Blogger's Note:The following was posted by the Pottstown School District and the Ricketts Center.
Free food distribution will again be held Wednesday but the time has changed to 3 to 6 p.m.
That and other changes are being made to increase safety and hopefully increase the number of families that can participate:
Pick up hours at each elementary school will be from 3 PM to 6 PM
Clear directions will be given at each site so that when families pick up food, they can do so in an organized fashion with no one touching food products. Products will be straight from the food distribution box to limit any touching. The family member picking up food will simply take the items as per the directions. Bags will be provided.
Remember to take items for each student in your household. We continue to operate on the honor system. No questions asked.
In case of rain, there will be a canopy at each location.
There will be a chalk line 6 feet from both sides of food tables and volunteers will be limited behind the lines except to replenish food boxes.
Certain companies have reached out to donate food items which we will make available at each site. This is above and beyond the school lunch programs and families are encouraged to take extra.
The Ricketts Center will be serving boxed meals to students, ages 6 to 18 years, starting Wednesday, March 25. Students will able to get a boxed breakfast and Lunch anywhere between 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Meals are on a first come, first serve basis but we will try to ensure we can provide for as many that are in need. Just follow the posted signs outside to receive meals.
Pottstown High School student Amanda Endy received the Prudential Spirit of Community President's Award and received a signed letter from President Donald Trump.
Blogger's Note:The following was provided by the Pottstown School District.
Recently Pottstown High School student Amanda Endy was recognized with a Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.
Based on the number of volunteer hours that she completed, Amanda qualified for the President's Volunteer Service Award.
This award recognizes Americans of all ages who have volunteered significant amounts of their time to serve their communities. She received a certificate and a signed letter from the President of the United States.
Amanda has volunteered many hours in an effort to support Pottstown's Operation Backpack program, which helps bring nutritious food items to famines in need.
The award was just the beginning of honors won by Amanda. She was invited to participated in Cedar Crest College's Annual Scholarship Competition where she earned an additional $4,000 in scholarships over four years.
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.
Any collection of books which has this many Captain Underpants titles has my endorsement! They're hilarious and great fun to read out loud.
Blogger's Note:The following was provided by the Pottstown School District.
Books-A-Million in the Coventry Mall is supporting education in Pottstown School District with a book donation. They collected 215 books from their customers over the summer of 2017, which store manager, Heather Sarik reported is a $1,306.66 value.
“Books-A-Million is very focused on giving back,” said Sarik.
Laurie Kolka from Pottstown Schools, left, thanks Pottstown alum
Heather Sarik, manager of Books-A-Million.
“Hosting a book drive twice a year for our local schools, libraries, and non-profit organizations is our way of helping where needed. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that you may have played a role in fostering the love of books in someone.”
Sarik is a Pottstown School District alumni and she was pleased to give back to her community.
Elementary students will enjoy these entertaining and educational books. Literacy is an important initiative for Pottstown School District, with regular Family Literacy Nights for Pre-K and elementary students.
“Great books get kids excited about reading, which helps to foster life-long habits,” said Laurie Kolka, Pottstown School District’s Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development. “We greatly appreciate the generosity of Books-A-Million and its customers in supporting access to quality literature for our students.”
Navy veteran Billy Worrell, right, gives Lincoln Elementary students Nicholas Woodley and Matthew Berry instruction on the proper way to fold the American flag.
Blogger's Note:The following was provided by the Pottstown School District.
As the nation and president debate which actions indicate respect for the American flag and/or
veterans, at least one Pottstown area veteran was focusing purely on making sure Pottstown students are taught the proper and respectful way to handle the flag when putting it up and taking it down the flagpole at Lincoln Elementary School.
Fourth graders Nicholas Woodley and Matthew Berry, recently received some inpromtu instruction on the proper way to fold our country's flag.
U.S. Navy veteran Billy Worrell was picking his granddaughter up from school when he noticed the boys, who are members of the school Safety Patrol, trying to fold the flag.
As a veteran of the Navy, member of the American Legion Honor Guard at veteran funerals and a Scout Master for 13 years, he knows a little bit about the subject.
Luckily, he was willing and able to pass on knowledge of how to properly fold our country's flag to the next generation of our country's leaders.
"The citizenship shown by both young and old is just one more reason to say Proud to be from Pottstown," said Community Relations Director John Armato.
The High Street Music Company has occupied this space at 135 High St. in Pottstown for 10 years now.
Yesterday Pottstown's own High Street Music Company held its Spring Recital at The Hill School's Center for the Arts, as it has for the past several years.
It will be the last time my son Dylan and his fellow seniors perform there as they are headed off to college next fall.
There were more than 30 performances so forgive me if I limited the videos I shot to those involving my son or classmates of his whom I have have known for years.
One of the things I have always liked about the recital is it features students at all stages of accomplishment and those students range in age from the single digits to adults making good on a promise they made to themselves.
It is also a good example of one of the things that makes Pottstown such a special community.
The school takes students from all over, but many of the Pottstown students who attend do so with the help of the Phoebe Sine Trust, a source of funding left by a Pottstown family who loved music and helps to pay the cost of the lessons Pottstown children take there.
(Here is Pottstown student Julianna Roseo giving an awesome performance of a song from "Hamilton" yesterday.)
Frankly, we could not have afford the saxophone lessons without the help of the trust.
And as a result, of the trust, High Street Music and the excellent music program in Pottstown's public school system, our son lives for music (even when taskmaster and company CEO Louis Rieger pushes them harder than they are used to being pushed).
(Here is Rieger directing them on the Eddie Harris piece "Cold Duck Time.")
Dylan plays in the Jazz Band and in the pit during the high school's last two musicals and is now enamored of "Hamilton," which combines his love of American history with his unanticipated love for musical theater.
A few months ago, he was walking through the house whistling tunes from "Little Shop of Horrors," usually after one of the rehearsals.
But he also loves hip-hop, jazz and (with a little help from his aged parents), some rock and roll as well.
(Remarkable vocalists Adeenah Smith and Erica DeBlase joined the Jazz Ensemble for this Alicia Keys number, "If I ain't Got You.")
At every college he has considered, among the first questions he asks about is the music program and what opportunities he will have not only to play and perform, but to get lessons and improve.
His pal, trombonist Kyle Kratzer, has taken it one step further and is going to school with the intention of becoming a music teacher himself.
(Pottstown student Gary Oberholtzer has a bright future as a guitarist and here demonstrates some of his range with his performance of a piece by Rob Scallon titled "For That Second.")
And while my wife and I love music as well and played it for him as a child, I truly believe that it was this town, and the dedicated professionals and volunteers who do their work here, which most fostered this love for music, something for which we will be forever grateful.
(The High Street Music Company Rock Ensemble performs "House of Gold" by Twenty-one Pilots at the conclusion of the company's Spring Recital.)
The first day of school, particularly when it's your child's FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL EVER, can take some getting used to.
But thanks to a new, free program being offered through the Pottstown School District, parents can get some help smoothing out the butterflies.
PEAK's Summer Kindergarten Readiness Program runs from Aug. 10-21.
The state-funded program is designed to take away your child’s kindergarten jitters and get a jump start on transitioning into the new school year.
Reasons for considering the Summer Kindergarten Readiness Program include:
• Introduction to Kindergarten routines and structure • Get into the body rhythms of school before the school year • Fosters independence and responsibility
Whether your child has been to PreK or not, the summer readiness teachers will help make the new experience of entering school fun.
To participate in SKRP, your child must be entering a Pottstown School District Kindergarten and the family income cannot exceed 300% of federal poverty level (for a family of four, yearly income cannot exceed $72,750).
Contact the following PEAK sites to register your child:
KinderCare Learning Center 610-326-0554
Pottstown YMCA 610-323-7300
YWCA Tri-County Area 610-323-1888
Montgomery Early Learning Centers 610-326-3819
Pottstown School District Pre-K Counts 610-970-6655
Or contact the PEAK Coordinator at 610-970-6655
Also, parents of children entering a Pottstown School District kindergarten this fall should know that registration is now done online at www.pottstownschools.org.
For teachers and principals in the Pottstown School District, it seems, nothing is sacred in pursuit of one of the most scared goals of education -- learning to read.
In previous posts and articles in The Mercury, we've told out about principals getting pies in the face, being turned into an ice cream sundae, being slimed, having ice water dumped on them, kissing a pig -- all in the cause of promoting reading.
Often enough, this happens in elementary school.
At Lincoln Elementary School, Principal Calista Boyer, has already this year taken the ice bucket challenge and been a human hot dog.
As a result of Lincoln students reading 1,000 books per quarter, she and some of the teachers there had to undertake the "Smoothie Challenge."
PMS teacher Aaron Hinnershitz sporting his multi-colored
Mohawk haircut he wore until the end of school as a result
of his student's reading achievements.
This allowed children to come and add tasty, or not so tasty things, to a blender to be made into a smoothie that the children
But who is to say Pottstown Middle School can't get in on the act?
This year the school sponsored a three-month reading challenge to see which grade could read the most books.
The winners were the 5th graders. Their goal was to read 1700 hours from March to May and they exceeded that goal by reading 2,584 hours.
As a result, 5th and 6th grade principal Matthew Boyer, Assistant Principal David Todd, David Mabry, Jeffry Schloth and Thomas Simpson in the dunk tank.
The dunking took place on the football field last week.
Teacher Aaron Hinnershitz ("Mr. H," as the student call him) challenged
the students in both of his Language Arts classes on the first day of school. This year that if they could read 2,000 books on their reading level he would
let them pick his hairstyle. This is an average of over 42 books per student.
They accomplished the goal and chose for him to get the Mr. T.
haircut with the rainbow Mohawk.
But he kept the results of their votes secret
until they came to school for a day at North End Pool.
Mr. H. kept his hair this way until after
the school year is over.
Council's Wednesday work session was surprisingly light, but with a few delightful interludes.
Photo Courtesy of Dick Whittaker
This is what the Little Libraries look like.
One was a proposal by the Pottstown Rotary Club to put "Little Libraries" in at
least two (possibly more) locations around town.
People can simply take a book and return it, or not. It is a project of the club's Literacy Committee.
Another was a presentation by Pottstown Schools Superintendent Jeff Sparagana on the district's signature early learning program, called PEAK, which stands for Pottstown Early Action for Kindergarten readiness.
Council also seems inclined to move ahead quickly with the vacant property ordinance advocated by Community Champions which will provide a way to get a handle on derelict vacant properties in town.
The Fifth Grade at Rupert Elementary School recently completed the 10-week D.A.R.E. program.
Blogger's Note:Once again, we find ourselves thanking the tireless John Armato for more news about what's happening in Pottstown Schools.
Rupert Elementary School fifth grade students recently completed a ten week D.A.R.E. Program.
Some of the Rupert D.A.R.E. winners.
Officer James Yost of the Pottstown Police Department and Pottstown School District D.A.R.E. officer conducted each of the 50 minute sessions in which students talked about making healthy lifestyle choices which will lead to a better life and enable students to achieve to the highest degree of their ability.
Officer Yost provided information to students regarding good nutrition, healthy lifestyles, and study skills.
At the conclusion of the ten session program, students took part in an essay writing competition.
Officer Yost read all the essays and judged the top three in each of the fifth grade participating classes.
All six essays were read aloud at a full school assembly to recognize the D.A.R.E. graduation class.
Officer Yost congratulates first place winners Daiyana Wilson, right, and Kito Thompson.
The top six essay award winners received medals in recognition of their ability to demonstration what they had learned.
Award winners in Amanda Langdon’s class were: Dayvia Beasley, Alexandria Olvera, and Daiyana Wilson.
Earning first place honors from her class and receiving a D.A.R.E. stuffed lion was Daiyana Wilson.
Award winners in Deborah Wilson’s class were: Tyler Bruton, Celicia Thorpe, and Kito Thompson.
First place winner from her class was Kito Thompson.
Every student participating in the ten week program received D.A.R.E. tee-shirts which were donated by Glenn Simms from Simms Abrasives.
“I am always excited to visit our school district’s elementary schools and present the D.A.R.E. Program to fifth grade students. Over the years I have seen how this program has helped youngsters understand the value of making good decisions that will lead them to a better life,” Yost said.
Rupert Principal Matt Moyer said the D.A.R.E. program “is a great opportunity for our students to come in contact with one of our police department officers who serves as a role model for them and is an excellent representative of the Pottstown Police Department.”
