Pottstown Middle School students participated in a walk-a-thon around the track on a recent Saturday morning to raise money to supply a Sudanese village with fresh water.
Before coronavirus closed out schools and focused our attention on getting food to Pottstown's school children, Pottstown's school children were focused on getting water to a parched village in Africa.
Pottstown Middle School students in Christine Hall's fifth grade class spent a cold windy Saturday morning in March walking around the track at the school district's stadium to help raise funds to supply a village in the Sudan with fresh drinking water.
Inspired by a book they read, “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park, Hall’s fifth grade class hosted a walk-a-thon with the goal of raising $1,000 to support building a well to bring clean water to a village in the Sudan.
Their hard work paid off as they exceeded their goal by raising $1,606.50.
"I am very proud of our students who were moved to action when they learned that villagers in the Sudan must walk miles carrying water cans in order to meet daily needs for drinking and washing, a convenience the students enjoy by simply turning on a sink faucet," Hall said.
"Instead of sleeping in on a cold Saturday, they gave of themselves to help make a difference in the lives of people they may never meet," she said. "What more reason do you need to say Proud to be from Pottstown?"
Front row, from left, Brittany Endy, Aiden Kancianic. Rear, from left, Tyler Broughton, Collin Mattis, Layla Bearden, Makenna Franey, Mehki Jenkins-Glover.
Blogger's Note:The following was provided by the Pottstown School District.
The Pottstown Middle School music program was well represented at the 64th Annual Inter-County Band Festival.
Band members participating were:
Layla Bearden (flute),
Brittany Endy (flute),
Collin Mattis (clarinet),
Tyler Broughton (tenor saxophone),
Makenna Franey (trumpet),
Aiden Kancianic (baritone),
Mehki Jenkins-Glover (percussion).
They were joined by middle school band director Katie German, who directed the Inter-County Band during the performance.
Students are selected by nomination.
The following schools participate: Arcola, Owen J. Roberts, Perkiomen Valley East amd West, Spring-Ford, Boyertown East and West, Phoenixville, Pottsgrove, Pottstown, Upper Perkiomen.
Each band director conducts a piece with the band.
The concert which comes together in only 3 rehearsals ended the night with John Phillip Sousa's "The Liberty Bell March," arranged by Jay Bocook.
Pottstown School Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez, right, and business manager Maureen Jampo, wave to the livestreaming audience during a presentation on converting the former Edgewood Elementary School into a kindergarten center in order to be able to move the fifth grade out of Pottstown Middle School and back into the elementary schools.
It would be inaccurate to say that I was the only member of the audience for Monday afternoon's town hall meeting about converting the former Edgewood school into a kindergarten center.
I was just the only member of the physical audience at Barth Elementary School, other than the ever-present John Armato.
But by the time I got back home to write this up, I had heard from said John Armato that the presentation by Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez about the issues raised by the proposal had 92 views on the district's Facebook page where the presentation was livestreamed on video.
I'm sure by the time you read this, that number from Monday afternoon will have at least doubled.
The final presentation will be held Friday, Nov. 8 at 9 a.m. at the administration building on Beech Street.
Rodriguez seems to have this presentation pretty well down. He indicated, as he has in the past, that this consideration is being driven by the desire to move the fifth grade back out of Pottstown Middle School, where they have been houses since 2015.
The cost to renovate the building, some of which will have to be undertaken whether the kindergarten center plan moves forward or not, hovers between $3 million to $6 million, not to mention some of the costs of busing.
On the down side, having kids go from pre-kindergarten programs, only half of which are in elementary buildings, to a kindergarten center, and then back to elementary schools is a lot of transitions which, educators know, can slow academic progress, particularly among the younger grades.
On the up side, kindergarten centers are fairly common, would allow for more flexibility and, or course, create the space to move the fifth graders back into the elementary schools, which is how we got here in the first place.
The district has looked at other place that have fifth grade in their middle school, such as Reading, but he said once you start getting down into the details or program and community expectations, the comparisons start to lose their value.
"People in Pottstown have very high expectations," Rodriguez said.
"There is a feeling of chagrin, I think, about the decision to move the fifth grade into the middle school. I think a lot of people think it was a big mistake," he said.
That said, Rodriguez said this discussion about Edgewood does not mean the district has made a final decision to move the fifth grade out of the middle school, only that it is looking at options.
One of those options is, of course, keeping things as they are now.
Currently, the district has added staff, including teachers, a security guard, several mentorship programs and mental health counselors through a partnership with Creative Health to try to improve behavior problems at the middle school.
The district has also focused most of its grant-making on the middle school, securing $2 million in grants for after-school programming -- academic, extra-curricular and career exploration -- to point middle schoolers in positive directions.
But Rodriguez said he does not expect any over-night miracles, such as a sudden jump in academic scores, and so far, the behavior statistics have yet to show any major improvements at the school building.
And, he said, the district could go through the steps and move the fifth grade out of the middle school and still find all the same academic and behavior problems at the school remain.
Should the school board decide to move forward with either turning Edgewood into a kindergarten center or a fifth grade center, as was discussed last year, a decision would have to be made no later than March, said Rodriguez.
That would give the district the 2020/2021 school year to get construction done at Edgewood and it would open as a school again in August of 2021 for the 2021/2022 school year.
And with that, here are the Tweets from Monday's presentation:
Having held off on any decision to turn the former Edgewood Elementary School into a fifth grade center, and removing that class from the middle school, the school board is considering a different option.
The idea is to consider turning Edgewood into a kindergarten center. That would create enough space in the elementary schools to allow fifth grade students to stay in their home elementary school for another year before moving to the middle school.
Since the fifth grade was moved into the middle school in 2014, making it the largest school population-wise, parents, teachers and students have complained about behavior problems and bullying.
During the Oct. 3 facilities committee meeting, Rodriquez said the idea is not a new one, but at the time it was first considered, it was quickly obvious that Edgewood does not have space for both the kindergarten and Pottstown's growing pre-K presence.
The building has 14 regular classrooms and Pottstown has 12 kindergarten classes. So there is no way to fit both kindergarten and pre-K in the building without expanding it, an even greater expense. Accordingly, it was discarded.
But since the board shelved discussion of turning Edgewood into a fifth grade center, the problems at
Town hall attendees toured Edgewood classrooms in February.
the middle school have remained. "The object here is to move the fifth grade back into elementary school," Facilities Committee Chairman Kurt Heidel made clear.
Rodriguez said the administration still wants to talk to the teachers, conduct a "listening tour" with parents and speak to those who use the North End Early Learning Center opposite Franklin Elementary, once used as an administrative annex but increasing used to house pre-K classes.
That building started out with one pre-K classroom and is now home to 90 pre-K students, Rodriguez said. He said because the pre-K program is spread among so many partners and so many buildings, it is sustainable without including it in the Edgewood building.
"This is not to say that moving the fifth grade into Edgewood is off the table," said Rodriguez. "This is just another option."
And like all options, it has benefits and concerns.
As outlined by Rodriguez, the benefits include:
Addresses the main concern of too many
students at PMS
Addresses some concern of a 5th grade
center not being as popular or sustainable
Alleviates some Spec. Ed. and LRE
Requirements associated with 5th grade
Allows for flexible grouping with some of
our most vulnerable students
No or less special education concerns
Less reconfiguration required at Edgewood
Much more common model throughout the
commonwealth and more sustainable.
The concerns he outlined include the following:
Cost-This will require significant investment
in the building and require a hefty bond
purchase
Bussing- the affected bussing areas will
remain the same, but the age is young to be
on the bus independently.
10 teachers from PMS to Elementary bldgs rather than 12
The unknowns….
Rodriguez said there will be three public meetings on Edgewood kindergarten center idea.
The meetings will be Thursday, Oct. 24 at 6:30 at Rupert; Monday, Oct. 28 at 3:30 at Barth; Friday, Nov. 8 at 9 a.m. at the administration building on Beech Street.
Things to keep in mind include:
No matter what, Edgewood will need repairs. There is no scenario where we keep Edgewood,
Rodriguez reviews basement repairs needed at Edgewood during one of the building tours in February.
but don’t repair it.
Resale value has been considered, but the deferred maintenance and limited use options also drives down the market value, making a sale scenario far MORE expensive, than including the property as a part of the solution.
There is also the matter of the tenants. Rodriguez said as leases with the current tenants expire, the possibility that the school make take the building back has to be taken into consideration when negotiating new leases.
Under the timeline Rodriguez outlined last night, the board would have to make a decision by March of 2020. If the decision is to make the change, the new kindergarten center would open in August of 20201.
Bond Re-Financing
The other item of interest from last night, which also occurred during the first five minutes, meaning I missed it, is a bond re-financing that could save the district between $300,000 and $500,000.
The bond is from 2017 and still has $9.915 million on it.
Jamie Schlesinger, from PFM Financial Advisors LLC explained to the board that the current interest rate on the bond is 2.55 percent but in eight years will re-set to a variable rate as high as 4.5 percent.
He said the better option is to lock in a lower interest rate now, while they are at historic lows, for the life of the bond. "We won't do it if you won't save money," he said, explaining that because of the variable rate, the actual savings will not be known until the bond is fully paid off.
As a result, the motion the board passed Thursday night is to set "parameters" for the bond sale.
Because of the structure of the bond, the savings will be realized over the life of the payments instead of in one lump sum, as often happens with re-financing.
And with that, it's late and I am putting the head to bed.
Students at Rupert Elementary School participate in the Powered by Nature program in this photo from 2017.
Blogger's Note:The following was provided by the office of state Rep. Joe Ciresi.
State Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist., announced Friday that Pottstown School District has been awarded an environmental education grant.
The $3,000 grant will be used to support the Pottstown Powered by Nature program, teaching fourth to sixth grade students scientific inquiry in environmental issues.
“I’m delighted to see Pottstown School District receive this funding,” said Ciresi.
Last November, the program included a week-long free trip to
North Bay Environmental Education Center on the Chesapeake Bay
for 168 Pottstown Middle School students
“We know that every dollar spent on our public school children pays dividends," he said.
"In a world where our children will be dealing with the effects of climate change, funding specifically earmarked for environmental education is doubly impactful,” Ciresi said.
Administered through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Environmental Education Grant Program awards funding to organizations to implement educational projects that focus on priority topics of climate change, water, or environmental justice.
Projects range from creative, hands-on lessons for students, teacher training programs, and outdoor learning resources to conservation education for adults.
Pottstown Middle School was the topic of discussion at Thursday night's school board meeting.
Principal Brian Hostetler provided the board with a rapid-fire presentation on the school's progress, and it's issues, while Board Member Thomas Hylton offered up his analysis of the building lay-out and how student interactions are controlled.
Once those presentations are posted on the website I will be able to provide a more complete report in The Mercury.
Pottstown Middle School Principal
Brian Hostetler Thursday night.
Academic performance and student behavior have been an issue at the school and some believe it is due to the fact that the building holds grades 5, 6, 7 and 8.
District officials have floated the option of re-opening the Edgewood Elementary School as one option and recently held three "town Hall" style meetings to get input from the community.
If you couldn't make any of them, the good news is not only did the district live-stream them on its Facebook page, it also archived the video.
Pottstown Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez and Business Manager Maureen Jampo address a crowd of about 30 people who want spent their Saturday morning learning and expressing their opinion about moving Pottstown's fifth grade into the former Edgewood Elementary School.
As a June decision date looms closer, members of the Pottstown school community spent two hours Saturday morning exploring the idea of moving the district's fifth grade into the former Edgewood Elementary School.
A tour of an Edgewood classroom and other facilities was part of Saturday's Town Hall meeting.
Currently Pottstown's earlier grades attend one of four elementary schools -- Rupert, Lincoln, Barth and Franklin -- that were renovated over three years. Edgwood was closed as a public school in 2014 and is currently occupied by two education tenants. Pottstown's fifth grade was moved into Pottstown Middle School, which now has 970 students in grades 5 through 8, making it the district's largest school by population. By comparison, Pottstown High School only has about 800 students.
The Edgewood building currently houses a Head Start program and an education alternative program called Cottage 7 Academy.
Persistent behavior problems there have pushed the school board and administration to try several approaches, none of which have produced satisfactory results, and the district is now considering re-opening Edgewood and turning into a fifth grade center about 250 students. Saturday's Town Hall meeting at the school was designed to get input from the public about the idea. It included an overview of the factors involved in the decision and a tour of the building.
A tank that is part of the steam heating system is in disrepair.
In addition to about 20 parents and members of the public, including Pottstown Borough Council President Dan Weand and his wife Polly, a former school board member, several district staff and five current board members came to hear what people had to say. They were: School board President Amy Francis, Raymond Rose, Susan Lawrence, Thomas Hylton and Bonita Barnhill. The next Town Hall meeting will be held Monday, March 4 from 7 to 9 p.m. and the last on Friday, March 15 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez highlights some of the maintenance issues in Edgewood's basement.
Pottstown Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodrigquez told the group the meeting was designed to listen to the community before proceeding further. "It's not our job to convince you," he said. However, some basic information was necessary to make meaningful community input possible. Rodriguez and Business Manager Maureen Jampo explained that two Pottstown school buildings need work, Edgewood and the administration building at Beech and Penn streets.
Heating pipes connected to the steam heat system.
Edgewood, Jampo said, needs repairs whether the district uses it for fifth grade or continues to lease it. Built in 1969, it has issues with leaks, handicap accessibility. and its main heating system. A 20-minute walk through the building confirmed her assessment. Even in the library where the meeting was held, worn and torn carpet was evident, and that room is currently being used by the Head Start Program. Many problems exist in the building's basement.
Heating pipes in the basement need work.
The steam heat system for the building is old and has many corroded pipes and other aspects. Some of them may be coated with asbestos insulation, common at the time the building was constructed, and which is now known to be dangerous. Removing it, if its present, will only add to the cost of the work that has to be done there, he said.
Water regularly penetrates Edgewood's basement as the wet sandbag in the corner indicates.
Rodriquez said the basement has leaking problems, some of which is near some of the primary electrical equipment, next to which a wet sandbag used to stop and absorb water could be seen.
Edgewood is also home to two modular classrooms that are currently not being used.
Jampo said renovating them to make them useful would cost more than they are worth. In fact, they are so old that the district could not even sell them for revenue, she said.
Pests have easy access to the area beneath the modulars.
The good news, as far as the modular classrooms go, is that they are not needed if the fifth grades moves into the building.
There is enough space to accommodate all 250 children, if that is the direction the school board chooses.
Which is just as well given that Rodriguez confirmed there does seem to be a pest problem beneath the modulars. He was not specific, other to indicate they are "creepy crawlies."
Getting Edgewood to the point where it can be a public school building again will not come cheap, Jampo and Rodriguez warned.
Depending on how much the district decides to do, the price tag could rise as high as $6.5 million.
During Thursday night's school board meeting, Hylton, who originally introduced the idea of moving the fifth grade into the middle school, warned against rushing into a decision.
Rodriguez tells the tour there is no intention of using the modulars.
In addition to the potential $6 million cost, Hylton said staffing and running Edgewood as a Fifth grade center could add $600,000 a year to the budget.
Jampo said Saturday that in addition to the cost of running the school, with teachers, lunch staff and a custodian, borrowing $6 million would require another $250,000 a year in debt service in the budget.
Part of the problem, Hylton said, is that the district has made some bad decisions regarding the size of its
buildings, noting that the middle school was "overbuilt. It's a Taj Mahal." He also said the high school held more than 1,300 students when population peaked in 1979.
About 20 years later, the high school was expanded, but it now has about 800 students, he said.
Water damage from the leaking roof can be seen on the outside of the Edgewood building.
"I'm leery of making another costly decision," he said, noting that the Johnstown School district, which has a similar poverty level as Pottstown, has grades five through seven in its middle school and houses its eighth grade in its high school.
He also said that having teachers follow students through the grades at the middle school, at least in the lower grades, could be a less costly way to deal with the discipline problems there which have so far resisted the addition of administrators, mental health counselors and part of the time of the school resource (police) officer.
Both Francis and Board Vice President Katina Bearden said they like Hylton's idea about "looping" teachers.
"The question is as a community and a school district, how do we deal with (the issues at the middle school) in the most effective, responsive way at the lowest cost?" Rodriguez said Saturday.
He said several options have been considered.
They include:
Selling Edgewood;
Opening Edgewood as a regular K-5 elementary school;
Turning Edgewood into a STEAM academy for the district's up and coming top science and art students.
Turning Edgewood into a Pre-K or kindergarten center and, as Hylton talked about,
Moving the 8th grade to the high school.
Each of those choices comes with its own set of changes and costs, Rodriguez said.
Cost was a concern raised by both Weands Saturday morning.
"I meet with people all the time who are considering investing in Pottstown and one of the points of resistance is always our high taxes," said Dane Weand, who pointed out that although many people blame "borough hall" for Pottstown's high tax rate, 70 percent of that bill is due to school taxes.
"Opening another building comes with high expenses and will reduce revenues from the rentals. I have no idea how the district can do that without increasing taxes," he said.
One of Edgewood's modular classrooms, at right.
He said the discipline problems at the middle school pre-date the fifth grade being moved there.
His wife Polly, who taught elementary school for 35 years and served on the school board for eight years, agreed. "We think by moving one grade things are going to change? Why would you think moving the fifth grade will cure the behavior problems at the middle school?" she said. "To me, this whole thing is just shadowing our real problems."
She said closing Edgewood saved the district money and allowed the budget to be balanced without raising taxes.
But considerations other than money need to be taken into account, said Elisa Rose, a parent in the district and wife of school board member Raymond Rose.
"The kids are coming from all different elementary schools and they are all coming together in the middle school. Maturity wise, and what they are ready for, is different from fifth to sixth grade," she said.
"Moving them to a fifth grade center would take some of the pressure off them of trying to be with the big kids and get to know each other and build a community as a grade before they move up to be with the big kids," said Rose, who is also a teacher.
Parent Rachel Zuniga agreed. "I am very satisfied with Lincoln Elementary School. it is a safe, wonderful, caring environment, but all I hear about the middle school is turmoil. I want to be able to keep my children in schools and maybe this would preserve their innocence a little bit longer," she said.
Bishop Everett Debnam shares his thoughts Saturday.
Bishop Everett Debnam, pastor at Invictus Ministries, said "we will have taxes until we die. Investing in children is more important than taxes."
He said the community has experienced "an inflation of frustration" about problems at the middle school. "What will make this better?" he asked.
Similar questions about effectiveness and how success will be measured were raised by Jamar Folly and Brian Swiderski.
Rodriguez responded frankly, "there are no guarantees."
Laura Johnson
"I don't want to leave Pottstown," said parent Laura Johnson. "And I think this might be really good for the fifth graders and its a good investment if the maintenance on this building needs to be done away.
She added that the financial considerations which are acting as constraints in this matter are due more to problems with how Harrisburg funds public education than with local decisions.
"The big problem with income is the state is not giving us what they say is our fair allotment," she said in reference to the Fair Funding Formula that is only partially applied when distributing state education funds.
"I think perhaps we should be channeling some of that tax frustration energy we're all feeling at the state," Johnson said.
Brian Swiderski
Swiderski said before deciding, the school board should look at the cost of simply adding more support staff at the middle school to deal with discipline problems and compare that to doing the maximum upgrade at Edgewood.
He said moving the fifth grade to Edgewood may give the district "the most bang for its buck" in terms of getting them better prepared for higher grades.
But he warned that the school board, and the community, must know all the relevant facts before deciding and that "metrics" will be needed to measure success.
"We have to start tracking stuff and not just saying 'I feel this' or 'I feel that," Swiderski said.
As for Mikey David Briggs, he feels a little apprehensive about going to the middle school and does not want to lose track of the friends at Franklin Elementary School.
Students in the Pottstown Middle School Environmental Education Club learn about water systems and aquaponics at the Montgomery County Community College campus in Pottstown as part of the "Liquid Connections" program.
Blogger's Note:The following was provided by the Foundation for Pottstown Education.
The Foundation for Pottstown Education is now helping to fund a community collaborative program designed to teach students in the Pottstown Middle School students about our local water environment.
The Foundation is funding the program in cooperation with Green Valleys Watershed and the Montgomery County Community College.
This program will provide students in the Pottstown Middle School Environmental Education Club an opportunity to learn about local waterways.
Program topics include adaptations and birds, water quality and orienteering. The group will also participate in field trips to various local sites for hands-on studies and hiking, including Warwick County Park, Green Valleys’ headquarters of Welkinweir, and Murgia Park in West Pottsgrove for pond and stream studies.
They will tour the Pottstown Wastewater Treatment plant and canoe a portion of the Schuylkill River in Phoenixville. The group will work with the Montgomery County Community College taking part
Pottstown Middle School students are learning about the ecology of water at MCCC and other locations.
in water quality studies at the Pottstown campus.
The program is titled Liquid Connections – How Water Quality Affects Biological Organisms.
Through this seven week course the students will learn about how water quality is a measurement of the condition of water relative to the requirements of the biological species the water supports.
The physical, chemical and biological characteristics of a body of water have a direct impact on the health of the organisms that rely on the water. In nature, pollution and agricultural run-off have major impacts on the water quality of lakes, streams and rivers.
These pollutants also affect the biological species that the water sustains, often causing species to die off and ecosystems to collapse. Therefore, limiting pollutants and maintaining ideal water quality conditions is vital for the survival of the ecosystems that rely on the water.
Likewise, in artificial systems, such as the hydroponic systems that are used to grow much of our commercial produce, maintaining proper water conditions is vital to sustained plant growth and yield.
In these sessions, students will learn how to measure various water quality conditions and then use these measurements to investigate how water quality affects the health of natural and artificial water systems.
Specific topics include:
Session 1: Introduction to Water Quality and Water Quality Measurement Techniques
Session 2: Field Study on Water Quality of Schuylkill River and Manatawny Creek
Session 3: Field Study Data Analysis
Session 4: Automated Water Quality Sensor Introduction and Deployment
Session 5: Introduction to Hydroponics and Aquaponics and Water Quality Measurements of These Systems
Session 6: Hydroponic and Aquaponic Systems Data Analysis and Water Quality Experiment Set-up
Session 7: Water Quality Experiment Data Collection and Analysis
From left, Pottstown Middle School science teacher Ginger Angelo, Carl and Sylvia Landis, and Dawn White, all from from Green Valley Watershed, along with Dr. Karen Buchkovich-Sass, Dr. Jamie Bretz and Regina Kline from Montgomery County Community College.
Funding for this program is made possible by donations to the Foundation for Pottstown Education to the Foundation for Pottstown Education specifically for environmental studies.
Previously, the Foundation has provided funding to support the Middle School Environmental Club trip to the Pocono Environmental Education Center as well as programs in environmental after school programs for all four Elementary Schools in the Pottstown School District.
The Foundation is currently seeking additional
funding to continue to support these programs.
Anyone interested in contributing to these funds is
encouraged to contact the Foundation at 610-970-6616 or the Foundation’s Executive Director, Joe Rusiewicz
via email jrusiewicz@pottstownk12.org.
About FPE:The Foundation for Pottstown Education’s (FPE) mission is to support, promote, sponsor and carry out educational, scientific or charitable activities and objectives within or related to the Pottstown School District.
Visit www.foundationpottstowned.org for more information about the Foundation for Pottstown Education. You can also follow FPE on Facebook and Twitter.
Christian Morales and Jonathan Moser work the controls on a movable metal dinosaur during a recent field trip to the Reading Public Museum.
Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Tompkins VST Bank.
Thanks to Tompkins VIST Bank, 280 Pottstown School District 7th graders recently visited the Reading Public Museum on Sept. 25 and Oct. 9.
The Bank is the first corporate organization to directly sponsor a chosen school district through The Museum's Feed Their Imagination grant program.
This is also the first time Pottstown School District visited The Museum.
Angelica Shifflette looks at Egyptian pottery
Bank staff will participated in the tours, which are timed to highlight The Museum’s annual October fundraiser for Feed Their Imagination.
“With many school districts experiencing budget cuts, field trips like those to The Museum have been eliminated, and that’s why we’re happy to support this program,” said Frank Strunk, senior vice president, Commercial Banking relationship manager.
Since the founding of The Museum in 1907, school students have always been an integral part of the
Reading Public Museum's audience.
Unfortunately, district budgetary cuts mean that schools are finding it increasingly difficult to provide educational field trips to their students.
The Feed Their Imagination program helps schools fund field trips to The Museum.
Duha Selmi and Miley Taylor pose with a Roman wine jar
Tompkins VIST Bank, a subsidiary of Tompkins Financial Corporation, is a locally headquartered community bank with 19 branches serving southeastern Pennsylvania.
The Pottstown Middle School Reading Olympics team won a Green Ribbon in district competition.
Blogger's Note:The following was provided by the Pottstown School District.
Congratulations to members of the Pottstown Middle School Reading Olympics Team who competed in the District event held at Pope John Paul II High School.
The team, coached by Middle School Librarian Aliceclair Faust and assisted by scorekeeper Nicole Accor, earned 35 points on the evening resulting in a green ribbon.
Students had to answer questions from 45 books that they read.
Students were proud to wear shirts supplied by Diamond Credit Union,a long-time supporter of the Pottstown team.
Principal Brian Hosteler said "our students combined hard work with team work to gain success."
Good things happening at Pottstown Middle School give us reason to say Proud to be from Pottstown.
7th Grade
Moniyah Person Imani Germany Daishawnia Dean Sanaa Watson
Blogger's Note:The following was provided by the Pottstown School District.
Members of Pottstown Middle School Environmental Science Club along with their sponsor Ginger Angelo are spending after school
hours learning how to find their way in the outdoors.
Recently they participated in an orienteering activity on the school campus.
The activity was led by Mary Frank from the Delaware Valley Orienteering Association.
Orienteering is an outdoor navigation sport using a map and compass with a goal of completing a course in point-to-point order.
The challenge is to complete the course by visiting all control points in the shortest possible time, aided only by the map and a compass.
Angelo said the students had a lot of fun and learned the skills needed to use a compass.
Orienteering is an excellent activity that promotes many of the objectives of our STEAM education efforts and has the added benefit of being good healthy outdoor exercise.
These are just some of the good things happening at Pottstown Middle School that give reason to say Proud to be from Pottstown
53 students were inducted into the Junior National Honor Society recently at Pottstown Middle School.
Blogger's Note:The following was provided by the Pottstown School District
Pottstown Middle School recognized outstanding student achievement at the Jr. National Honor Society candle lighting ceremony held in the school auditorium.
Fifty Three new members were inducted as parents and friends looked on.
Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez addresses the inductees.
Students Michelle Castillo and Rylie Gaspar gave the welcome and induction.
During the ceremony, the four pillars of National Honor Society were described by students: Scholarship,Service, Character, and Leadership as candles were lit.
In his remarks Superintendent Mr. Stephen Rodriguez congratulated the students on their academic success and reminded them to be equally successful in social and emotional preparedness and development.
The Middle School Jazz Band under the direction of Katie German provided entertainment.
Inductees signed the roll book as sponsor Diane Halpine announced their names.
Student Xavier Francis Williams led the group in the Honor Society Pledge.
According to parents and students alike, bullying and violence problems persist at Pottstown Middle School, pictured above.
As so often happens when you have one meeting per month, news kind of piled up at the Pottstown School Board meeting last night.
Four major issues were raised, although only three of them were on the agenda.
They were, in order of revelation:
A $1 million budget shortfall in the 2018-2019 budget, even if taxes were raised the maximum 3.5 percent allowed by law;
More than 25 speakers, parents and students alike, complaining about persistent violence and bullying problems in the district, particularly at Pottstown Middle school;
A board resolution speaking out against the closing of the Pottstown YMCA;
The resignation of School Board member Ron Williams and the start of the process to appoint his replacement.
Each of these will be the subject of an upcoming full-scale article in The Mercury, but for those impatient few who can't wait, here is the thumbnail version of each one.
The Budget
The finance committee has its first look at the preliminary budget for next year recently, according to committee chairman Kurt Heidel, and the picture is not good.
Heidel said preliminary budget of $63,226,970 has a $2.4 million deficit.
Raising taxes by 3.5%, the max allowed by law, would still leave a deficit of about $1 million.
For the past two years, the district has held the line on taxes and not raised them. Time will tell if that era has reached an end.
The board continues to stumble along in its deliberations about a community budget advisory board, still dickering over who whould be on it (just residents or residents and business owners?) and a date for its appointment and charge seems as distant as when it was first proposed two months ago.
Bullying and Violence
This issue has plagued the district, and particularly the middle school for more than a year.
After their son Anthony was "jumped" outside the cafeteria at the middle school, Krystal and Tony DiPietro have been agitating to get the problem under control.
Those efforts only intensified after Anthony's cousin was also attacked for trying to help Anthony and now the two have to "have each other's backs" all the time Anthony told me.
More than 25 parents and students spoke about the problem in various incarnations; online, verbal and physical attacks.
Erin Galamba said the problem goes all the way down to kindergarten where her child, at Franklin ElementarySchool, is being traumatized by another 5-year-old who continually threatens to bring weapons to school to hurt people.
"Are you going to wait until its too late? Are you going to wait until a teacher is staring down the barrel of a gun? Don't wait to make changes," said Krystal DiPietro, who then read off a list of this nation's shameful history of school shootings.
At the end of the meeting, each school board member thanked the speakers, indicated that they care, are aware of the problem and are trying to do something about it.
YMCA Closure
It was last year when it was announced the YMCA on North Adams Street would be shut down by the Philadelphia Freedome Valley YMCA and that the decision, which had not been vetted with the community, was non-negotiable.
Subsequently, an after-the-fact community committee was put together to make recommendations for how the services once provided at the building could be preserved. The committee was told keeping the facility open was not an option.
The committee, apparently, has other ideas said Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez.
He proposed, and the board unanimously adopted (with some confusion due to their new format) a resolution in which the district "adamantly opposes" the closure.
For the past week or so, former Pottstown School Board member Thomas Hylton has been devoting his paid advertising space in The Mercury to columns about how the decision appears to be at odds with what is the YMCA's stated mission and abandoning a low-income area in need in favor of fancy facilities in wealthy white suburbs.
Jon Corson, president of the Pottstown chapter of the NAACP, said his organization has a member on the advisory board and has discussed the closure and has "many concerns" about its impact on Pottstown.
School Board President Amy Francis, who noted she is "generations deep" in Pottstown, said she "upset about YMCA decision to leave Pottstown. It will affect students so much and its trickle-down effects will be felt for a long time. This is yet another place where advocacy for Pottstown is needed," she said.
Board Resignation
School Board member Ron Williams has submitted his resignation from the board for "personal reasons" that have nothing to do with the board or the community, Rodriguez said last night.
The term to which Williams was elected expires in December of 2019 so whomever is chosen to replace him will serve until then and, if he or she wishes to remain, must run for reelection.
The board will accept applications until April 4, and has tentatively set April 10 as the date for the public interviews, to be followed by appointment on April 16.
After the meeting, David Miller, who ran unsuccessfully for the board in November, told me he would likely submit his name but said that if Hylton, who lost his seat in the election, applies that the board would do well to choose him.
