Pittsburgh students protest proposed tuition tax

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Some 150 Pittsburgh students are attending a public hearing to oppose a proposed 1 percent college tuition tax.
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl says the tax will fill a $15 million budget gap. He says the tax will not be in the 2010 budget, but can solve some of the city’s long-term revenue problems.
Ravenstahl says the nonprofit universities and medical centers are tax exempt. He says the only legal way to ensure they pay their fair share for services is by taxing tuition.
More than 50 students are assailing the tax at the public hearing. Thousands of others signed petitions. They argue they already pay for services through wage taxes and indirectly pay property tax through their rent.
About 65,000 students attend Pittsburgh colleges and universities.
© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Ringgold band invited to participate in NYC's St. Patrick's Day parade

Greg Steele received a double dose of good news on Oct. 27.
His daughter was born and he was notified that the Ringgold band was selected to participate in the 249th annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City.
“It was a great day,” the Ringgold band director said.
This was the first year Ringgold applied to participate in the parade, which will have the New York City police commissioner as the grand marshall.
“I understand that most of the time, you are on a waiting list for years,” Steele said. “So to get in the first year we applied, we’re very honored and pleased.”
Read what some of the band members have to say about it in Saturday's Observer-Reporter.

Students write letters of thanks to troops

BURGETTSTOWN – For the first time, Daniel Swan will experience snow this year.
He will have his first Thanksgiving meal.
The 10th-grader moved to Burgettstown this year with his parents. His mother and father met while his dad was deployed in the U.S. Air Force to the Phillipines.
Daniel is sharing his story with heroes. He and about 180 other Burgettstown students are writing letters and sending cards to U.S. troops this holiday season.
The students are sharing parts of their lives with soldiers and thanking them for creating a world where they can have the lives they do.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Daniel said of sending letters and cards. “The soldiers have been away from their families. You can remind them of what home is like.”
World history teacher Kathie Ankley said she has students include information about their lives so the teens appreciate what they have because the United States has a volunteer army.
“It’s important that you are thankful to the people that are defending our freedom,” she said.
Read the rest of the story on our Observer-Reporter Web site.

Washington School Board to vote on teachers union contract today

The school board is voting on the contract at noon today. Check back here this afternoon for results.
Edited to add:

Washington School Board and its teachers union approved a three-year contract this week that will raise teacher salaries and make them pay more for health insurance.

The contract, which runs from the 2009-10 school year through the 2011-12 school year, has an overall salary increase of $1,850 in each year. It increases employee contributions to health care by 40 percent over the life of the contract. The school board approved the contract Wednesday, while the teachers union approved it Tuesday.

Washington has a tiered system, so teachers with more experience pay more for health insurance. Before the 40 percent increase, they were paying between $10 and $50 in monthly premiums, depending on their seniority.

To read more about the contract, visit the Observer-Reporter Web site.

Area schools drive to stock pantries

By Dawn Goodman
Staff Write
dgoodman@observer-reporter.com
Area food pantries are finding more items on their shelves during the holiday season.
That’s because many area schools are holding food drives and fundraisers.
Canonsburg Middle School held a canned food drive and collected 2,216 cans, said seventh-grade social studies teacher Adam Manion. He said it was the most the school had collected for the food bank.
“It’s local,” he said. “You could put a face on it. There was the possibility of local families without food for the holidays. Everybody wants to help. And they do.”
Teachers from the school have a football game with teachers from another district. This year it’s Washington. Students get tickets by bringing in a can of food, said Canonsburg Middle School Student Council Treasurer Bianca Kienzle.
The school is also having a Chinese auction and a dodgeball game to raise money for the Canonsburg-Houston Food Bank, said Canonsburg Student Council President Josiah Hritsko. That money will be donated Wednesday.
Schools have found creative ways to raise money for the food banks.
Trinity East Elementary had a lemonade sale last week with all proceeds going to the Washington County Food Bank.
“It’s been incredible,” said second-grade teacher Stacy Rush. “We’ve had lines down the hall to buy a 25-cent cup of lemonade.”
Rush, along with other second-grade teachers Stephanie Johnson and Christine Peterson came up with the idea as part of a lesson for students to read the book, “Lemonade for Sale.”
In the story, the children sell lemonade to others. But the teachers wanted to use the fundraiser as a lesson.
“We wanted to teach the children a lesson on giving,” Rush said.
The school sold 2,744 cups of lemonade and collected $686, she said.
Avella had a food drive that ran from Nov. 4 to Wednesday. The high school community service club sponsored the drive, and the food will be donated to the Avella food pantry, said high school Avella science teacher and club sponsor Evy Breitigan.
She said the club organizes the event annually. This year’s response was double that of past years, she said.
“The club members show a lot of compassion and initiative in volunteering to help their community on this and other projects they have worked on,” Breitigan said.

Join the Observer-Reporter’s conversation about education at our blog at http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/behinddesk/.

McGuffey superintendent retires

CLAYSVILLE - Joseph Stefka will celebrate 35 years in education by retiring.
The McGuffey School Board approved his intent to retire Thursday. His last day will be June 30, 2010.
Stefka said Monday that he wants to spend time with his family. His first grandchild was born a month ago.
“I’m looking forward to watching my grandson grow up,” he said.
Find out more in Tuesday's Observer-Reporter.

Lincoln University students upset about fitness requirement

Some Pennsylvania college students are upset that their school is requiring those who are overweight to take a fitness class in order to graduate.
The mandate at Lincoln University has raised the eyebrows of some legal scholars, who wonder if it creates privacy and discrimination issues.
Officials at historically black Lincoln said Friday that the school is simply concerned with students’ health. They say obesity and diabetes are problems especially in the African-American community.
This year’s senior class is the first to be affected by the requirement. Officials say about 80 students, or 16 percent, have not yet met the mandate.
Lincoln serves approximately 2,000 undergraduates on a campus 45 miles southwest of Philadelphia.

Gates gives $335 million for teacher quality

SEATTLE (AP) — Three school districts and a coalition of charter schools have agreed to be test kitchens for some radical ideas for improving teacher quality — from paying new teachers to spend another year practicing before getting their own class to letting student test scores affect teacher pay.
In exchange, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is handing them the biggest pile of cash it has spent on education reform in about a decade.
The foundation announced $290 million in grants to the four groups on Thursday, plus another $45 million for education research aimed at uncovering what exactly is an effective teacher.
The grants include $100 million to Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa, Fla., $90 million to Memphis City Schools, $60 million to a coalition of charter school organizations in Los Angeles, and $40 million to Pittsburgh Public Schools.
Vicki Phillips, director of the foundation’s K-12 education program, said the investment is big, the ideas are bold and she hopes the impact could rock every school and every district in the nation.
Foundation co-chair Melinda Gates said she and her husband, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, consider education reform one of the toughest issues the foundation has taken on. The foundation is best known for its work fighting diseases like AIDS and malaria worldwide.
“Any time you’re trying to change a system and really have some innovative approaches, it’s going to take some long-term work,” Melinda Gates said.
The foundation purposely picked four diverse organizations to work with: from the four corners of the U.S., of a variety of sizes and ethnic mixes, all with existing problems and some successes meeting the educational needs of their students.
A fifth district was in line to join the others, but Omaha Public Schools dropped out at the last minute after decided it could not meet the matching requirement of the grant during these tough economic times.
Smaller grants to other districts will be announced later, Phillips said.
The various reform projects have a number of central themes.
They will focus on teacher training, put the best teachers in the most challenging classrooms, give the best teachers new roles as mentors and coaches while keeping them in front of children, make tenure a meaningful milestone, get rid of ineffective teachers, and use money to motivate people and schools to move toward these goals.
“If you could boil what we know in education down to one sentence, it truly would be, ’Nothing is as important as an effective teacher,”’ Phillips said.
The school districts worked closely with local and national teachers unions in crafting their proposals. One of the first organizations to send out a congratulatory note to the grant recipients was the American Federation of Teachers.
“These Gates Intensive Partnership grants will show that when dedicated adults engage in true collaboration, the real winners are the students,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten.
MaryEllen Elia, superintendent in Hillsborough County, believes these experiments will be closely watched by everyone running a school district.
If the results are close to expectations, other districts won’t have a choice but to find the money to make similar changes, she said.
“We owe it to the children,” Elia said.
She hopes her Tampa district can set an example for other large districts dealing with similar challenges. It’s the eighth largest in the nation with 190,000 students spread out over an area the size of Rhode Island.
Kriner Cash, superintendent in Memphis, expects to be watched very closely by everyone who cares about equal opportunity. In his district, 86 percent of the 108,915 students are African American and 83 percent are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
“All professionals involved in guiding and educating children have a stake in this work,” Cash said.
© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Auditor general wants financial swaps banned

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Auditor General Jack Wagner says about a fifth of Pennsylvania’s school districts have recently been involved with financial “swaps,” and he wants the Legislature to ban the practice.
Wagner said Wednesday that, over a recent six-year period, 107 school districts and 86 other local governmental bodies reported that they had entered into swap agreements.
He calls the complex financial deals “toxic products” that should not involve public funds.
His study was prompted by a $12 million loss earlier this year involving a swap by the Bethlehem Area School District.
© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Back to the bargaining table in Canon-Mac

Canon-McMillan School Board and the district's teachers union are going back to the bargaining table.
Just days after the union rejected a fact-finder's report about the teacher's contract, the school board also voted it down by a 4-4 vote Monday night.
By a 5-4 vote, the board approved the recommendations the first time. Because the teachers voted against it, both sides had to vote again within five to 10 days.

Pennsylvania adult education helping locals succeed

At Crawford County Career and Technical Center, “night school” definitely isn’t what it used to be.
While the evening “hobby” classes traditionally offered at the Thurston Road facility formerly known as Crawford County Area Vocational-Technical School are on hiatus this year as the building undergoes a major makeover, adult education designed for workers looking for serious career advancement or even a whole new career is in full swing.
With three decades in the tool-and-die industry under his belt, for example, Gary Roberts was no stranger to layoffs. When the latest round hit, however, enough was enough.
His last day at work fell on a Monday. Tuesday morning, Roberts, 52, started training for a new career.
“I thought I’d try something different,” he said during lunch break on his second day as an over-the-road trucking student in an adult course recently introduced by the career and technical center.
Steven Vielanin was also in the market for a career change. After spending most of his working life in the restaurant industry, Vielanin, 40, wanted to get off unemployment. He’s now approximately half-way through a rigorous six-week program that keeps him busy with both classroom and hands-on transportation training Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
About a decade ago, Bill Wantz made a career change from driving his own straight truck the kind with all its axles attached to a single frame to a job in the security industry. Now that his daughter has married and moved away, he’s heading back to transportation. But this time, Wantz, now 50, will be running with the big dogs.
Roberts, Vielanin and Wantz are all enrolled in one of CCCTC’s newest adult offerings. However, you won’t be seeing any big trucks hanging around the Thurston Road facility. Under a contract with CCCTC, teachers, curriculum and equipment are being provided by Transport Tech, a transportation training provider with facilities in Bessemer and Brookville. The company’s new Meadville facility is in West Mead Industrial Park on property owned by Chipsco Precision Services.
The first three weeks are officially considered to be classroom time, “but about a third of that is spent in the yard with the equipment, getting down to basics,” according to instructor Robert Madison. In addition, students spend a fair amount of time getting industry-required ducks in a row. “These guys have a lot of loops to jump through just because of the nature of what the industry wants from them,” Madison explained. Passports, for example, are required to go into Canada, while entering a secure port requires special identification. By the time students are finished with the course, they’re literally ready to go.
As the training facility expands, they’ll also be ready to do more than maneuver gigantic trucks wherever they need to go.
“For any type of manufacturing that goes on in any area, transportation is important, Rege Schulz Sr., Transport Tech’s owner and chief executive officer, explained during a recent interview. “We’ve only been here for a couple of months, but already we’re hearing that employers need things beyond simply holding a commercial driver’s license.”
Working in conjunction with the Community College of Allegheny County, CCCTC is also offering courses in welding technology and machining technology. After completion of a year-long comprehensive course, graduates will leave with both state-of-the-art abilities and 18 or 23 credits toward an associate degree from the college. Those two classes and CCCTC’s ever-popular nurse aide program are the only adult-education courses being offered during the 2009-10 school year at the Thurston Road facility.
Online courses ranging from introductory to comprehensive are also being offered through CCCTC.
© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Scoring system for school aid

Educators argue endlessly about the merits of one idea or another to improve schools. But with billions of dollars at stake, the Obama administration Thursday will lay out a novel federal system for keeping score, the Washington Post reported.

Making education funding a priority? Good for 10 points. Demonstrating significant progress in raising achievement and closing gaps? That's worth 30. Developing and adopting common academic standards, turning around the lowest-achieving schools and ensuring successful conditions for high-performing charter schools: Those are worth 40 each.

But improving teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance is worth more than any specific improvement: 58 points.

Those are the priorities in the Education Department's rulebook for the unprecedented $4.35 billion Race to the Top reform competition. States and the District of Columbia are invited to compete. Bids will be rated on the point system, which Education Secretary Arne Duncan approved. A perfect bid will score 500 points and could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The call to action on teacher-principal improvement, which means factoring student test score growth into job evaluations, is likely to draw intense scrutiny from unions.

Washington High School honors veterans

By Dawn Goodman
Staff Writer
dgoodman@observer-reporter.com
Dave Ellis was almost in tears as he watched Washington High School students honor veterans Wednesday.
The army veteran and Wash High alum, said it was the first time he came to the event at the school. He said it was great to see the school honor veterans.
“I really appreciate it,” said Ellis, who recently moved back to the area. “I was really blessed to be here.”
The ceremony started with the high school band Battle Hymn of the Republic and then U.S. Air Force Veteran Doug Greer played the bagpipes.
Benjamin Marasco, sophomore class president, welcomed the veterans to the event.
He described them as the true American heroes.
“We are the home of the free because of you the brave,” Marasco said.
William Boardley, who a retired Air Force Brigadier General, said no one disdains war more than a warrior.
“They do it, quite frankly, because this is the greatest country on earth and they want to keep it that way,” said Boardley, the guest speaker for the event.
Boardley urged the Washington High audience to join the military or support the troops. Support, he said, includes making sure they are properly funded, manned, trained and equipped.
He then reflected on the veterans in the audience.
“Our country owes you a great debt of gratitude,” he said.
At the end of the ceremony, the veterans lined up so students could shake their hands and thank them for their service. Students didn’t have to stand in line, but hundreds did.
Clayton LaPosta, who attended last year, said he wouldn’t have missed this year’s event. Finally, the Army veteran said, he heard the message “Thanks.”
“It’s nice to see them teaching kids to honor veterans,” he said. “It’s about time. It’s nice.”
Join the Observer-Reporter’s conversation about education at our blog at http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/behinddesk/

House committee OKs ban on texting while driving

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A bill to bar text messaging while driving in Pennsylvania is headed to the House floor.
The bill won a unanimous vote of support Tuesday from the House Transportation Committee.
The legislation would ban texting by all drivers and prohibit drivers under 18 from using hand-held cell phones when they’re behind the wheel.
The bill would make violations a primary offense, meaning police could stop drivers if officers witness them breaking the law. The penalty would be a $50 fine, or $100 if the violation occurs in a school or work zone.
However, insurers could not increase premiums of drivers for violating the law.
The sponsor, Rep. Joe Markosek, D-Allegheny, said he hopes floor action will be taken before the end of the year.
© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Pittsburgh mayor wants tuition tax

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl will propose a 1 percent tax on tuition at colleges and universities in the city as part of the city’s operating budget.
Ravenstahl was scheduled to introduce his $452 million proposed budget to City Council on Monday.
The proposed college education privilege tax would be paid by students who attend post-secondary schools in the city, including colleges, universities, art, business and culinary schools. Ravenstahl says those students use city services.
Ravenstahl says the tax would raise about $16 million a year. He wants to use the money to plug a $15 million hole in the city’s annual budget, with the rest going to help the struggling Carnegie Library system which the city helps fund.
© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Canon-Mac teachers reject fact-finder proprosal for contract

Canon-McMillan teachers on Thursday night overwhelmingly rejected a fact-finder's contract proposal.
The school board on Thursday voted 5-4 to accept the report. But because the union rejected it, there is no contract agreement.
A press release from the Canon-Mac Education Association said the teachers were concerned about non-economic issues such as class size and clarification of involuntary transfer language.
"The proposed salary structure on the fact-finder unevenly distributes salaries over the 18-step schedule," CMEA lead negotiator Joe Grosso said in the release. "Teachers feel that a more even distribution of the same proposed schedule would have been more favorable."
Details of the report had not been made public, but because one side voted no, the fact-finder's report will be made available on the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board Web site.
Both sides must meet again within five to 10 days to reconsider the report under state law. If it is again rejected, the bargaining process will continue. The teachers have been working under the terms of the previous contract.

Girding for an uphill battle for recruits

It's tough enough selling military service to teenagers who might not be so keen on getting their heads shaved or buy the whole "we do more by 9 a.m." line. And the fact that enlisting today could very well mean a visit to the front lines doesn't help, either.

But according to a new report, there are other factors that make recruiters' jobs even more difficult: the country's poor education system and the worsening obesity crisis, the Washington Post reports.

About 75 percent of the country's 17- to 24-year-olds are ineligible for military service, largely because they are poorly educated, overweight and have physical ailments that make them unfit for the armed forces, according to a report to be issued Thursday.

Other factors, such as drug use, criminal records and mental problems, contribute to what military leaders say is a major problem that threatens the country's ability to defend itself at a time when the all-volunteer force is already strained fighting two wars.

To combat the problem, a group of retired military leaders has joined Education Secretary Arne Duncan to call for greater investment in early education, which advocates say helps boost academic achievement and social development.

Ringgold renews summer book program

DONORA – Public libraries within the Ringgold School District are 600 books richer thanks to the generosity of the district’s boosters club.

The club donated $6,000 to supply libraries in Donora and Monongahela with books under Ringgold’s summer reading challenge to students.

“This was so successful because they had a run on books when we did it last year,” Ringgold High School Principal Dwayne Homa said Thursday when the books were delivered.

Some school board incumbents lose in Washington County

Challengers defeated incumbents in two school Washington County school board races Tuesday, according to unofficial election results.
Christopher Lauff defeated Cynthia Eger Gaskill to win a Fort Cherry School Board seat. Lauff joins incumbents Brant T. Miller, Elmo B. Cecchetti II and Michael Duran as election winners.
In Burgettstown, challenger Christopher Kramer defeated incumbent Diane Nadik for a seat on the board while incumbents Garry L. Reynolds and William Price retained their seats on the board.
Find out more election results in Thursday's Observer-Reporter.

Burgettstown School District gets new "gig"

BURGETTSTOWN – Brazil has festivals just like Burgettstown.
It’s one of the many things that Burgettstown 11th-grader Melissa Truby has learned by being part of the GigaPan Global Connections Project.
“They’re more the same than I thought,” Melissa said.
The school partnered with Carnegie Mellon University to get four cameras and GigaPans, which are robots that take continuous pictures of a scene. Software is then used to create a big panoramic picture, which is shared with schools in other countries. After the yearlong study of culture and community is complete, Burgettstown will keep the equipment.
The technology was developed from the panoramic imaging technology that NASA uses for the Mars Exploration Rovers.
For more information, see the rest of the story here.

It's election day

Please make sure you take time to vote today.

Should schools drop their attendance rewards for the year?

How should schools handle attendance awards this year? Some are not going to have them this year, saying they don't want kids coming to school sick to get the awards. Others say they are going to keep existing plans in place. Find out more here.

Schools working harder to help grads find work

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — With the national unemployment rate near 10 percent, career services departments at colleges are working harder than ever to help their students find jobs.
Students need to take a multi-pronged approach to their job search, said Rebecca B. Maguda, director of the career services office on Penn State’s Altoona campus, located about 80 miles east of Pittsburgh and northwest of Harrisburg.
“Networking is the key. Their contacts can expose them to the hidden job market. You have to be an active job seeker and put time into it on a weekly basis and follow up on those leads,” Maguda said. “The job search can seem like a full-time job in itself.”
Networking can be very important, said Darwin Kysor, director of career services at Juniata College in Huntingdon, less than 30 miles east of Altoona.
He said the college has recently emphasized using alumni as networking consultants.
“They are a great resource for us and our students,” Kysor said. “Through networking, you can get leads and an interview and a chance to sell yourself.”
Internships can also be a valuable tool toward landing a job.
Larry Brugh, the assistant dean of student affairs and director of career services at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, about 10 miles west of Altoona, said he is a big proponent of internships, which sometimes lead to job offers.
“Students really need the everyday experience and to get hands-on training so they are more marketable,” Brugh said.
Persistence and a good attitude are very helpful.
Julie Barris, director of career services at St. Francis University in nearby Loretto, said students need a healthy dose of both.
“Students need to have persistence and a positive attitude. I believe persistence pays off,” Barris said. “I believe a positive attitude and persistence and a good plan will open up opportunities for them.”
Kysor agreed that persistence is important and recommended students work at getting a job.
“If you are waiting for someone to come to you and offer you a job, you are going to be sitting around a long time,” Kysor said. “In this economy, you have to be more proactive. Being persistent is one of the biggest keys.”
Students should take advantage of the career services departments at their colleges, which offer numerous resources including career fairs. Penn State Altoona held one in mid-October that attracted more than 50 employers.
Maguda said career fairs give students and alumni an opportunity to network with potential employers.
“We urge students to get out to these with polished resumes and interview skills,” Brugh said. “They need to sell themselves harder than in the past.”
Kysor said he is working more closely with his students this year, too. He said he set a goal of meeting individually with each senior.
“I am reaching out to them individually and asking them what are their plans and how can I help them achieve that,” Kysor said. “Sometimes they still appreciate that personal touch.”
Companies are looking for well-rounded job candidates with a strong work ethic.
“They are looking for people who are involved in extracurricular activities, community service and have leadership skills — people who have the full package,” Brugh said. “If there are two people with an equal grade point average, it would be a no-brainer to take the candidate with the full package.”
“Any type of experience can help build your resume,” Barris said. “Get an internship, do volunteer work, anything like that looks good to put on your resume.”
Geographic flexibility is very helpful, Kysor said.
“If you are willing to go where the jobs are, that can be to your advantage,” Kysor said. “I talked to some of my colleagues, and they can’t get students to leave town after they graduate. That isn’t a problem here.”
© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.