School Delays and Cancellations

Today I will discuss the procedures used in determining whether to have school during poor weather conditions.  The process starts at approximately 4:45AM when Dr. Harris talks to the Penn Township police officer on duty.  The officer is out patrolling the roads and has detailed knowledge about the condition of the roads.  The officer is also in contact with the Penn Township road crew who also has input into the decision since they know of any trouble spots and how long it will take to treat the roads.  When poor weather is predicted, the police will monitor the roads between 3:00AM and 4:00AM and contact the road crew foreman before 4:15AM.  This will give the road crew enough time to treat the roads before the buses start their runs.  Dr. Harris then talks to the supervisor at First Student (the bus contractor) to gain his input into the situation. 

After gathering the recommendations from the township employees and the bus contractor, Dr. Harris and I will discuss the situation.  This all occurs before 5:00AM.  Once I receive the information from Dr. Harris, I consult with the superintendents from the surrounding school districts to gain insight into their situations.  I call the superintendents from Norwin, Franklin Regional, Jeanette, Greensburg-Salem, and Hempfield.  We then decide on a course of action for the day.  Hopefully, all of this occurs before 5:30AM.  A new procedure for this year will be that I will send out a ConnectEd message to the parents and staff.  In years past that message was sent by the building principals.  The message will come earlier than in the past for some of you since I will send it out somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00AM.  The decision to delay or cancel school is one that all of us in the decision making process take very seriously.  Ultimately I make the final decision based on all available information and I alone am responsible for the decision.  However, I would not be able to make that decision without the assistance and input of many concerned people.  I hope this is a helpful post for you as we move through the winter season.  Maybe we will be lucky and have very few weather events this winter!

Dancing With The Teachers

Saturday night the Penn-Trafford Community Education Foundation held the second annual "Dancing with Teachers" event.  What a resounding success.  As I watched the audience enjoying the show, I could not help but think that this is what education is all about.   Education is the school and the community working together to increase opportunities for kids.  Saturday night was the epitome of that philosophy.  The event raised close to $9,000.00 for the Foundation to use to help the kids in our community.  I was also very proud of all of the teachers, staff, and students who participated in the event.  You could tell from the performances that a lot of people put a lot of work in their routines.  It was simply a great night.  Congratulations to the winners Melissa Atticks and Nick Mastroianni who put on quite a show for the audience...Great job!

I want to thank the Penn-Trafford Community Education Foundation for all of the hard work that went into organizing this event...everyone worked very hard.  I want to specifically thank Jill Brallier and Amy Kelly (two teachers from Level Green Elementary) for taking a leadership role in organizing this event.  Without their dedication and hard work, this event would not have been such a success.  I also want to point out that the Jeff Brady State Farm Agency donated the food for the concession stand which was a big help for the Foundation...thank you Jeff!  Finally, I want to thank the president of the Penn-Trafford Community Education Foundation, Susan Jennings for her leadership of the Foundation.  I can't wait until next years event!

The Joy of Education

I am going to veer slightly off the path for this blog post.  I coach my daughter’s 5^th and 6^th grade girls “in-house” basketball team operated by the PTBA.  There are 8 teams in our league each with 10 players.  Our season is coming to an end this week and I want to share an experience that I had with the team last Saturday.

Our team is filled with great girls.  All of them are pleasant, respectful and a blast to be around. I have enjoyed myself immensely.  The girls have shown incredible improvement throughout the year and have been receptive to coaching both during practices and games.  Despite a lot of improvement, our record going into the game on Saturday was 1-7.  We won our first game in a shoot-out by the score of 2-1.  We then lost 7 straight games.  There were stretches of great play during those 7 loses, but never enough to get a win.  This brings us to Saturday.  The girls were pumped up, ready to play and excited.  The game was a close one from the start.  No team ever had a lead of more than 3 points.  With under two minutes left our team made a foul shot to make the score 9-6.  On their very next possession our opponent scored a basket to bring the score to 9-8.  The next minute and a half of play consisted of both teams with many possessions, missed shots, fouls and other excitement.  When the buzzer finally went off (it seemed to me to take about 10 hours!) the girls had won their second game.  The joy and excitement on their faces still brings a smile to my face!

Later on that night as I watched the end of the San Francisco and New Orleans NFL playoff game, I watched the reaction of the players and fans as San Francisco won in the last seconds of the game.  Reflecting on their reactions I knew that no one in San Francisco was happier with their win as our girls were with their win.  Education is about putting students in situations where they can succeed.  Our job as educators is not to assure they win, but to assure they have every opportunity to succeed.  This can be done on the sports field or in the classroom.  All of us as educators have experienced the joy of watching a student beam with pride because they just figured out a problem or did well on a test.  This is what education is about!  

Free University Knowledge

Today I want to share with you a great web site that allows people to listen to free university lectures from some of the best universities in the world.  There are many universities that offer "free courses" but I liked this web site because it was easy to navigate.  Listening to lectures is not for everybody but it does offer an opportunity for people to gain knowledge.  In the title of this blog I did not say "free university courses" because you cannot get credit for most of the free courses.  What you are gaining is knowledge...and shouldn't that be what education is all about?  I remember when a history professor at Penn State told the class that the early universities where  basically a collection of students gathered to listen to an expert on a subject the students were interested in learning more about.  There was no credit given or degrees conferred.  This to me is the pure meaning of education; people gathering to learn more about a subject or topic that they find interesting or helpful to their lives.  If you frame these free online courses in this way then you will see what a boon it is for people to be able to access world-renowned scholars in areas of intellectual thought that interests you. (I have been listening to the Justice class by Michael Sandel from Harvard University and I highly recommend it.) 

I guess the question about the worth of these free courses boils down to a your definition of education.  If one is to believe that education is for learning and personal growth you will view the value  of these courses in a certain way.  If one believes that credentials, diplomas and grades are important, then you may view these courses in another way.  No matter which way you may think, I strongly urge you to try a free "course" out in the web.  At the very least you may learn something!

Students of the Month

The Penn-Trafford school board started a new procedure at their board meetings last Fall.  The Board recognizes three students of the month during their meetings.  The Board recognizes an elementary school student, a middle school student and a high school student.  I want to share with you the students of the month for January.

In the elementary school the student of the month is Max Haberberger.  Here is the information that Mr. Marasti, Max's principal, shared with the Board. In the middle school Luke Krumenaker is the student of the month.  Mrs. Garner's information is here.  At the high school, the student of the month was Nicole Paul.  I have met Nicole a few times and she is an outstanding student and person.  Mr. Inglese's shared this with the Board.  I want to congratulate all of the students.  I know the Board enjoys starting their meetings hearing about the great students at PT.  It allows all us to reflect about why we are here...to serve students.

A Busy Month

January and February are going to be busy times in the school district.  The students and staff will be getting into a routine of very few breaks until the end of the year.  Additionally, there are a lot of initiatives that will be discussed during the next two months.

First, the teacher evaluation committee will be finishing its work.  Tomorrow the committee will meet and talk with other school systems that use a model similar to the one the committee is considering.  Secondly, the teacher professional development committee will meet in January to set an agenda for professional development in the upcoming year.  I will also have the honor to meet with two groups of teachers from different elementary schools to discuss some of their initiatives they are undertaking.  Teachers at Sunrise Elementary and Harrison Park will get together to discuss initiatives they are implementing to customize learning for students.  Finally, the group of teachers that have been meeting throughout the year to discuss how to reinvent school will meet and finalize their thoughts and impressions of the work they have been doing.

All of these initiatives are contributing to the continued effort to move the district forward toward 21^st Century Learning.  21^st Century learning focuses on student learning and customizable educational experiences for children.  Penn-Trafford is not to this point yet, but we are moving in the right direction.