It is still winter in Cambria County

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

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.