As college costs rise, loans become harder to get

When Daniel Ottalini entered the University of Maryland in 2004, his family had an array of choices to cover the cost -- cheap student loans, a second mortgage at low rates, credit cards with high limits and their own soaring investments, the Washington Post reports.

By the time his younger brother, Russell, started at the University of Pittsburgh this fall, the financial crisis had left the family with fewer options. Russell has had to juggle several jobs in school, and the money he could borrow came with a much higher interest rate that could climb even further over time.

The upheaval in financial markets did not just eliminate generous lending for home buyers; it also ended an era of easy credit for students and their families facing the soaring cost of a college degree.

To pay for higher education, most Americans had come to rely on a range of financial products born of the Wall Street boom. Nearly all of these shrank or disappeared in the storm that engulfed the stock and debt markets.

Lenders have raised rates and tightened standards, dramatically limiting the availability of home-equity loans and private student loans. College savings accounts, known as 529 plans, had acute losses in the downturn. And a new law, set to take effect Feb. 22, will bar students younger than 21 from getting credit cards on their own.

Loans offered with federal backing were the lone form of student debt to expand, but only because the government stepped in last year to prevent this business from collapsing under the pressure of the credit crunch. Still, the most common type of federally backed loan has a limit of $5,500 a year, not enough to pay for most four-year programs.

Even as the financing options have narrowed for families, college expenses are rising faster than ever as schools suffer from endowment losses and cuts in state funding because of the financial crisis and the recession that followed.

Last month, California's public universities announced that tuition fees would rise by 32 percent, sparking student demonstrations across the state. University of Virginia officials said a 15 percent cut in state funding for higher education will also force them to significantly raise tuition.

Some educators are concerned that the new price tags will discourage poor students from applying and will price out middle-class families that make too much to obtain financial aid, but not enough to easily afford college.

"It's not only the credit model that has changed; the basic financial model of higher education has also become challenged," said Anthony Marx, president of Amherst College in Massachusetts. "We were already concerned that middle-class students were getting squeezed by racking up debt that could constrain their career choices after they graduate. All of that comes under more strain in these new circumstances."

Other educators worry that students will be forced to compromise on their education.

Russell Ottalini said he choose the University of Pittsburgh because he judged that it would be best for his Japanese-language studies. He relied on his parents to borrow money for his education. But he acknowledged that economic times are tough and said he is willing to transfer to a cheaper school if one parent gets laid off, even if it means attending a lesser program.

Unhealthy hookups a campus concern

For 18-year-old Britney, her relationship with Dan was a dream. The couple had fun together: Dan had an edgy style that Britney couldn't resist, and he treated her like royalty.

About six months into the relationship, however, things began to change. After a fight, Dan became physical and started what would become a four-year nightmare for Britney, now a senior at California University of Pennsylvania. (The couple's names were changed to protect their identities.)

A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and cited by the Domestic Violence Resource Center determined that 25 percent of women have experienced some form of domestic violence in their lifetime. The study also found that college-age women are at the greatest risk of nonfatal intimate partner violence.

Intimate partner or sexual violence can range from verbal belittling, punching and slapping to forced sexual relations, among other acts.

Find out more at the Observer-Reporter Web site.

Union prof sues CalU

A psychology professor who heads the faculty union at California University of Pennsylvania says the school’s president denied her promotion because of her gender and because she pulled back her hand when he allegedly caressed it.
The university issued a statement Monday on behalf of President Angelo Armenti Jr., denying any wrongdoing and calling Professor Linda Toth’s federal lawsuit and “unfounded attack” on his integrity.
The professor’s complaint says Armenti has repeatedly denied her promotion to full professor despite the recommendation of her department, its chair and a school promotion committee. Toth says female professors are promoted less frequently than men at the state-owned school.
She wants back pay, damages and attorney’s fees.

Schools advertise to stem losses

Jim Vieira can tell each year when the TV ads for Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy start airing.
That’s when people start calling for information, said Vieira, the interim dean.
If you get Time Warner Cable, you might have seen commercials this fall advertising Collegiate Academy and McDowell High School.
In the Erie area, McDowell and Collegiate Academy are at the forefront of public school self-promotion. Each high school has been using television ads for several years to attract and keep students as well as the money that would go with them if they chose to attend charter schools.
“The reality of education today is that, even as a public school, we have to promote ourselves,” said Michael Golde, superintendent of the Millcreek Township School District, where McDowell is the only high school. “Education is much more competitive than in the past. We need to self-promote and tell people what we have.”
Rich Bagin, executive director of the National School Public Relations Association, said public school advertising is “more prevalent than it’s ever been in the last seven or eight years.”
He said schools usually advertise because they’re trying to bring in students, and money can be tied to enrollment.
Bagin also said that more specialty types of schools have arisen in the past decade and they want to get the word out about what they offer.
At Collegiate, it’s a four-year college-preparatory magnet school that was ranked second in Pennsylvania by Newsweek, has a motto of “pride, honor, respect” and a vision statement of “always reaching higher,” and had a senior class that received $16 million in scholarship offers.
Conveyed in a 30-second spot, those messages cost about $2,000 to air about 280 times on a variety of Time Warner channels for 10 to 14 days leading up to the school’s Dec. 6 open house, Vieira said.
McDowell spent $3,000 for 536 spots, also on a variety of Time Warner channels, around the school’s Nov. 9 open house, said Erika Howland, spokeswoman for the Millcreek district. The district’s own cable access channel also is used to run promotional programs.
In the 30-second ad that ran on multiple channels, students said they chose McDowell because of the performing arts, the variety of people, the academics, the activities and athletics, and the “small learning communities and big opportunities.”
The 2,400-student Millcreek high school consists of two buildings: McDowell for grades 11 and 12 and McDowell Intermediate for grades nine and 10.
Golde said the advertisement dispels misconceptions that arise because of McDowell’s size. He said people might feel such a big school could be impersonal.
“And that really isn’t the case,” he said. “We have opportunities for students to connect in much smaller groups and activities, really school-within-a-school opportunities.”
Countering negative impressions is one reason schools advertise, said Claus von Zastrow, executive director of Learning First Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based partnership of national education associations dedicated to improving learning in America’s public schools.
“The issue is more that the perception is out there that public schools are worse,” von Zastrow said.
Worse than the private, charter and cyber schools that Millcreek and Erie officials said they’re competing with.
“Our advertising targets students that might otherwise go to other schools or cyber schools,” Golde said. “We want to make sure they are aware of the programs that McDowell has, and its advantages.
“And obviously, it’s an advantage for the district if students stay here, or come here,” he added.
The advantage can be financial.
Not only do Erie and Millcreek have to pay when their students attend nondistrict charter schools, but the districts also face the possibility of not getting as much extra reimbursement from the state.
The Erie School District is spending $9 million this school year in tuition for Erie students in all grades who choose to attend charter schools, including cyber schools, business manager Rick D’Andrea said. That translates to 4.5 mills of tax, with each mill costing the typical property owner about $70, and includes about $1.2 million for cyber charter schools competing with Collegiate, he said.
“It’s a huge expense,” D’Andrea said.
He said calculations for state reimbursements take into account a district’s average daily membership, or ADM, and weighted average daily membership, or WADM, which are averages taken over a whole school year to give a picture of how many students were enrolled.
“We don’t lose money if we lose a lot of kids to parochial schools or charter or cyber charter schools,” he said. “But we can get more money over our baseline if we increase our ADM or WADM.”
Districts also receive tuition money when their schools are chosen by outside students.
Non-Erie students pay $3,100 a year to attend Collegiate Academy, D’Andrea said.
Non-Millcreek students pay about $7,500 in tuition to go to McDowell, Howland said.
The majority of Collegiate’s nearly 870 freshmen through seniors are from Erie, Vieira said. However, students are accepted based on their academics rather than their address, he said.
Admission requirements include a minimum grade-point average of 3.0 and national standardized test scores at the 75th or higher percentile.
Vieira said the school usually has a waiting list of about 40 for the freshman class. Collegiate receives nearly 500 applications a year and accepts between 200 and 235 students, he said.
Collegiate Academy runs its recruitment ad before its open house to let parents and students hear about the school.
Vieira said the ad’s target audience is middle school students and their parents.
“I think parents are becoming more and more discerning,” he said. “They’re looking for the best educational setting for their son or daughter.”
Parents want to make well-informed decisions about their children’s education and are already looking for information when students are still in sixth or seventh grade, Vieira said.
In some areas, parents who traditionally paid to send children to private schools are considering public ones because of the economy, von Zastrow said. TV ads can be a way of letting people know what’s available.
“It may be public schools are seeing an opportunity to remind people of the original public option here,” von Zastrow said.
At Collegiate Academy, that option includes 22 advanced placement courses, such as AP physics, literature and composition, and U.S. history. Classes are either AP or honors level. Dual enrollment courses at local colleges and universities are offered. The school has an Academic Sports League team that’s won at the state and national levels and more than 25 extracurricular activities.
At McDowell, students can take Mandarin, Spanish, French and German languages. The performing arts curriculum features music, dance, theater and production classes. A “concurrent college program” allows students to earn a year of college credit by the time they graduate. Junior ROTC, AP courses and sports, including ice hockey, also are available, officials said.
“There are taxpayers in the community who are not entirely aware of what their tax dollars go to support,” Golde said. “Our advertising really is to promote what we have in this school district when we ask people to pay their tax bills.”
Letting the public know what goes on in classrooms is a reason another Erie school advertised in the past.
Central Career and Technical School ran commercials before its January open house for three years on Time Warner, said Dave Kranking, director of career and technical education for the Erie district.
“The public doesn’t really know what this school offers,” Kranking said. “Programs have changed over the years. Some are unique and very specialized.”
They include intelligence studies and horticulture.
The school only stopped the commercials when Time Warner expanded and the ads were running all over Erie and Crawford counties, Kranking said.
“We decided the cost could be put into other advertising that we do that targets city households,” he said.
This year, the school sent out a letter to all students — public, private and parochial — in grades six through eight in Erie before a November open house, Kranking said. Another letter, about how to register, will go out to parents of public and private school eighth-graders in January, he said.
Von Zastrow said schools around the country are getting the notion that they have to reach out to communities, sometimes in new ways like TV ads.
He said it’s important to remember that “the public schools are the public’s schools,” and districts should let people know what their buildings have to offer.
© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Student suspended for wearing Santa suit to school

WALLINGFORD, Pa. (AP) — A suburban Philadelphia teenager has been suspended for wearing a Santa Claus suit to school.
Michael Hance says he told his principal that he planned to wear the suit to Strath Haven High School and hand out candy canes.
The 18-year-old senior says the principal told him that wasn’t a good idea because it would be a distraction.
But he wore the suit anyway, with regular clothes underneath in case he was asked to take it off.
He got nabbed a few minutes after he walked into his first class on Tuesday.
The district says in a statement Hance was suspended for the day for “defiance of authority.”
Hance says the school could have just given him a detention.
© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Merry Christmas!

I hope all of our readers have a wonderful Christmas and that you get to spend time with those with those you love!

The spirit of Christmas

By Barbara S. Miller
Staff Writer
It always seems to snow when Jessica Parham and her family transfer a couple of carloads of children’s gifts to a van operated by a Washington County Children and Youth Services caseworker.
Monday was no exception.
But even wintry weather can’t mask the warmth behind Jessica’s efforts.
Jessica, 17, a senior at Peters Township High School, has raised between $1,000 and $2,000 each year for the past several Christmases, using the money to buy gifts for children who are in CYS placement.
Caseworker Rebecca Hunter explained the term “in CYS placement” refers to children who are in institutions, other facilities or at home with a parent or parents with CYS monitoring the family.
Her father, Bill Parham, called the Washington County Children and Youth Services one year, explained what Jessica wanted to do, and found himself connected to Hunter.
And unlike Santa, Jessica never knows if the recipients are naughty or nice.
In fact, she never gets to know them at all.
“We can’t even meet the kids due to confidentiality,” Jessica said.
Until last February, Jessica was simply an anonymous donor. Word of her efforts spread, however, when she won a “Character Counts” award from the community-based organization in Peters Township and was recognized by the Washington County commissioners.
Why does she do this? “I just wanted to give back to the community,” she said.
She collects door to door and has involved her parents and their co-workers. Her mother, Celia Parham, a district merchant for Macy’s department store, has team members who decided to contribute by purchasing gifts for one of the youngsters on the CYS list, which is made up this year of young fire victims.
“It’s just amazing, when you start talking about it to different people, the support you get,” Celia Parham said.
Jessica was taken aback that the children’s needs were so basic: shoes, coats, hair dryers and makeup.
“Last year, the kids wanted toys,” she said.
Hunter was touched that a teenager would take on such a project.
“She must have an amazing family,” said Hunter, who wrote on Jessica’s behalf for the Character Counts award. “She’s so humble and so sweet. She was so nervous to get up and blow her own horn. She told her family, ‘If you were going to give me a gift, give me money.’ So they donate to her cause.”
Jessica has signed a letter of intent to play golf at Youngstown (Ohio) State University and major in exercise science and pre-physical therapy. She hopes to continue her efforts next year, but she’s also been schooling a successor, her 11-year-old sister Alyssa, who helped her wrap presents this month.
Ask Alyssa if Jessica is like Santa and she’ll probably laugh at the comparison. When the question was posed, she then smiled and said thoughtfully, “For this, she is.”

Clifford, Santa and puppies celebrate Christmas with Claysville students

CLAYSVILLE – Santa Claus, two beagle puppies and Clifford the Big Red Dog were among the recent visitors to Alison Beck’s life skills/multiple disabilities classroom at Claysville Elementary School.
Her students, who range in age from 8 to 11, knew they were having a party and would get to watch “The Polar Express.”
However, they didn’t know the extent of the party.
They started clapping when they saw Santa strolling down the sidewalk by their school.
And suddenly, he appeared in their classroom – with gifts for all of them.
“I have some little presents this morning,” Santa said. “The elves packed them for me.”
Find out more about their party at the Observer-Reporter.

Study: schools face shortfall after stimulus ends

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Using federal stimulus money to avoid layoffs at schools is going to create a shortfall even more difficult for states and schools to contend with when that money runs out, according to a first-of-its-kind study released Monday.
New York alone will see a $2 billion shortfall after stimulus money ends in 2011-12, and that could drive up some of the nation’s highest local property taxes another 8 percent, according to the analysis by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
“This isn’t just a New York problem,” DiNapoli said in an early and detailed analysis of school aid after federal stimulus funds run out in 2011-12. “Other states across the country will face a similar dilemma if they used stimulus money to plug budget holes instead of paying for one-time expenses.
“Stimulus funding is not a recurring revenue; it shouldn’t be used for recurring expenses.”
A Government Accountability Office report released a week ago found 63 percent of states in a representative sample planned to use 50 percent of their school stimulus money to retain jobs. Other uses were nonrecurring items including equipment.
In July, the GAO cautioned that many states facing deep deficits were using stimulus dollars to fill budget holes and avoid layoffs, rather than reforms that could mean longer-term savings or programs such as building new schools.
The U.S. Education Department encouraged schools to diversify the use of stimulus money to ward off huge budget gaps when it runs out, said spokeswoman Sandra Abrevaya.
“When one saves a job, it doesn’t mean one saves it indefinitely,” she said.
In California, the stimulus was credited with saving or creating 62,000 jobs in public schools and state universities. Utah reported saving about 2,600 teaching jobs. In both states, education jobs represented about two-thirds of the total number of jobs said to be created or saved by the stimulus. Missouri reported more than 8,500 school jobs, Minnesota more than 5,900. In Michigan, where officials said 19,500 jobs have been saved or created, three out of four were in education.
The Congressional Budget Office has noted the difficulty of measuring the number of jobs saved by the stimulus. “It is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package,” a CBO report said last month.
The early public warning mirrors internal worries among state budget officers nationwide.
“They have to manage through the decline and end of the Recovery Act funds, but they know it’s unlikely that improved revenues — if they improve — can cover the recovery fund amounts,” said Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of Business Officers.
The post-stimulus era is often called “the cliff.”
In Pennsylvania, Department of Education spokesman Michael Race says the cliff was considered in budget negotiations as a consequence of using the federal money. He says it’s difficult right now to give a specific answer about a funding drop-off since many variables have yet to play out, such as how much the governor will propose to increase school funding, and whether state revenues recover.
Though Washington is talking about another federal stimulus package, states and schools aren’t expected to get another infusion of cash. But school advocates in New York have already starting to prepare a case that schools will need more federal money.
School districts faced with raising taxes to make up for stimulus money “are going to have to put together some contingency plans,” said B. Jason Brooks, director of research and communications for the Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability, a think tank.
“There may be massive teacher layoffs,” he added.
And the future may be even darker. Depressed housing values — which lag about three years behind a recession — will hurt the ability of schools and local governments to raise tax revenue, said Michael Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank in Washington.
“The question is, is this the new normal?” he asked. “Schools need to get used to the idea that lean times are here and they are here to stay.”
© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Stockings filled in memory of local teen

As many as 290 patients in Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh will get a Christmas surprise in memory of Olivia Scott.
Olivia would have been a McGuffey High School senior this year. In February, she had the first symptoms of what was determined to be liver cancer. She died on July 1.
Her family decided they would create a foundation in her name. The Olivia Scott Foundation has donated to other families dealing with cancer, as well as schools, said Marc Scott, Olivia’s father.
The first foundation board meeting was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. There, Olivia’s mother, Ann Scott, talked to one of the board members about what to do with Olivia’s Christmas stocking.
They discussed giving stockings to the hospital because Olivia spent so much time there.
They put notices in school about it. Both places where the Scotts work donated, Marc Scott said.
He said they went from hoping to give stockings to every child in the cancer unit to believing they can provide a stocking for every child in the hospital. There are 290 beds in the hospital, though they may not all be filled.
They will put all kinds of gifts in the stockings, including socks, slippers, yo-yos, Silly Putty, cards, small board games, happy DVDs, crayons and puzzles.
“I am amazed with the bad economy that everyone has been so good to us through Olivia’s battle with cancer,” Marc Scott said. “People are still giving like there’s no tomorrow. It’s just overwhelming that people have been so giving.”
He said it’s helped give Christmas a different meaning for the family.
“Instead of feeling down, it’s uplifting,” Scott said.
They will drop the stockings off on Tuesday. Hospital staff will inspect the toys before giving the stockings to the children.
Anyone who wants to donate can do so at Jessop Community Credit Union, 1100 Green St., Washington.

Trinity board members deny Sunshine Law violation

Two Trinity School Board members say there was no violation of the Sunshine Law when they voted on several personnel issues last week.
Several people in the community, including board member Gerald Chambers, questioned whether the board violated state law when it hired a new solicitor, an acting superintendent and a consultant.
Chambers questioned why the three were at the meeting if they didn’t know ahead of time that they were going to be hired.
The Sunshine Law states that decisions must be made in public meetings not behind closed doors. But what about presumptive board members who are not yet seated? Four members were seated for their first Trinity meeting last week.
Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said it doesn’t violate any law for prospective members to meet before they are seated. Many newly elected agency members meet ahead of time with good intentions, she said.
“But I think they are jumping the gun,” Melewsky said, adding they have to be careful they are not violating the purpose of the law because it can create barriers to public input.

Trinity athletic director's contract

Numerous people have been asking for details about the contract for Trinity Athletic Director Ed Dalton because of the recent shakeup in the district. Last week, the board voted to open up all coaching positions and not to renew the Dalton's contract or the food service director contract.
Because of the questions, we are posting Dalton's contract on the Observer-Reporter Web site.
Details of the contract include:
* His five-year contract is up June 30, 2010. Unless he leaves the district, he will be the athletic director until that date.
* Dalton can stay on staff as a teacher at the highest teacher pay, which will be $80,350 in the 2010-11 school year.

Student loan default data highlights for-profits

More than one in five borrowers of federal student loans who attend for-profit colleges default within three years of repayment, new figures made available by the U.S. Department of Education on Monday show.
Historically, the government has reported such figures in terms of how many students default within two years – a figure that stands at 6.7 percent of student borrowers overall and about 11 percent at for-profit schools.
But the new three-year numbers, though preliminary, give a clearer picture of whether a student at a particular school will default, so the government will soon begin using them to help decide which colleges qualify for taxpayer-supported student aid programs.
Currently, schools with default rates over 25 percent for three straight years can be disqualified, but experts argued that schools were gaming the two-year figures. So starting in 2012, colleges will be judged on how many students default within three years of starting repayment, though the new threshold default rate for sanctions will be 30 percent instead of 25 percent.
Nearly 12 percent of borrowers who began repayment in fiscal 2007 defaulted within three years – up from 9.2 percent for 2006. But at for-profit colleges, the rate was 21.2 percent within three years, the Associated Press calculated from the government’s data. That was up from 18.8 percent for fiscal 2006. More recent overall figures aren’t available, though experts generally presume default rates increased during the recession.

Remember the fallen

BRIDGEVILLE – One by one, members of the AmVets Post 103 Honor Guard brought out parts of a memorial for the audience to see Saturday.
As they stood in the brisk weather at National Cemetery of the Alleghenies, the honor guard brought out boots, a weapon, a helmet and dog tags, layering one on top of the other in memory of veterans. The service was part of the Wreaths Across America event.
“They are our beloved veterans,” said Jim Smith, commander of the AmVets Post 103 Honor Guard. “Let us remember our fallen brothers, not just today but after we leave here.”
The honor guard, along with Civil Air Patrol Squadron 601 from Washington and Greene Counties and Squadron 602 from Allegheny County, participated in the ceremony at the Cecil Township cemetery and helped place wreaths on the graves of fallen soldiers.
John Kenes, who organized the event, said he’s been getting wreathes for the fallen soldiers for about five years.
Kenes, commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, said he got 100 wreaths the first year. This year, 860 wreaths were placed on the graves of fallen soldiers.
He said he was glad to see so many children in the audience of hundreds.
Kenes, who served in World War II and Vietnam, said the ceremony is about teaching history and honoring veterans.
It’s a ceremony that happened all over the country at noon.
More than 100,000 wreaths were expected to be placed on gravestones and monuments in stirring, solemn tributes to the 25 million men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces and guarded and preserved America’s freedom throughout history, according to a news release from Wreaths Across America.
Since its inception in 2006, Wreaths Across America has grown – from 240 ceremonies at national and state veterans’ cemeteries in its first year to more than 400 expected in all 50 states and 24 national cemeteries abroad in 2009, the release states.
“Our mission is to remember the fallen, honor those who serve and teach our children the value of freedom,” Karen Worcester, executive director of Wreaths Across America, said in the release.

Trinity board shakes up district

Four newly elected Trinity Area School Board members were seated Thursday and immediately made some controversial changes.
The changes included hiring new consultants, opening fall coaching positions, including that of athletic director/football coach Ed Dalton, and instituting a spending freeze. Tom Bodnovich was elected president of the school board as four new members took their seats on the panel.
Find out more about what happened in the Observer-Reporter.

McGuffey rejects teacher's contract

Edited to add: Find out about the fact-finder's report in the Observer-Reporter.
McGuffey School Board rejected a fact-finder’s report that made suggestions for a new teachers contract Thursday night.
The vote came two days after the teachers union voted to approve the fact-finder’s report. School board member Carl Group was absent from the meeting; all others voted against the report.
The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board appointed a fact-finder to give recommendations about changes to the contract. McGuffey teachers are working on an expired contract.
Under state law, the two sides cannot discuss recommendations contained in the report before the vote. The report will be posted on the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board Web site today.
School board President Joyce Knestrick said even though a vote had been taken, board members couldn’t comment because they had a verbal agreement with the union team not to comment publicly about the negotiations.
However, union spokeswoman Colleen Imbriale said in a news release earlier this week that the report didn’t give either side everything it wanted.
“But we think that it reflects a good, balanced agreement,” she said.
Since one side rejected the agreement, both sides will have to vote again after the public has been given the opportunity to review the report. The vote will have to take place between five and 10 days of each side’s original vote. They must notify the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board of the results.
If one side votes no again, the union and school board will return to the bargaining table.
The school board scheduled a meeting for 7 p.m. Thursday to vote on the fact-finder’s report again. It wasn’t clear Thursday night when the union would vote again.
McGuffey is one of five districts in Washington and Greene counties where teachers are working without a contract. The others are Canon-McMillan, Charleroi, West Greene and Southeastern Greene.

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

Success of Canonsburg Girls Night Out grows

CANONSBURG – Many of the girls at Canonsburg Middle School Girls’ Night Out last week were back for a second go-round.
They said it was so much fun last year, that they wanted to do it again.
“You get to be with friends,” said eighth-grader Francesca Scenna.
“And spend time together,” eighth-grader Kimberleigh Minnis piped up.
It’s the fourth year in a row that counselors and teachers have organized a night of fun for seventh- and eighth-grade girls who go to school there.
At this age, girls sometimes have trouble figuring out where they belong, said Jill Dennick, an eighth-grade social studies teacher. At Girls’ Night Out, they are split into groups to go through each activity. Often, they are not with the girls they see in class every day so it’s a chance to get to know someone new.
“They come together and have fun,” Dennick said. “It’s a night for them to do girlie things.”
It was a night of decorating cookies, learning about self-defense, painting nails, dancing and making crafts.
Find out more about it at Observer-Reporter.com.

Can a person be elected to two positions at the same time?

An eastern Pennsylvania district attorney plans to challenge the election of a county councilman to a local school board.
Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday afternoon to discuss the issue. Morganelli has said he will sue to strip county Councilman Ron Angle and another official of their posts.
Angle was sworn in as a member of the Bangor Area School Board on Monday night, the same night Wilson Borough Councilman Tony Verenna was sworn in to his local school board.
Morganelli says the state’s public schools code and the county charter prohibit the men from holding both posts.
© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Career and technology students help students get a head start

Jesse Flament is studying masonry for a reason.
“It’s the family business,” said the Charleroi student who attends Mon Valley Career and Technology Center.
Beth-Center junior Adam Mikolay sees another reason to learn masonry.
“I can make a career out of it and make a lot of money,” he said.
Representatives from area career and technology centers say their students can graduate from high school with nationally recognized certifications that enable them to obtain good-paying jobs. They say they get calls from area businesses asking for workers certified in specific areas.
“We can get kids coming out of here that go to the electrical union; after a two-year apprenticeship, they can make $40,000 or better, just working straight hours,” said Bradley Dei Cas, administrative director for Mon Valley Career and Technology Center.
Students can get jobs right after graduation or get credit toward associate degrees, said Jan Quailey, Greene County Career and Technology director.
“You feel like you’re the best-kept secret,” said Linda Murphy, assistant director at Greene technology center.
Find out more at the Observer-Reporter Web site.

Up, up and away

Jane Schmitko grew up when President John F. Kennedy said we would have a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
She remembers the Apollo astronauts.
That’s why the Trinity High School physics teacher jumped at the chance to apply for the Northrop Grumman Foundation Weightless Flights of Discovery.
“This is the closest I’m going to get to being in outer space,” she said.
Since 2006, Northrop Grumman has worked with Zero-G Corp. to give teachers the chance to experience weightless flights in a specially modified aircraft and to incorporate what they learn in the classroom. To date, nearly 1,000 teachers from the across the country have flown in the FAA-approved aircraft called the G-Force One, said Northrop Grumman spokesman Gustav Gulmert.
He said science, technology, engineering and math education is of particular interest to Northrop Grumman, which relies heavily on technical excellence to support its customers.
“Our intent is to inspire students to pursue technical careers by first inspiring their teachers,” he said. “We recognize the crucial role teachers play in energizing their students and making them aware of the opportunities awaiting them.”
Schmitko found out in July that she was one of the select few to participate in the 2009 flights. She attended an all-day workshop about one month before the flight where she was briefed on how the flights work and what to expect.
Find out more about her experience on the Observer-Reporter Web site.

Jane Schmitko grew up when President John F. Kennedy said we would have a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
She remembers the Apollo astronauts.
That’s why the Trinity High School physics teacher jumped at the chance to apply for the Northrop Grumman Foundation Weightless Flights of Discovery.
“This is the closest I’m going to get to being in outer space,” she said.
Since 2006, Northrop Grumman has worked with Zero-G Corp. to give teachers the chance to experience weightless flights in a specially modified aircraft and to incorporate what they learn in the classroom. To date, nearly 1,000 teachers from the across the country have flown in the FAA-approved aircraft called the G-Force One, said Northrop Grumman spokesman Gustav Gulmert.
He said science, technology, engineering and math education is of particular interest to Northrop Grumman, which relies heavily on technical excellence to support its customers.
“Our intent is to inspire students to pursue technical careers by first inspiring their teachers,” he said. “We recognize the crucial role teachers play in energizing their students and making them aware of the opportunities awaiting them.”
Schmitko found out in July that she was one of the select few to participate in the 2009 flights. She attended an all-day workshop about one month before the flight where she was briefed on how the flights work and what to expect.
Find out more about her experience on the Observer-Reporter Web site.

Canon-Mac students challenged to raise money for needy

Canon-McMillan High School students have been challenged to raise $7,500 for needy children in their community.
If they do, their Principal David Helinski and social studies teacher Matthew Todaro will turn into “Survivormen,” and spend 24 hours in the school pool, except for bathroom breaks.
It’s one of the many fundraisers, including a hoagie sale, a pie a teacher contest and raffles, that the school organized to raise money for its Santa Fund.
Todaro said his students came up with the ideas for the fundraisers, especially the Suvivormen.
“It’s really been student-driven,” he said.
The money will be used to help Santa get gifts for those in difficult financial situations this year, he said. Todaro estimated that 350 Canon-Mac children will receive gifts.
He said $4,000 had already been raised when the challenge was issued to reach $7,500.
Should that goal be met, the men will spend the 24 hours in the pool after the holidays, Todaro said.

Pittsburgh council holds off on tuition tax vote

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh’s council has postponed a vote to impose a 1 percent, first-of-its-kind tax on students, giving city officials and the universities a week to cut a deal.
The tax has a narrow 5-4 majority on council. However, even those in favor say they prefer the financially strapped city find an alternative way to collect money from large, nonprofit, tax-exempt institutions, most notably the universities.
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl presented the tax last month as a way to fill a $15 million budget gap. The legality of the tax would most likely be determined by the courts.
City officials say the $1.6 million the non-profits agreed to pay Pittsburgh in 2010 does not cover the services the city provides.
© 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

PDE launches redesigned Web site

Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak today announced the launch of a new, easier to use Department of Education Web site at www.education.state.pa.us.

The department's Web site continues to be a central clearinghouse for thousands of education-related materials, including information on academic standards and curriculum, student performance data, school financial data, early childhood education resources, postsecondary and higher education resources, library services, property tax relief information and more.

Site users can create a free account that will enable them to customize the site to readily access information and materials they frequently use.