This month is an excellent time to review our district’s snow
delay/cancellation policy as outlined on the district’s home page under the
link Guidelines for School
Delays/Closings. To date, we have had two delays, one early
dismissal and one cancellation (see below).
When it comes to our children, student safety is a far greater priority
than convenience. As always, my phone,
door and email system remain open and available for any concerns, issues or
suggestions.
2014 2015 2016
Delays 7 6 2
Early Dismissals 1 6 1
Cancellations 6 3 1
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Our final day of school will be decided in the near future
to allow parents time to plan for any trips or vacations. We still have lots of winter left. I am reminded of April 23, 2013 when I was in
NY for the birth of my granddaughter, Eloise.
The district received 10” of very wet, heavy snow, prompting a
cancellation. Up until that point we had
not had a snow cancellation. So, while
this winter has been comparatively benevolent, we should assume nothing about
what is to come.
Our district recently tried something unusual for the
February in-service day; we had staff volunteer to present a variety of
technology sessions to district staff.
All told, 29 staff volunteered to present about tools or software with
which they were proficient. As I walked
through the HS and MS, I heard nothing but rave reviews about the value of this
day and that it was the best day of professional development in many
years. Kudos to Joe Strittmatter, our
Director of Technology, for organizing and implementing this - to the 29 staff
who volunteered to conduct sessions for their colleagues. This
has raised the bar pretty high for future in-service days.
Time to resume my monthly place on my soap box and complain
about the lack of funding from the State.
We have received approximately 45% of our BEF (Basic Ed Funding), or $5
million dollars. This was much-needed
help, but it only goes so far. True, the
Governor has already delivered his budget speech for next year, which includes
another $200 million for public education—on paper, public education is well
funded! Adding next year’s promised money to what he wanted this year is an
historic $500 million dollars for public education. But he and the legislators cannot agree on
key issues, such as increasing taxes, pension reform, and liquor privatization;
while they dance and dodge their responsibility to distribute our tax dollars
according to a defined budget, the fiscal needs of the state are held hostage. This is wrong on so many levels, most
painfully in terms of the pain and lack of services it is creating. Contact your local legislator and let them
know they owe it to you, the taxpayer, to finalize this year’s budget; you
might remind them that, while they’re at it, they might want to earn their pay
by doing the same for the newest budget.
The Feds have finally reauthorized the ESEA, by replacing No
Child Left Behind with ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). Included is a strong
push to give local districts more control over educational decisions and to
reduce mandatory testing. There are many
aspects to this new bipartisan Act that will return many decisions to
professionals at the District level.
Kudos to our athletes and the season they have had. Tonight, February 17, our boys’ basketball
team plays Richland in District play while our girls play
Phillipsburg-Osceola. Good luck tonight. Congrats to Gabby Gironda on attaining 100
wins as an individual at IUP over the past weekend. And good luck to our wrestlers as they
compete in D6 this weekend in Altoona. Go
get ‘em, Red Devils!
And now for some sports talk. With all football over and the free agency
set to begin, my focus turns to the Pens.
They have had an inconsistent season, replacing their head coach, and
winning games by luck while losing games they should have dominated. At this point they will make the playoffs but,
with their level of play, their participation might be brief. Sigh.
Although football seems a long way off,
the April draft is not that far away.
Hopefully the Steelers will draft wisely; I’m also hopeful that they can
avoid the injury bug that plagued them this year.
Enjoy what is left of Old Man Winter’s visit to Cambria
County!
Dr. D.
