Pottsgrove Middle School Student Shines in Montgomery County Suicide Prevention Effort

This poster by Pottsgrove Middle School student Christine Hires won third place in a countywide teen suicide prevention poster contest.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Pottsgrove School District.

A suicide prevention poster by Christine Hires, a 7th grade student at the Pottsgrove Middle School, was selected as the third place winner in the Montgomery Country Suicide Awareness Poster Contest.

The second annual contest was sponsored by the Montgomery County Suicide Prevention Taskforce and Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital and its theme was "Your Story Doesn't End Here."

In Montgomery County about 100 people are lost  each year to suicide.

The Taskforce’s purpose is to promote understanding that suicide is a preventable community health problem in our county. The goal of this contest is to encourage emotional well-being by promoting the concepts of communication, hope, community and friendship, in an effort to prevent suicide. 

All schools in Montgomery County were invited to submit original artwork.

For more information about suicide prevention and upcoming events, the website:  https://www.montcopa.org/1439/Suicide-Prevention-Task-Force

The idea behind the project is to help to teach students that talking about feelings and reaching out for help when feeling down is important for everyone in Montgomery County.


Judges looked for positive themes, POSITIVE THEMES, clear messages, creativity, uniqueness and artistic ability. 

Students were urged to draw ideas about the following themes:

• Hope
• Peace
• Love
• Not keeping Secrets
• Life is for Living
• Support
• Friendship
• Connections
• Communication
• Being a Role Model
• Healthy Ways to deal with Stress

Pottsgrove Hosting Montco Honors Orchestra Friday

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove School District.

On Friday, the Pottsgrove School District will host the Montgomery County Honors Orchestra at 7 p.m. at the middle school auditorium.

They will perform music spanning from Mozart to Star Wars. Tickets for the event will be sold at the door. The cost is $3 for students and senior citizens and $5 for adults.

The Montgomery County Honors Orchestra is a group of 90 students comprised of the best orchestra students in Montgomery County.

 These students are chosen by their directors to come to a single location, rehearse, and perform under a guest conductor. 

 This year, student performers are from Pottsgrove, Perkiomen Valley, Spring-Ford, North Penn, Abington, Upper Merion, Plymouth Whitemarsh, and Germantown Academy.

They have been rehearsing at Pottsgrove Middle School under Maestro Gary White. 

Maestro White is director of the Philadelphia Sinfonia Youth Orchestra and Orchestra Concordia in Radnor. He was recently a guest conductor for PMEA District 11 Stringfest in 2018 here at Pottsgrove Middle School.

Here is another preview video:

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Pottsgrove Holds Off on Voting to Track School Buses

The Pottsgrove School Board held off on voting to install global positioning system software and hardware in its school buses Tuesday night.

Board members Ashley Custer and Jim Lapic questioned the price of about $200 per bus for installation when they had information suggesting process takes just minutes.

The overall cost of the contract is just over $17,000 according to the information included in last night's agenda.

There would be another monthly fee of $571 for the software if the school board ultimately accepts the recommendation to go with Eagle Wireless and its Geotab System.

Business Manager David Nester said the district runs 56 transportation vehicles and that there are several advantages of the system.

The fact that the Pennsylvania Auditor General will no longer accept the district's tracking software as acceptable documentation for the $1.1 million in transportation aid Pottsgrove gets every year is one of the things that makes the new system advantageous Nester said.

The alternative is to have drivers keep track by hand. School Board President Robert Lindgren was incredulous that the district's tracking software is no longer acceptable.

"Did the length of Mauger's Mill Road change in the last year?" he said in exasperation.

The GPS system would also allow the district to more quickly locate buses during emergencies, such as the November, 2018 surprise snow storm which had some buses get stranded and students hours late in arriving home, said Nester.

He also said Pottsgrove is one of only three districts in Montgomery County that do not have such systems.

In June, Boyertown Area School District announced GPS and internal and exterior camera systems would be installed on all 185 of its vehicles at no cost to the district. The cost was borne by the Quigley Bus Company which at the same time signed a five-year contract with Boyertown.

Boyertown also announced a smartphone app called "Here Comes the Bus," which allows parents to track their children's school bus in real time. partnership with

Launched in 2015 by Indiana-based Synovia Solutions following more than a decade in the school bus fleet management industry, the mobile app has more than a million downloads and boasts approximately 350,000 daily users across North America.

Lindgren told Schools Superintendent William Shirk that the board would take up the issue again at an upcoming meeting.

And with that, here are the Tweets from last night's meeting:

Bus Tracking and Middle School Snacking

Pottsgrove Gets a Peek at Cities of the Future

Photos by Evan Brandt

The Pottsgrove Middle School Future City Team is comprised of Avery Huber, Jayden Francis, Emelia Schwulst,  Liam Lapic,

Addie Fulmer-Sicher, Jackson Hansberry, Ryan Stoy and their advisor Deb Frasca.

At right, is a closer look at their city.

They say the children are our future, and that's true.

But sometimes, those children also envision that future. And that is the case with the Pottsgrove Middle School Future City Team led by Deb Frasca.

The students build a cyber city in Sim city, and then a scale model of a future city in which they planned, researched and solved some of the problems that today's cities face.

Unfortunately, bad weather prevented them from traveling to the competition for which they had prepared. So they did the next best thing and presented to the school board.

I expertly managed to miss the song they sang to their city at both the beginning and the end.

But I did manage to catch some of it on video. Here it is:



In other news, Pottsgrove School board President reported that the initial preliminary budget had called for a tax hike of 2.1 percent, but recent developments have knocked that down to a more palatable 1.5 percent.

Business Manager Dave Nester has once again asked the school board to set aside a $1 million surplus from the previous year's budget into the capital reserve fund. A vote will likely occur at the next meeting.

He said in the next few coming years, money will be drawn down from the PSERS, pension reserve to cover increases, but that surpluses will be less likely.

The board also voted to give .5 percent raises to the district's three top administrators: Nester, Superintendent William Shirk and Assistant Superintendent Robert Harney.

According to the information posted in the agenda, that works out to an extra $920.37 for Shirk; $859.39 for Nester and $761.25 for Harney.

And with that, here are the Tweets from the meeting:


Cities of the Future

Pottsgrove Faces Pricey Middle School Bridge Repair

Corrosion was evident beneath the Pottsgrove Middle School pedestrian bridge even before further investigation found the problems are much worse than initially feared.

Remember when the repairs to the Pottsgrove Middle School pedestrian bridge were supposed to cost $35,000?

Yeah forget that.

Try as much as $350,000 instead.

Tuesday night, Pottsgrove School Board Robert Lindgren said "the damage was much more extensive than we first thought."

Last month, Pottsgrove Facilities Director Jeffrey Cardwell told the board that the bridge failed an inspection in January and at least two blocks of concrete need to be removed in order to replace the steel waffling underneath.

He said the investigation by a contractor found that three drains in the bridge had allowed water to penetrate and rust the bridge’s steel decking.
The concrete and decking need to be removed and replaced, and the drainage system re-designed to prevent the problem from occurring again, he said.

Engineers also examined steel support girders for signs of rust and once a soffit was removed, the damage was revealed to be much more extensive, said Lindgren.

That said, Cardwell said he believes the $350,000 cost estimate to be a "worse case scenario," and he hopes to lower the cost to between $150,000 to $200,000.

One way that can be done, he said, is to change the work times. The estimate was based on starting work after school let out. But starting in the morning and moving students who would be disturbed by the noise would allow the project to be done more quickly and more cheaply.

Business Manager Dave Nester said the project, when combined with the $2.4 million roof replacement at the building and some changes to the HVAC system put a pretty big bite into Pottsgrove's capital budget reserve.

The capital reserve budget has been reduced by about $5 million, reducing by about a third from $15 million, he said.

Another item of note to taxpayers is the sudden jump in the district's special education budget.

Since July 1, the first day of the fiscal year, Pottsgrove has seen 45 new special education students, at lease seven of whom require enough special assistance that seven new one-on-one aides need to be hired to meet their IEP's, or individual education programs as set out in special education laws.

"We're going to have to hire some people we had not planned on hiring," said Superintendent William Shirk.

Kathryn Pacitto, director of pupil services, said the number is not unusual as much as the severity of the issues which need to be addressed among this particular group of special education students.

Although no cost to the special education budget was made available to the public Tuesday night, Nester said it is over the special education budget, but can be absorbed by the budget's fund balance, an example of why such funds are built into every year's budget, he added.

But a taste of special education costs came a few moments later in the meeting when the board unanimously approved a contract for a two students at Cottage Seven that will cost $140,140 per year.

And with that, here are the Tweets from the meeting:

Pricey Bridge Repair and Special Education Su

Pottsgrove Middle School Students' Opioid Crisis Video is a Semi-finalist in State Senate Contest

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove Middle School.

Students in Deb Macllvain’s class entered the Opioid Video Contest Program that is currently being sponsored in the PA Senate.

The group of students from Pottsgrove Middle School participated and submitted videos into this scholarship contest aimed at educating and bringing awareness to drug addiction. 

The students are: Yomary Villagomez, MaryKate Kaiser, Julia Walton, Alyssa Confino

The group of students that submitted a video from Pottsgrove are going on to the semi-finalists in the next round of statewide judging. 

Senator John Rafferty, R-44th Dist. visited Pottsgrove Middle School on March 23, to present students with certificates for their achievements. 

The winners of the contest, sponsored by Commonwealth Crisis, will received a $10,000 scholarship check, according to information Rafferty on his Facebook account.

The final video’s will be judged during the month of April and the state's First place winner wuill be announced within the next weeks.

Tarzan Musical Swings Into Pottsgrove MS Today

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Pottsgrove School District.

Tarzan the Musical will be presented at the Pottsgrove Middle School on March 15, 16, and 17 at 7:00.

Tickets are on sale at the Pottsgrove Middle School office and at the door for $8.

Tarzan the Musical has a cast of 60 - 6th, 7th and 8th graders and 12 stage crew members. 

The cast includes Daniel Korman as Tarzan, Makenzie Johnson as Jane, Gianna Verdone as Kala, Isaac Kumpf as Kerchak, Carissa Schechterly as Terk, Haley Trump as Young Terk, Michael Kawczynski as Young Tarzan, Jacob Windrim as Porter, and Joseph Brotschul as Clayton.

The show uses a live pit band of 8 members.

Tom Yenchick is the director and choreographer and Carole Bean is the musical director.

Pottsgrove a Top Scorer in Robotics Competition

Pottsgrove Middle School teacher Deb MacIlvain and the members of her 7th grade class who excelled in the Lego Robotics competition on Dec. 2.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Pottsgrove School District.

The PGMS Computer / Robotics’ Technology - Lego Team won First Place on Dec. 2, at the school's first-ever Lego Robotic Competition, for their innovative project.

There were six 7th grade students from Deb MacIlvain’s class who were on the team, Sydney Coxe, Dylan Batche, Madison Kern, Cecilia Burg, Lily Guerrette and Mailei Schechterly.

At the competition, there are four judged events. There is the Robot Design, Core Values, Project (Invention) and Robot Game. Each event is judged separately and out of 22 teams at the competition Pottsgrove came in first for our Project (Invention)!

The award is “Innovation Solution” and the award was described as: "Recognizing a team’s solution that is exceptionally well considered and creative, with good potential to solve the problem researched."

This team looked at their daily life experience and found an opportunity to improve our drinking water.

The students identified a problem, researched the problem and developed a solution. They also contacted experts in the water professional field to learn about the public water system and shared their solution with the school's maintenance department. 

The students developed a spray bottle with antiseptic solution that would be connected to a water fountain to sanitize the spigot before someone takes a drink. They also developed an iBook to share with the judges which there is a link on teacher Deb MacIlvain’s web page to the iBook. 

The students worked really hard, not only during class but also after school and on days off.

"We are very proud of their efforts and for making Pottsgrove proud! A special thank-you goes out to their great instructor and teacher – Mrs. Deb MacIlvain!" Principal Matt Boyer wrote in an email to the school.

$2.5M for New Roof, 2% Raises for Administrators

A view of the Pottsgrove Middle School roof, now 20 years old, which must be replaced.

The Pottsgrove School Board re-organized Tuesday night, returning Matt Alexander to the presidency and installing Robert Lindgren in the vice-presidency.

Two new members, Charles Nippert and Scott Hutt, were sworn in, and then the board proceeded to make some decisions.

One sad one was to accept the resignation of the now-legendary Rick Pennypacker as football coach, due to his pending retirement.

Another was a long time in coming, the spend no more than $2.5 million to replace the roof at Pottsgrove Middle School, now 20 years old.

(I must point out the construction of this school is one of the first things I covered for The Mercury, meaning I am in the midst of my 20-year anniversary at the paper. Wow. I still think of this building as "new.")

The board also approved across-the-board 2 percent raises for building principals and mid-level administrators.

Board member Bill Parker questioned whether he could support such increases given the poor performance of so many Pottsgrove school buildings on recent School Performance Profile scores.

But Superintendent William Shirk noted that there is a rubrik used to determine goal meeting, of which SPP is just one part, and assured Parker that the raises were warranted under that rubrik.

Changing it would mean re-negotiating the agreement, which has one more year before it expires.

That said, here are the Tweets from the meeting:

Pottsgrove Principals Make California Discoveries

Pottsgrove High School Principal William Ziegler, left, meets with Lance Rougeux, vice president for learning Communities and Innovation at the Discovery Education Network, during a conference at the University of California in San Diego this summer.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Pottsgrove School District.

William Ziegler, principal at Pottsgrove High School, and Dave Ramage, former Principal at Pottsgrove Middle School in Pottsgrove School District, recently joined more than 50 fellow principals from around the world for the 2017 DEN Summer Institute Principal Summit.

In March, Ramage was named Pottsgrove's Director of Integration for Learning and Instruction.

The summit is an immersive, four day-long professional development and networking experience. A global community of education professionals supported by Discovery Education, the Discovery Educator Network connects members across school systems and around the world through social media, virtual conferences, and in-person events, fostering valuable networking, idea sharing, and inspiration.

David Ramage, former principal at Pottsgrove Middle School, left,
greets Lance Rougeux with the Discovery Education
Network  during a conference in San Diego.

The professional learning experience was held July 13-16 at the University of California, San Diego, in San Diego, CA.

During the DENSI Principal, Ziegler and Ramage learned new strategies for using technology and digital content to energize their leadership and empower their teachers from Discovery Education experts and their peers. In addition, participants engaged in dialogue on topics such as supporting teachers through the digital transition, digital literacy across the curriculums, building their school’s brand, and how to showcase their school’s success to the community.

Ziegler and Ramage were selected to attend the DENSI Principal Summit through a competitive application process which involved written and video explanations of how they are helping transform teaching, learning and culture at their respective schools, and how they will share with others what they learned during the summit.

“Bill and Dave’s selection for the DENSI Principal Summit demonstrates their outstanding leadership and commitment using the latest technologies and innovative teaching strategies and techniques to improve student achievement,” said Lance Rougeux, vice president of learning communities and innovation for Discovery Education. “Their participation in DENSI 2017 will help increase student engagement across Pottsgrove School District, and support their district’s effort to prepare all learners with the critical skills they need to succeed beyond the classroom.”

After participating in the DENSI Principal Summit, Ziegler and Ramage have returned to Pottsgrove School District with new strategies and techniques they can share with their teachers to integrate digital resources into curriculum and instruction to transform teaching and learning.

For more information about the DENSI Principal Summit, click on this link. 

To learn more about the DEN and Discovery Education’s other services and initiatives, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Facebook, follow them on Twitter at @DiscoveryEd, or find them on Instagram and Pinterest.

Meet the Pottsgrove Principals Tuesday/Wednesday

Pottsgrove High School Principal Bill Ziegler, left, and Pottsgrove Middle School Principal Matt Boyer.

The start of school may still seem like a long way off, but the principals at Pottsgrove's secondary schools want to get things off on the right foot.

So Pottsgrove Middle School Principal Matthew Boyer and Pottsgrove High School Principal. Bill Ziegler are inviting students and parents to meet them for an informal time to ask questions, get a glimpse into their child’s schedule, and talk about the upcoming school year.

The next meet and greet will be on Tuesday, Aug. 8 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Chick Fil-A in Gateway Shopping Center next to Costco in Limerick.

Another session will be held later that day from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in Rolling Hills Community Center in Lower Pottsgrove.

On Wednesday, Aug. 9, the two principals will be at Starbucks in Upland Square Shopping Center in West Pottsgrove from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

Later that evening from 7 to 8 p.m., they will be available at the Giant Supermarket in Upland Square.

If you can't make any of those dates, you can reach Boyer on his cell phone at 610-310-1140 or via email at mboyer@pgsd.org

You can reach Chris Becker, the assistant middle school principal, on his cell at 610-310-4520 or via email at cbecker@pgsd.org

Ziegler can be reached on his cell phone at 610-960-2386 or via email at wziegler@pgsd.org

Eric Daney, the assistant principal at Pottsgrove can be reached on his cell phone at 484-366-8290 or via email art edaney@pgsd.org

1% Tax Hike in Pottsgrove, New MS Principal

Photo by Evan Brandt

Pottsgrove High School Principal Bill Ziegler, himself a former Pottstown teacher and former Pottsgrove Middle School Principal, welcomes Matthew Boyer, currently at principal at Pottstown Middle School, who was named the new principal at Pottsgrove Middle School Tuesday night.

Tuesday night, a former Pottsgrove Middle School Principal, who once worked in Pottstown Schools, welcomed the new Pottsgrove Middle School Principal, who currently works in Pottstown Schools.

The naming of Matthew Boyer as the new middle school principal was one of several important votes taken by the Pottsgrove School Board last night.

They also adopted a preliminary budget, but more on that in a minute.

Boyer, who will be paid $122,500 in his first year, is the current principal of grades 5/6 at Pottstown Middle School, a post he has held since 2011.

Prior to his administrative position, he taught at Pottstown Middle School for 16 years. He received his Bachelors of Science in Education from West Chester University. He continued his education earning his Masters in Curriculum, Instruction, and Technology from Temple and completed his Principal Certification from Alvernia.

According to information in the meeting agenda, Boyer brings several valuable experiences to the district including his strength in aligning curriculum to meet Pennsylvania Common Core Standards; he lead the implementation of STEAM initiatives with in-core curriculum; and he lead and implemented a school-wide behavior modification system at Pottstown Middle School.

Board member rick Rabinowitz thanked the administration for letting board members sit in on the first round of interviews and called Boyer "a superb choice."

Now, to the $66,379,955 budget, which, as first proposed, would have raised taxes by 1.1 percent, or about $50 for the home assessed at $120,000, the district average.

But, as the result of an amendment offered by Rabinowitz, who has sought a zero percent tax hike every year he has sat on the board, the tax hike was lowered to .8 percent.

The amendment involved the recent $700,000 math and English curriculum purchase and how to pay for it and in which year.

Rabinowitz's proposal prevailed by a 6-2 vote.

Business Manager David Nester emphasized that the budget is still not "set in stone," and that is was necessary to adopt something in order to meet the law's requirement that a budget be available for public view for 30 days.

Thus it was necessary to adopt it last night to have it ready by June 30, the last day the board can legally adopt a budget.

In the time until then, Nester and Superintendent William Shirk said the administration will continue to work on the budget in pursuit of that ever-elusive zero tax hike.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting:

Pottsgrove Dollars and a Senior Shows Her Grit

Photo by Evan Brandt

Pottsgrove High School senior Sarah Pennington with her service dog Daisy at Tuesday night's Pottsgrove School Board meeting.

Some important things happened at the Pottsgrove School Board meeting last night.

The board voted unanimously and enthusiastically to spend more than $700,000 on a new curriculum.

The facilities committee which met before the full board did and reviewed a study calling for $3.3 million worth of repairs needed at Pottsgrove Middle School, including a new roof.

There was a presentation about what the middle school is doing to prevent suicide, addiction and other behavior problems that seem to afflict people at a younger and younger age these days.

There was even discussion about the more than 9 percent increase in funding being sought for the Western Montgomery Career and Technical Center.

But mostly, I just want to tell you about Sarah Pennington and her service dog Daisy.

Some of you may remember the name from this story I wrote about the Pottsgrove senior in January, when she bravely presented a program to her peers about mental illness and talked about her disease -- trichotillomania, the compulsive pulling out of hair -- and her struggles with it and the accompanying mental strains.

Tuesday night, she introduced the school board to Daisy, her service dog which now accompanies her to school and will be accompanying her to college.

A rescue from Georgia, Sarah trained her through a program called "What a Good Dog." Daisy was certified a few weeks ago by Jeri Wagner at Bark Busters.

"Since I got Daisy, I got my driver's license, a car and a job," said Sarah.

She also got something else. A full scholarship to McDaniel College in Maryland.

"I was among about 20 students interviewed for their academics and I was in Canada and I got a call that I was one of four to get a full scholarship," said Sarah. "I think it had a lot to do with all my volunteer activity."

That was no doubt a factor. So congratulations to a young woman who has overcome, and continues to overcome, some daunting obstacles.

You can read about the rest of it in the Tweets below.

Shrek: The Musical at Pottsgrove Middle School

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove Middle School.

"Shrek: The Musical," will be performed at Pottsgrove Middle School starting on March 16.

Shows are Thursday, March 16, Friday, March 17 and Saturday, March 18.

All shows begin at 7 p.m. and tickets are $8.

For more information, call 610-326-8243.

Getting Ready to Take That Big Step to High School

Pottsgrove Middle School students consider their options as they prepare for high school.

Pottsgrove Middle School and High School counselors met together with the district's eighth graders recently to continue preparing them for the transition to high school.

Since the completion of the assembly, school counselors have been meeting with classes of students. 

The course catalog and program of study was distributed to each student in digital form so they keep a copy on their iPad. 

After the initial course selections are completed by students and parents the counselors will meet with each eighth grader to individually review their schedule for next year.

Before the high school course assembly, interested eighth graders also traveled with Cristina Kleinfelter and Brian Haupt to visit the Western Montgomery Career and Technical Center. 

The WMCTC program has been available for selected ninth graders for several years. 

Pottsgrove Middle School Building Success

Pottsgrove at work.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottsgrove Middle School.

Two Robotics Teams represented Pottsgrove Middle School in the LEGO First Competition on Saturday Dec. 10 in Conshohocken at the AIM Academy. 

Pottsgrove's 7th grade team

The 7th Grade Team took an impressive third place in the Robot category and a first place in Core Values. 

The 8th Grade Team took a first place in the prestigious Robot category and also won the All Around Award! 

Our 8th grade Team was named the Champion and advances to the next round in February. 

Pottsgrove Middle School had a team go all the way to the National Competition in 2013 and our current 8th grade team is working toward that same opportunity.

Pottsgrove's 8th grade team

Faculty sponsor, Mrs. Deb Frasca, works with students as they plan and prepare all aspects of the LEGO competition. 

Students design, build, research, and present their solutions to a panel of judges.

Our 8th grade team included an innovative solution to give beginning equestrian students real-time feedback on their balance in the saddle.

Is Acrimony the Cure to Voter Apathy?

Photos by Evan Brandt

An overwhelming voter turnout at two New Hanover polling places Tuesday can be partly attributed to the growth of housing in the township.

The lines at New Hanover Lutheran Church were unbelievable, and due in part to a lot of population growth in the township in recent years.

But how do you explain Upper Pottsgrove, where a massive turn-out of more than 80 percent

The line of Upper Pottsgrove voters at Pottsgrove Middle School

Snaked down to the end of the hall all the way to the front door.

occurred at the township's single polling place?

There has been no concurrent increase in this township's population. Lines were also more than an hour at Berean Bible Church in Lower Pottsgrove, due in part to reported problems with a voting machine.

But again, although large developments are pending there, there has been no surge in population in Lower Pottsgrove, or in Union, or in Amity.

So we're left to ask why was turn-out so huge?

Some might say voter anger and they would not be wrong I think.

Although they differed in almost every other way, those who voted for Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side, and those who voted for Donald Trump on the other, shared one common attribute -- they were angry at the status quo.

Maybe its time to heed the advice of Scott Major, pastor of

First Church of the Brethren in Pottstown, also a polling place.

In the Republican primary, the candidate of anger won the nomination, but not in the Democratic primary.

And so the candidate who wanted to up end the status quo faced off against the champion of the status quo, Hillary Clinton.

It meant for lots of sparks, lots of accusations of dirty tricks, lots of friction among neighbors and family.

Are we to conclude that this was what was needed to drive people to the polls?

Most of the voters I spoke with in my round of 10 polling stations on election day, did not seem particularly angry, although the ones who were definitely supported Trump.

Anger as antidote to voter apathy seems a dangerous path for a nation to follow, because to maintain it, the people have to be kept angry.

A New Kind of Electronic Music in Pottsgrove

Photos submitted by Pottsgrove School District

A Pottsgrove Middle School student watches a video synched on her iPad with a live performance by the Pennsylvania Philharmonic recently.

Blogger's Note: The following was submitted by Pottsgrove Middle School Principal David Ramage

Pottsgrove Middle School was able to leverage the power of its iPads during a recent performance by the Pennsylvania Philharmonic at the school.

The philharmonic's program featured works to highlight the power of communication through multiple mediums. 

Orchestral works by Copland, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Bernstein were accompanied by a video presented on each student’s iPad. 

Better still, many of the images contained in the video were visual works created by Pottsgrove Middle School students in grades six, seven, and eight. 

Music, visual art, and student-created displays combined for a powerful and moving concert experience. 

Students were enthralled with the power and grace of these performers.

This professional ensemble is composed of musicians who routinely perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Philly Pops, and other local and regional groups. 

The Pennsylvania Philharmonic on the stage
at Pottsgrove Middle School.

The philharmonic performs more than 50 percent of their concerts for school audiences. 

Their commitment to education is appreciated because many students do not have the opportunity to hear this kind of performance in a live concert setting. 

They even provide a voucher for each of our students to attend one of their public concerts free of charge.

The Jazz Band Season Kicks Off in Pottsgrove

Photos by Evan Brandt

The awards for the 'Grove Jazz Fest Saturday await awarding.

The Jazz Band season officially began, at least for my family, Saturday evening with the 'Grove Jazz Festival.

Representatives from all the bands that performed
gather for the awards ceremony at the Grove Jazz Fest

It was a small but very local showing with middle school jazz bands from Pottstown, Pottsgrove and Spring-Ford all strutting their stuff.

Also on stage and packing a punch were the Pottstown and Pottsgrove high school jazz bands.

Here is a video sample of some of the performances:



They all sounded lovely but the Pottstown Middle schoolers really stole the show.

Pottstown Middle School Jazz Band performs Saturday.

They performed first and set a high bar to surpass.

The judges agreed and awarded them the only "Outstanding" rating of the evening.

The Pottstown middle schoolers also captured the best saxophone and best trumpet section awards, as well as two soloist awards.

Jacob Eagle received honorable mention for his trumpet solo on "Tiger of San Pedro" and David Hicks received a soloist award for his trombone solo in "Vehicle."

Pottsgrove Middle School Jazz Band

All the other bands received an "Excellent" rating.

The best trombone section award went to Pottsgrove Middle School and alto sax player Nakeem Palmer won a soloist award for his work in "God Bless This Child.".

Spring-Ford Middle School Jazz Ensemble

The best rhythm section was awarded to Spring-Ford Area Middle School and tenor saxophonist Olivia Raber won a soloist award for her performance in "the Messenger."

Lest it seem to you that the middle school bands won a preponderance of the awards, understand that Pottstown High School was the only high school being scored.

Pottstown High School Jazz Band

By the way, trumpet player Nick Wilson from Pottstown high also won a soloist award for his work in "Moondance."

As host, Pottsgrove High School performed, but only in exhibition and was not scored.

And, as Pottsgrove music director Victor Holladay explained to the crowd, the three judges had "different levels of expectation" for middle school bands versus high school bands.

As hosts, the Pottsgrove High School Jazz Band performed
in exhibition only and was not scored.

This year, I have posted all of the full YouTube videos in the Storify down below. It is more manageable and means I get to sleep a little bit on Jazz Band Nights.

Just like when they are embedded in the blog, you can click on them and listen without having to go to a new site.

Of course, you can also watch them, and recordings from previous years, on my YouTube channel  by clicking here.

Otherwise, scroll down and enjoy:

No Tax Hike in Pottsgrove -- Yet

Photo by Evan Brandt

The Pottsgrove School Board gets ready to get going Tuesday night.

The Pottsgrove School Board did something unusual Tuesday night.

They adopted a preliminary budget with no tax increase, but with a $2.5 million deficit.

And they did it unanimously.

Which either makes them irresponsible, or geniuses.

What better way to point out the uselessness of the state's Act 1 laws which require school districts to go through the motions of adopting a budget everyone knows they are not going to adopt, then to just adopt it "as is."

How many times does a school board get beat up in Sound-Off for adopting a preliminary budget with a ridiculously high tax hike, even when its only pro-forma?

This time, the headline for Pottsgrove will say "no tax hike" or something like it, even though anyone who is paying attention knows it will likely be somewhere between zero and 2.4 percent, which is the limit set by the Act 1 index.

They'll stay within that limit because they also voted against applying for the "exceptions" that would allow them to raise taxes above 2.4 percent in what promises to be a very tough budget year; what with a new governor, a Legislature in control of the opposite party and, perhaps most significant, contract negotiations with the district's teachers.

So it promises to be a very interesting year.

Here are the Tweets from last night's meeting, along with some followers who responded live and whose Tweets I have include as well -- which is always fun.