stand up and say 'I can't support this' gave us credence.''
Charlene Koch, the longest-serving school board member, said she does not recall the union ever taking such a political stance and welcomed the input.
''There's a lot to be said for an organization working independent of the school board,'' Koch said.
Political awakening
The 187,000-member Pennsylvania State Education Association has always been part of the political process, said spokesman Wythe Keever. Two years ago, PSEA launched a new initiative of community organizing in Reading and now in Bethlehem.
''We are trying to reach out to minority constituents in those communities,'' Keever said.
The Bethlehem district has had a diversity task force for several years, but Zieger said he was never asked to join. After he found out about PSEA's work in Reading, he sought the union's help in Bethlehem. He said his union needs to be more engaged to bridge communication gaps among races to improve education.
''Teachers can't sit back anymore,'' Zieger said. ''We know what's good for kids.''
Lorenzo Canizares, a former New York City teacher turned community organizer for the PSEA, is leading the effort in both cities. By coming together in an informal setting, he said, more people may get the courage to run for school board.
''We are not here to point fingers at anybody because we have to work together,'' Canizares said. ''Quality education is an issue that affects everybody.''
Sis-Obed Torres, president of the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations, agreed. He said low test scores among minorities is a national issue that cannot be solved unless people work together.
''I'm not sure how this group is going to play out,'' Torres said. ''But we are citizens of this country, we are residents of this city and we have to be engaged.''
Racial issues
Race, politics and education have been sticky issues in Bethlehem. The student population is about 53 percent white, 33 percent Hispanic, 10 percent black, 3 percent Asian, and a mix of other races. The school board is all white.
In the last 15 years, no minority candidate has won a school board election or been appointed to a vacancy. In August, the school board settled a 2006 federal voters rights lawsuit that alleged the district's at-large voting system discriminated against Hispanics.
The settlement created six at-large seats and three geographic seats, one of which will encompass the predominantly Hispanic areas of south Bethlehem and Fountain Hill.
That seat is up for election in May, as are seats currently held by Dexter, a Democrat; Craig T. Haytmanek, a Republican; Irene Follweiler, a Republican; and Charlene Koch, a Democrat.
Haytmanek, who lives in Fountain Hill, said he is undecided if he will seek re-election. He said should he choose to run, he will abide by the coalition's request to run as an at-large candidate to give a Hispanic a better chance of winning the geographic seat.
Zieger said the coalition members will try to meet at least monthly to talk about educational issues and will bring their concerns to the school board.
''We have vast diversity in this community and there is a large group of individuals -- whether they be Latino, African-American or economically disadvantaged -- who feel disenfranchised by the system,'' he said. ''It's a very intimidating system. They need a voice and the coalition will be that voice.''
"There's a lot to be said for an organization working independent of the school board."
"Quality education is an issue that affects everybody."
Sounds like change that would benefit everyone.
New coalition flexes muscle in Bethlehem
BASD: Minorities, teachers union join on education issues.
By Steve Esack | Of The Morning Call November 23, 2008
Separately, advocates for teachers and Bethlehem's growing minority community have felt left out of the city's education debate.
Together, under the banner of the newly formed Bethlehem Coalition for Quality Education, they're making themselves heard.
If successful, the coalition, which made school board members take notice at a recent meeting, could turn into the biggest union-backed political movement Bethlehem has seen since the steelworkers union became a power in City Council elections.
''The teaching job today is a very political job,'' said Craig Zieger, teachers union president for 12 years. ''I've probably become the most political president and I am moving the union in that direction. We will be running candidates [for school board].''
The coalition formed in September, comprising the Bethlehem Education Association, Pennsylvania State Education Association, Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations of the Lehigh Valley and the Bethlehem branch of the NAACP. It went public Monday by opposing an administrative proposal to make passing the 11th-grade PSSA tests -- or some other exam -- a graduation requirement. The board tabled the proposal.
Superintendent Joseph Lewis did not respond during the meeting to coalition members' comments. He did not return calls later in the week.
School Board Vice President Judith Dexter said Thursday the coalition swayed her during the meeting with their arguments, among them that a PSSA graduation requirement could increase the drop-out rate and cost the cash-strapped district more than $600,000 for tutoring.
''It was the first time I heard of them,'' Dexter said, ''and I was influenced by the people who took the podium.''
As the Bethlehem Area School Area District grappled with low state test scores, a federal voter discrimination lawsuit, periodic infighting and financial deficits, teachers and minorities have felt relegated to the sidelines. The coalition has given them a stronger voice.
Esther Lee, longtime leader of the Bethlehem branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said she often thought her concerns, especially those about low test scores among minority students, were not being addressed by the board and administration. The union gives her more support, she said.
''The NAACP has on many occasions voiced concern over the PSSA,'' Lee said Tuesday. ''The strength of having Craig Zieger, president of the Bethlehem Education Association, stand up and say 'I can't support this' gave us credence.''
Charlene Koch, the longest-serving school board member, said she does not recall the union ever taking such a political stance and welcomed the input.
''There's a lot to be said for an organization working independent of the school board,'' Koch said.
Political awakening
The 187,000-member Pennsylvania State Education Association has always been part of the political process, said spokesman Wythe Keever. Two years ago, PSEA launched a new initiative of community organizing in Reading and now in Bethlehem.
''We are trying to reach out to minority constituents in those communities,'' Keever said.
The Bethlehem district has had a diversity task force for several years, but Zieger said he was never asked to join. After he found out about PSEA's work in Reading, he sought the union's help in Bethlehem. He said his union needs to be more engaged to bridge communication gaps among races to improve education.
''Teachers can't sit back anymore,'' Zieger said. ''We know what's good for kids.''
Lorenzo Canizares, a former New York City teacher turned community organizer for the PSEA, is leading the effort in both cities. By coming together in an informal setting, he said, more people may get the courage to run for school board.
''We are not here to point fingers at anybody because we have to work together,'' Canizares said. ''Quality education is an issue that affects everybody.''
Sis-Obed Torres, president of the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations, agreed. He said low test scores among minorities is a national issue that cannot be solved unless people work together.
''I'm not sure how this group is going to play out,'' Torres said. ''But we are citizens of this country, we are residents of this city and we have to be engaged.''
Racial issues
Race, politics and education have been sticky issues in Bethlehem. The student population is about 53 percent white, 33 percent Hispanic, 10 percent black, 3 percent Asian, and a mix of other races. The school board is all white.
In the last 15 years, no minority candidate has won a school board election or been appointed to a vacancy. In August, the school board settled a 2006 federal voters rights lawsuit that alleged the district's at-large voting system discriminated against Hispanics.
The settlement created six at-large seats and three geographic seats, one of which will encompass the predominantly Hispanic areas of south Bethlehem and Fountain Hill.
That seat is up for election in May, as are seats currently held by Dexter, a Democrat; Craig T. Haytmanek, a Republican; Irene Follweiler, a Republican; and Charlene Koch, a Democrat.
Haytmanek, who lives in Fountain Hill, said he is undecided if he will seek re-election. He said should he choose to run, he will abide by the coalition's request to run as an at-large candidate to give a Hispanic a better chance of winning the geographic seat.
Zieger said the coalition members will try to meet at least monthly to talk about educational issues and will bring their concerns to the school board.
''We have vast diversity in this community and there is a large group of individuals -- whether they be Latino, African-American or economically disadvantaged -- who feel disenfranchised by the system,'' he said. ''It's a very intimidating system. They need a voice and the coalition will be that voice.''
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Board of Education Leadership Award
I found this link to the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) where they highlight their Board of Education Leadership Award. The selections are based on community relations, board operations and policies, board member professional development and related organizational leadership.
Want to see if our leaders in Morrisville would compare well? Here's the criteria for nomination.
Want to see if our leaders in Morrisville would compare well? Here's the criteria for nomination.
About those unpaid bills...
From the BCCT
Yearbook producer sues Truman High School
Posted in News on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 4:45 pm by Joan Hellyer
Jostens Inc. is seeking nearly $46,000 in fees plus interest on some of the expenses from Harry S Truman High School, according to a lawsuit filed today in the county’s Court of Common Pleas.
The suit alleges the Bristol Township school has not paid all expenses due for Truman’s 2006 and 2007 yearbooks. The Minnesota-based yearbook company said Truman owes it $45,859.56.
Almost $31,500 of that amount is for unpaid yearbooks, according to the court filing.
The remainder is for a loan Jostens, Inc. provided to Truman in 2005 so it could resolve “financial issues” the school had with its former yearbook supplier, according to the suit.
Jostens, Inc. also is asking in the suit that Truman pay 18 percent interest on the near $31,500 owed for the yearbooks.
Truman has 20 days to respond to the charges, according to the county court filing.
Yearbook producer sues Truman High School
Posted in News on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 4:45 pm by Joan Hellyer
Jostens Inc. is seeking nearly $46,000 in fees plus interest on some of the expenses from Harry S Truman High School, according to a lawsuit filed today in the county’s Court of Common Pleas.
The suit alleges the Bristol Township school has not paid all expenses due for Truman’s 2006 and 2007 yearbooks. The Minnesota-based yearbook company said Truman owes it $45,859.56.
Almost $31,500 of that amount is for unpaid yearbooks, according to the court filing.
The remainder is for a loan Jostens, Inc. provided to Truman in 2005 so it could resolve “financial issues” the school had with its former yearbook supplier, according to the suit.
Jostens, Inc. also is asking in the suit that Truman pay 18 percent interest on the near $31,500 owed for the yearbooks.
Truman has 20 days to respond to the charges, according to the county court filing.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
CR Teacher Honored
From the BCCT. Congratulations!
Teacher surprised, honored by $25,000 award
Goodnoe Elementary second-grade teacher Maryann Molishus said she’s still deciding what to do with the money.
By RACHEL CANELLI
Maryann Molishus come on down! She’s the next recipient of the 2008 Milken National Educator Award. The nine-year Council Rock elementary school teacher became the latest $25,000 award winner Monday morning as officials travel the country announcing more than 70 educators during surprise school-wide ceremonies. So far, Molishus is only the second teacher chosen from Pennsylvania, administrators said. “I’m still shaking,” Molishus said after the assembly at Goodnoe Elementary School in Newtown. “I’m just really honored because there are so many good teachers in our district. And the kids are still buzzing. It’s nice to share it with them.”
Per Milken rules, the awards must be kept secret until names are announced, so no one knew, officials said. So, when the entire school, including Molishus’ second-grade class, packed the school’s gym, the students and staff thought they were there for an assembly with the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Instead officials called Molishus’ name.
“I really like to celebrate all students,” said Molishus, 39, of Churchville. “I enjoy learning with them, sharing in their excitement and trying different things like technology. It’s important to integrate that into programs because the children become so engaged and learn valuable lessons. It’s fun to come to school.”
Each year, the grants are given to teachers and principals in an attempt to attract, develop, motivate and retain talented educators. While they are ceremoniously presented with large checks during the school-wide assemblies, the teachers get the real money in Los Angeles, Calif., in April.
The winners can use the money any way they want. Previous recipients have paid for their children’s or their own education, purchased equipment for their schools, established scholarships and funded adoptions, officials said.
“There are so many good things that teachers are doing aside from one award,” said Molishus, mother of two daughters. “It’s really important to show that teachers are doing wonderful things, and that’s the point of Milken.”
In the early 1980s, education reform pioneer Lowell Milken created the awards program to acknowledge educators. Since then, more than 2,300 kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers nationwide have been recognized, according to foundation representatives.
The educators are unknowingly nominated by a blue-ribbon panel in their state. They must demonstrate the following: effective instructional practices, accomplishments beyond the classroom, leadership and motivation, administrators said.
Most recently, Molishus said she and her pupils presented a video conference with five other schools.
She said she doesn’t yet know how she’ll use the money, or celebrate her award.
“Maybe I’ll cancel homework tonight,” Molishus said.
Teacher surprised, honored by $25,000 award
Goodnoe Elementary second-grade teacher Maryann Molishus said she’s still deciding what to do with the money.
By RACHEL CANELLI
Maryann Molishus come on down! She’s the next recipient of the 2008 Milken National Educator Award. The nine-year Council Rock elementary school teacher became the latest $25,000 award winner Monday morning as officials travel the country announcing more than 70 educators during surprise school-wide ceremonies. So far, Molishus is only the second teacher chosen from Pennsylvania, administrators said. “I’m still shaking,” Molishus said after the assembly at Goodnoe Elementary School in Newtown. “I’m just really honored because there are so many good teachers in our district. And the kids are still buzzing. It’s nice to share it with them.”
Per Milken rules, the awards must be kept secret until names are announced, so no one knew, officials said. So, when the entire school, including Molishus’ second-grade class, packed the school’s gym, the students and staff thought they were there for an assembly with the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Instead officials called Molishus’ name.
“I really like to celebrate all students,” said Molishus, 39, of Churchville. “I enjoy learning with them, sharing in their excitement and trying different things like technology. It’s important to integrate that into programs because the children become so engaged and learn valuable lessons. It’s fun to come to school.”
Each year, the grants are given to teachers and principals in an attempt to attract, develop, motivate and retain talented educators. While they are ceremoniously presented with large checks during the school-wide assemblies, the teachers get the real money in Los Angeles, Calif., in April.
The winners can use the money any way they want. Previous recipients have paid for their children’s or their own education, purchased equipment for their schools, established scholarships and funded adoptions, officials said.
“There are so many good things that teachers are doing aside from one award,” said Molishus, mother of two daughters. “It’s really important to show that teachers are doing wonderful things, and that’s the point of Milken.”
In the early 1980s, education reform pioneer Lowell Milken created the awards program to acknowledge educators. Since then, more than 2,300 kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers nationwide have been recognized, according to foundation representatives.
The educators are unknowingly nominated by a blue-ribbon panel in their state. They must demonstrate the following: effective instructional practices, accomplishments beyond the classroom, leadership and motivation, administrators said.
Most recently, Molishus said she and her pupils presented a video conference with five other schools.
She said she doesn’t yet know how she’ll use the money, or celebrate her award.
“Maybe I’ll cancel homework tonight,” Molishus said.
Monday, October 27, 2008
School-Business Chemistry in Bristol Township
From the BCCT.
Experimental education
By JOHN ANASTASI
Staff Writer
Scientists at Rhodia’s Bristol Township research and development center took a “chemistry is cool” message and some hands-on experiments to four elementary schools in Lower Bucks and Burlington counties last week.
Reaching out to young people is vital at a time when schools are churning out fewer American scientists and the country is “losing its intellectual property prowess” through expiring patents, said John Cherkauskas Jr., vice president of research and development at the Bristol Township facility.
“Of the scientists training in the United States, my feeling is that a third to half of them are from other countries,” Cherkauskas said, referring to postgraduate training. “The more interesting we make science to students, the better off it is.”
As part of National Chemistry Week, 20 scientists visited Snyder-Girotti Elementary School in Bristol, Lafayette Elementary School in Bristol Township, Fountain Woods Elementary School in the Burlington Township School District and St. Paul’s School in Burlington.
“We try to promote science on both sides of the river,” Cherkauskas said.
Headquartered in France, Rhodia has a presence in 25 countries. Its North American headquarters is in Middlesex County, N.J. Rhodia boasts a diverse portfolio of chemicals used in everything from automobiles and electronics to home care and health and beauty products.
Its market diversity has helped the company weather financial troubles in certain industries, while its far-reaching geographic footprint has helped insulate it from economic slowdowns in certain counties. But it also came with a drawback.
“We were more diverse, but that made it difficult for Wall Street to understand our strategy,” said Cherkauskas, who added that realization prompted the company to pull back and sharpen its focus.
The company sold off some of its business and, in 2005, moved its research and development activity to a smaller property that had previously belonged to Rohm and Haas in Bristol Township.
There Rhodia and about 140 of its permanent and temporary research and development employees worked on several key products segments.
The company produces chemicals used in personal care products like body washes. It also makes a pesticide additive that helps the liquid coat a surface rather than bounce off, a chemical that makes paint easier to apply and a product used in automobile catalytic converters.
“Chemistry is important in everything we do,” Cherkauskas said of society. “We need to instill awareness of the importance of chemistry and show chemistry in a positive light. That can stimulate young people to a career.”
Kati Bryson, sixth-grade teacher at Lafayette Elementary School, said that after Rhodia’s scientists appeared at the Bristol Township school during last year’s National Chemistry Week she noticed that the students seemed more excited about the possibility of a career in science after taking part in some experiments.
“I think their eyes were opened,” said Bryson. “I think it’s a wonderful program. … It lets the kids meet scientists and know they are real people. It gives them a good impression of scientists.”
Experimental education
By JOHN ANASTASI
Staff Writer
Scientists at Rhodia’s Bristol Township research and development center took a “chemistry is cool” message and some hands-on experiments to four elementary schools in Lower Bucks and Burlington counties last week.
Reaching out to young people is vital at a time when schools are churning out fewer American scientists and the country is “losing its intellectual property prowess” through expiring patents, said John Cherkauskas Jr., vice president of research and development at the Bristol Township facility.
“Of the scientists training in the United States, my feeling is that a third to half of them are from other countries,” Cherkauskas said, referring to postgraduate training. “The more interesting we make science to students, the better off it is.”
As part of National Chemistry Week, 20 scientists visited Snyder-Girotti Elementary School in Bristol, Lafayette Elementary School in Bristol Township, Fountain Woods Elementary School in the Burlington Township School District and St. Paul’s School in Burlington.
“We try to promote science on both sides of the river,” Cherkauskas said.
Headquartered in France, Rhodia has a presence in 25 countries. Its North American headquarters is in Middlesex County, N.J. Rhodia boasts a diverse portfolio of chemicals used in everything from automobiles and electronics to home care and health and beauty products.
Its market diversity has helped the company weather financial troubles in certain industries, while its far-reaching geographic footprint has helped insulate it from economic slowdowns in certain counties. But it also came with a drawback.
“We were more diverse, but that made it difficult for Wall Street to understand our strategy,” said Cherkauskas, who added that realization prompted the company to pull back and sharpen its focus.
The company sold off some of its business and, in 2005, moved its research and development activity to a smaller property that had previously belonged to Rohm and Haas in Bristol Township.
There Rhodia and about 140 of its permanent and temporary research and development employees worked on several key products segments.
The company produces chemicals used in personal care products like body washes. It also makes a pesticide additive that helps the liquid coat a surface rather than bounce off, a chemical that makes paint easier to apply and a product used in automobile catalytic converters.
“Chemistry is important in everything we do,” Cherkauskas said of society. “We need to instill awareness of the importance of chemistry and show chemistry in a positive light. That can stimulate young people to a career.”
Kati Bryson, sixth-grade teacher at Lafayette Elementary School, said that after Rhodia’s scientists appeared at the Bristol Township school during last year’s National Chemistry Week she noticed that the students seemed more excited about the possibility of a career in science after taking part in some experiments.
“I think their eyes were opened,” said Bryson. “I think it’s a wonderful program. … It lets the kids meet scientists and know they are real people. It gives them a good impression of scientists.”
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Career center helps kids get ready for future
From the BCCT
Career center helps kids get ready for future
By JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
BRISTOL TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS - Lombardi walked into the new career center at Harry S Truman High School last week not knowing what to do after he graduates.
Less than an hour later, the Truman senior left the center armed with a list of potential careers that might be a good fit for him. The list is based on the answers Jeremy gave during an online survey of his interests and goals. It includes graphic designer, landscaper and airport grounds crew member.
“It really helped me out with possible careers for after high school,” Jeremy, 19, said of the list. “It shows me I've got the world at my fingertips, basically.”
The Bristol Township school used Project 720 funds from the state to create the career center to help Truman students develop a post-high school plan, said Mark Kaye, a retired guidance counselor who oversees the facility.
It includes computers, online career strategy programs, an overhead video screen for presentations and a meeting area for students, counselors and college and trade representatives. Students can do online searches about colleges and universities, apply for free online to Bucks County Community College and make a reservation to take the SAT test at a neighboring high school.
“It's helping us with our future and it's great that we have a center to do that,” said Truman senior Samantha Kurfuss, 17, who plans to pursue a career in criminal justice, phlebotomy or forensic science.
Project 720, named for the number of days a student is in high school, was established a few years ago to provide students with personalized attention, tougher classes and a more rigorous senior year.
Gov. Ed Rendell pushed for the program because surveys suggest an estimated 40 percent of high school graduates are not ready for college and other grads entering the workforce often lack basic math and communication skills, state officials said.
The Morrisville and Palisades school districts were among the first in the state to receive Project 720 grants, which are awarded over a three-year period.
Morrisville used the $120,000 it received between 2005-08 to develop a high school curriculum that includes four years of required mathematics classes and other initiatives, including mentoring and apprenticeship programs, district officials said.
Palisades used the $150,000 during the same time period to expand summer reading programs, integrate technology into math classes and, like Truman, help students develop plans for their career paths.
Bristol Township's Project 720 grant for $217,119 is spread out in three installments between 2007-10.
Once all the Truman seniors have access to the center this year, counselors will arrange interviews with juniors and sophomores to get them thinking about their futures, Kaye said. Ninth-graders at the district's Benjamin Franklin Freshman Academy also are taking the career survey online to help them begin plotting a plan for the future, he said.
Matt Kohler, a Truman senior, had to ask where the center was when he received notice of an interview time. Now he's glad he found it.
“It helps so much. It gives kids so many opportunities,” said Matt, 17, who plans to be a social studies teacher. “It's probably the most important room in the school in my opinion, because it will help you determine where to go after school.”
Several area school districts are receiving Project 720 grants in three installments between 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 to better prepare their students for life after high school. In addition to Bristol Township, the districts are:
BRISTOL
$165,405 to establish a college and career center in the guidance office at Bristol Borough Junior/Senior High School, provide more than 200 virtual online courses to students, establish a reading apprenticeship program and redesign the school's math program.
HATBORO-HORSHAM
$120,000 to establish student internships, integrate Pennsylvania career education and work standards into core academic courses, create a standalone course called Pathways Seminar for high school juniors to address transition planning and personal finance and establish a Student Success Center where students meet with college representatives and speakers from various professions and use numerous resources to develop a post-secondary plan.
LOWER MORELAND
The district is in the process of receiving Project 720 grant money totaling $90,000. The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching district officials Friday for information on how the money will be used.
NORTH PENN
$150,000 to bring in an academic intervention specialist to serve as a success coach and provide academic support for underachieving students. The money also is being used to support student incentive programs and curriculum enhancements, expand the high school's advanced placement program and increase after-school and Saturday academic support activities.
SOUDERTON
$196,770 to implement a more rigorous and relevant curriculum to help students focus their attention on their post-high school plans, and to enhance the high school's Career Pathways initiative.
Sources: Pennsylvania Department of Education and local school districts
Career center helps kids get ready for future
By JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
BRISTOL TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS - Lombardi walked into the new career center at Harry S Truman High School last week not knowing what to do after he graduates.
Less than an hour later, the Truman senior left the center armed with a list of potential careers that might be a good fit for him. The list is based on the answers Jeremy gave during an online survey of his interests and goals. It includes graphic designer, landscaper and airport grounds crew member.
“It really helped me out with possible careers for after high school,” Jeremy, 19, said of the list. “It shows me I've got the world at my fingertips, basically.”
The Bristol Township school used Project 720 funds from the state to create the career center to help Truman students develop a post-high school plan, said Mark Kaye, a retired guidance counselor who oversees the facility.
It includes computers, online career strategy programs, an overhead video screen for presentations and a meeting area for students, counselors and college and trade representatives. Students can do online searches about colleges and universities, apply for free online to Bucks County Community College and make a reservation to take the SAT test at a neighboring high school.
“It's helping us with our future and it's great that we have a center to do that,” said Truman senior Samantha Kurfuss, 17, who plans to pursue a career in criminal justice, phlebotomy or forensic science.
Project 720, named for the number of days a student is in high school, was established a few years ago to provide students with personalized attention, tougher classes and a more rigorous senior year.
Gov. Ed Rendell pushed for the program because surveys suggest an estimated 40 percent of high school graduates are not ready for college and other grads entering the workforce often lack basic math and communication skills, state officials said.
The Morrisville and Palisades school districts were among the first in the state to receive Project 720 grants, which are awarded over a three-year period.
Morrisville used the $120,000 it received between 2005-08 to develop a high school curriculum that includes four years of required mathematics classes and other initiatives, including mentoring and apprenticeship programs, district officials said.
Palisades used the $150,000 during the same time period to expand summer reading programs, integrate technology into math classes and, like Truman, help students develop plans for their career paths.
Bristol Township's Project 720 grant for $217,119 is spread out in three installments between 2007-10.
Once all the Truman seniors have access to the center this year, counselors will arrange interviews with juniors and sophomores to get them thinking about their futures, Kaye said. Ninth-graders at the district's Benjamin Franklin Freshman Academy also are taking the career survey online to help them begin plotting a plan for the future, he said.
Matt Kohler, a Truman senior, had to ask where the center was when he received notice of an interview time. Now he's glad he found it.
“It helps so much. It gives kids so many opportunities,” said Matt, 17, who plans to be a social studies teacher. “It's probably the most important room in the school in my opinion, because it will help you determine where to go after school.”
Several area school districts are receiving Project 720 grants in three installments between 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 to better prepare their students for life after high school. In addition to Bristol Township, the districts are:
BRISTOL
$165,405 to establish a college and career center in the guidance office at Bristol Borough Junior/Senior High School, provide more than 200 virtual online courses to students, establish a reading apprenticeship program and redesign the school's math program.
HATBORO-HORSHAM
$120,000 to establish student internships, integrate Pennsylvania career education and work standards into core academic courses, create a standalone course called Pathways Seminar for high school juniors to address transition planning and personal finance and establish a Student Success Center where students meet with college representatives and speakers from various professions and use numerous resources to develop a post-secondary plan.
LOWER MORELAND
The district is in the process of receiving Project 720 grant money totaling $90,000. The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching district officials Friday for information on how the money will be used.
NORTH PENN
$150,000 to bring in an academic intervention specialist to serve as a success coach and provide academic support for underachieving students. The money also is being used to support student incentive programs and curriculum enhancements, expand the high school's advanced placement program and increase after-school and Saturday academic support activities.
SOUDERTON
$196,770 to implement a more rigorous and relevant curriculum to help students focus their attention on their post-high school plans, and to enhance the high school's Career Pathways initiative.
Sources: Pennsylvania Department of Education and local school districts
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Wishful Thinking
From the BCCT. Wouldn't this be nice in Morrisville?
School board meeting canceled
Posted in Community on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 4:47 pm by Joan Hellyer
The Bristol school board meeting scheduled for Thursday has been canceled because of a lack of agenda items, district officials said.
The board’s next meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 6 in the district’s administration building off Farragut Avenue in the borough. Call 215-781-1010 for more information.
School board meeting canceled
Posted in Community on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 4:47 pm by Joan Hellyer
The Bristol school board meeting scheduled for Thursday has been canceled because of a lack of agenda items, district officials said.
The board’s next meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 6 in the district’s administration building off Farragut Avenue in the borough. Call 215-781-1010 for more information.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Bristol Twp Updating Report Cards
From the BCCT.
District to make improvements to secondary students’ report cards
The revisions for secondary students could take effect next school year.
By JOAN HELLYER
Bristol Township secondary students may soon take home clearer, concise and more upbeat report cards, according to district officials.
The school board is considering whether to make numerous changes to the current secondary report card. The changes would take effect in 2009-10, district officials said.
At the urging of Bristol Township teachers, district staff worked on the proposed changes for about a year to create “a more positive line of communication with parents about the students,” Assistant Superintendent Parthenia Moore said. The changes include:
The student’s school will be more readily identifiable. Right now all four of the district’s secondary schools are listed on every report card with no clear indicator of which school a student attends.
The demographic information of the student and his or her parents will be clearly visible at the top of the report card. Currently, the student’s name is buried between grade descriptions and achievement information.
The district will move from listing just letter grades to also showing students’ numerical grades in an effort to be more precise with grade point averages and class ranking, Moore said.
Comments about student achievement listed on the evaluation will be positive in nature compared to the generally negative comments on the existing report cards, the assistant superintendent said.
Students attendance will be tracked not only on a daily basis but also for each individual class he or she is scheduled to attend.
Internet links will be included for parents to access the state standards for which their child is being evaluated.
The proposed changes were listed on the agenda reviewed by the board during its planning session Monday night. The board is expected to decide during its Oct. 20 meeting whether to move forward with the suggested changes.
District to make improvements to secondary students’ report cards
The revisions for secondary students could take effect next school year.
By JOAN HELLYER
Bristol Township secondary students may soon take home clearer, concise and more upbeat report cards, according to district officials.
The school board is considering whether to make numerous changes to the current secondary report card. The changes would take effect in 2009-10, district officials said.
At the urging of Bristol Township teachers, district staff worked on the proposed changes for about a year to create “a more positive line of communication with parents about the students,” Assistant Superintendent Parthenia Moore said. The changes include:
The student’s school will be more readily identifiable. Right now all four of the district’s secondary schools are listed on every report card with no clear indicator of which school a student attends.
The demographic information of the student and his or her parents will be clearly visible at the top of the report card. Currently, the student’s name is buried between grade descriptions and achievement information.
The district will move from listing just letter grades to also showing students’ numerical grades in an effort to be more precise with grade point averages and class ranking, Moore said.
Comments about student achievement listed on the evaluation will be positive in nature compared to the generally negative comments on the existing report cards, the assistant superintendent said.
Students attendance will be tracked not only on a daily basis but also for each individual class he or she is scheduled to attend.
Internet links will be included for parents to access the state standards for which their child is being evaluated.
The proposed changes were listed on the agenda reviewed by the board during its planning session Monday night. The board is expected to decide during its Oct. 20 meeting whether to move forward with the suggested changes.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Neshaminy Superintendent Resigns
From the BCCT.
Kadri to resign as superintendent
School board members said they haven’t met to select an interim superintendent or possible replacement.
By RACHEL CANELLI
Neshaminy Superintendent Paul Kadri submitted his 90-day resignation Thursday after the Groton Public School District in Groton, Conn. agreed to hire him as its new superintendent, Kadri confirmed Thursday.
Groton school board members Wednesday night approved a three-year, roughly $165,000-a-year contract with Kadri. He’ll replace a longtime administrator in the Groton district. That salary is about $10,000 less than he’s making in Neshaminy, he said.
With 5,200 students, Groton is roughly half the size of the Neshaminy district, officials said.
“Obviously, this is a very bittersweet emotion that I have right now,” Kadri said from his cell phone as he visited the Connecticut district’s 11 schools to meet students and staff.
“I genuinely love the Neshaminy system and community,” he said. “I will miss working with them. But I’m very excited about this community and I look forward to building the same type of relationships. This just seems like a fantastic fit up here in terms of my skills and philosophy.”
Kadri, 43, came to Neshaminy from the Moorestown School District in Burlington County in 2006. He signed a four-year contract with Neshaminy. Earlier this year, he was a finalist for a similar spot in Michigan, administrators said.
“I, along with many in the Neshaminy community, am very disappointed to see Mr. Kadri leave,” said Neshaminy board member Joseph Blasch. “I wish him well and I think his ‘footprint’ will be here for a long time. I can only hope that his vision for the district will somehow be carried on.”
With a background in finance, technology and assessment, Kadri was described by parents and residents as studentfocused. Some have credited him and his administration with recently reaching budget goals and improving the high school’s standardized test scores.
Blasch said he understood Kadri’s decision to leave, since “there hasn’t always been harmony between some of the board members and Mr. Kadri.”
That discord was evident at board meetings. A few board members, including board President Richard Eccles, have disagreed with Kadri over hiring processes, the budget and recent state exam results.
“I want to wish Mr. Kadri the best in his new endeavor,” Eccles said.
“The Neshaminy School District is presently involved and facing a great many educational and financial challenges in the coming year. The Neshaminy community is very fortunate to have a number of highly-qualified educational professionals that are more than ready for the challenges that will face our new superintendent,” Eccles added. “It is very important that whoever is chosen that he or she can hit the ground running and make the decisions that will propel this district to the prominence that this district, the children and community deserve.”
Regarding his job hunt, Kadri previously had said he and the Neshaminy school board lacked similar expectations and priorities and it was in the board’s best interest for him to move on.
Neshaminy school board members said they have yet to meet to pick an interim superintendent or possible replacement. Before Kadri was hired, Assistant Superintendent Lou Muenker served on an interim basis, but officials didn’t specify who would be considered.
Kadri to resign as superintendent
School board members said they haven’t met to select an interim superintendent or possible replacement.
By RACHEL CANELLI
Neshaminy Superintendent Paul Kadri submitted his 90-day resignation Thursday after the Groton Public School District in Groton, Conn. agreed to hire him as its new superintendent, Kadri confirmed Thursday.
Groton school board members Wednesday night approved a three-year, roughly $165,000-a-year contract with Kadri. He’ll replace a longtime administrator in the Groton district. That salary is about $10,000 less than he’s making in Neshaminy, he said.
With 5,200 students, Groton is roughly half the size of the Neshaminy district, officials said.
“Obviously, this is a very bittersweet emotion that I have right now,” Kadri said from his cell phone as he visited the Connecticut district’s 11 schools to meet students and staff.
“I genuinely love the Neshaminy system and community,” he said. “I will miss working with them. But I’m very excited about this community and I look forward to building the same type of relationships. This just seems like a fantastic fit up here in terms of my skills and philosophy.”
Kadri, 43, came to Neshaminy from the Moorestown School District in Burlington County in 2006. He signed a four-year contract with Neshaminy. Earlier this year, he was a finalist for a similar spot in Michigan, administrators said.
“I, along with many in the Neshaminy community, am very disappointed to see Mr. Kadri leave,” said Neshaminy board member Joseph Blasch. “I wish him well and I think his ‘footprint’ will be here for a long time. I can only hope that his vision for the district will somehow be carried on.”
With a background in finance, technology and assessment, Kadri was described by parents and residents as studentfocused. Some have credited him and his administration with recently reaching budget goals and improving the high school’s standardized test scores.
Blasch said he understood Kadri’s decision to leave, since “there hasn’t always been harmony between some of the board members and Mr. Kadri.”
That discord was evident at board meetings. A few board members, including board President Richard Eccles, have disagreed with Kadri over hiring processes, the budget and recent state exam results.
“I want to wish Mr. Kadri the best in his new endeavor,” Eccles said.
“The Neshaminy School District is presently involved and facing a great many educational and financial challenges in the coming year. The Neshaminy community is very fortunate to have a number of highly-qualified educational professionals that are more than ready for the challenges that will face our new superintendent,” Eccles added. “It is very important that whoever is chosen that he or she can hit the ground running and make the decisions that will propel this district to the prominence that this district, the children and community deserve.”
Regarding his job hunt, Kadri previously had said he and the Neshaminy school board lacked similar expectations and priorities and it was in the board’s best interest for him to move on.
Neshaminy school board members said they have yet to meet to pick an interim superintendent or possible replacement. Before Kadri was hired, Assistant Superintendent Lou Muenker served on an interim basis, but officials didn’t specify who would be considered.
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