There Goes $11-million for Our Schools (I Didn't Vote for That!)

Are You Kidding Me?

Blogger's Note: Blatant Plagiarism alert! I haven't done this too often, but the idiocy of this latest set of circumstances is so well encapsulated in this March 15 post in the Yinzercation blog (P.S. I have no idea what that stands for) that I figured, why re-invent the wheel? These guys have got it covered.

Here's what they posted:

Earlier this week, Governor Corbett asked where he was supposed to get the money to fund public education in Pennsylvania.

Yesterday, he signed into law a new Voter ID bill, which does not appear to solve any actual problem in the state, will most certainly face expensive legal challenge, and worse, will cost taxpayers an estimated $11 MILLION to implement.

The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center reports that other states have faced “substantial financial burdens” after passing similar laws: “Indiana, with about half as many registered voters as Pennsylvania, adopted a voter ID law in 2005 and spent $12.2 million over four years implementing it. Missouri has estimated voter ID legislation would cost $17.4 million over three years to inform its 4.1 million registered voters of the new requirements. Independent estimates for a proposed North Carolina law range from $18 million to $25 million over three years.” (May 2011 report)

Even taxpayers who are not outraged by the new law’s attempt to disenfranchise voters should be incensed that the Governor is signing new legislation expected to cost our state $11 MILLION.

He says, “We are reducing the funding in education because we do not have the money — it’s that simple.” (See “The Old Divide and Conquer Tactic“)

No.

What’s simple is not passing unneeded laws that spend more money while proposing additional devastating cuts to our schools at the same time.

$11 MILLION would pay for a whole lot of teachers.

Note to the Pennsylvania legislature: it’s time to focus on real problems in the state – like reversing the proposed budget cuts to public education – not imaginary ones that waste taxpayer money.

* * *
Hi,
Me again. I'm back with a final note.

According to this Roll Call, not one local state representatives (by pure coincidence, all Republicans by the way) voted against spending $11 million to solve a problem that does not exist (a PA Legislature specialty).

The PA State Asylum for the Politically Deranged, Harrisburg

Voting in favor of spending $11 million on voter ID while there is "no money for public education" were Tim Hennessey (26th Dist.), Tom Quigley (146th Dist.), Marcy Toepel (147th Dist.), David Maloney (130th Dist.), Mike Vereb (150th), Warren Kampf (157th Dist. ) and Curt Schroder (155th Dist.) 

In the State Senate (Roll Call), the area's only no votes came from Andrew Dinniman (D-19th Dist. and Judy Schwank (D-11th Dist.).

John Rafferty (R-44th Dist) and Bob Mensch (R-24th Dist.) both voted in favor.

As a public service, I've provided e-mail links to our local legislators which can be accessed by clicking on each of their names, just in case you would like to communicate your thoughts on this waste of time and money.

DECA Winner Needs Our Help to Get to National Competition

Lindsey Havyer

Regular readers of this blog (yes, BOTH of you ... Hi Mom) know from this March 10 post that Pottstown's DECA team kicked some serious DECA-butt at the 61st Annual State Career Development Conference held recently in Hershey.

Among those kicking some butt was Pottstown High School Junior Lindsey Havyer, who competed in the Community Service Project where she showcased her efforts of the “Pottstown Clean Up.”

In a letter to merchants, Lindsey described her project by writing: "many of you may remember me from last spring when I organized many of my friends and fellow students to help clean up the downtown of Pottstown. Several Saturdays and Sundays were spent with many teenagers cleaning the downtown streets in order to help our merchants find pride in their place of business."

Lindsey’s project placed 6th in the Community Service Project category competing against 25 other teams.

Lindsey and her crew cleaning up Pottstown

That success has earned her a trip the National Competition in Utah this spring.

Unfortunately, it did not earn her the money to pay for the trip and the perennially budget-challenged Pottstown School District does not allocate the money for such enterprises. Monday night she appealed to Pottstown Borough Council for funding but they are unlikely to set that precedent.

So Lindsey is turning to the community she and her friends helped.

She needs only $1,200 to pay for her trip but the effort to raise the money has also turned into an effort to create a scholarship fund to help other high-achieving students.

That help is coming from the board of the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority, under whose watchful eye and encouragement, Lindsey and her friends cleaned up the downtown.

Sheila Dugan

"The PDIDA Board is asking you to give back what you can to help such children in our community who make a special effort to help the downtown business district," Board President Sheila Dugan wrote in an appeal to merchants.

"In your names, PDIDA would like to start a scholarship fund for such students. Lindsey spent many hours cleaning up the downtown with her friends. This is a direct and easy way for us to say 'Thank You.'

"Please find it in your heart to begin this scholarship fund as a merchant community and PDIDA will continue to do its best to get people to take pride and support us. We can make Lindsey’s trip the first of many for deserving students in Pottstown," Dugan wrote.

That letter will be delivered  Saturday afternoon, when Lindsey and Dugan will be handing out the  letter and asking for support from the merchants.

The PDIDA District Covers Most of downtown

"The experience and satisfaction of working with the PDIDA district was one I will be proud of for years to come," Lindsey wrote in her appeal. "I love Pottstown and want to continue taking pride in the town where I grow up. The expense of going to nationals is not very large, but more than I can afford on my own. I am asking for your support now in the form of a donation to offset the cost of travel and hotel stay."

Dugan told The Digital Notebook staff the scholarship will be only for students who have a direct connection to the businesses in the downtown. "Anyone is welcome to help in adding to the scholarship fund. $1 from a lot of merchants and the community will add up quickly! With budget cuts at the schools, we feel this will be a great way for our merchants to give back," she wrote.

The thing is, time is short folks. The money needs to be raised by March 28, so time of the essence.

The PDIDA office, 17 N. Hanover St.

Donations can be sent to the PDIDA Office at 17 N Hanover St. before the 28th of March.

If in the midst of this, you've been asking yourself, "just what the heck is DECA anyway?" You're not alone.

It is apparently an acronym for  Distributive Education Clubs of America, although finding that information on the organization's web site proved nigh impossible (thank you Google).

But there was lots of other good information to be found there.

For instance, apparently 90 percent of DECA members plan to further studies in marketing, finance, hospitality and business management, or to become entrepreneurs.

Further, 86 percent of DECA members report an A or B average and 50 percent are obtaining career experience through employment.

DECA Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit student organization with members in all 50 United States, the District of Columbia, Canada, China, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, Korea, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The United States Congress, the United States Department of Education and state and international departments of education authorize DECA’s programs. 

The Pottstown High School DECA Club in Hershey

DECA is organized into two unique student divisions each with programs designed to address the learning styles, interest and focus of its members. The High School Division includes 185,000 members in 5,000 schools. The Collegiate Division (formerly known as Delta Epsilon Chi) includes over 15,000 members in 200 colleges and universities.

This conference will not end Lindsey's association with DECA.

In addition to winning Sixth Place in Hershey, Lindsey was also the Pottstown High School Voting Delegate for the PA DECA Officer Elections for the 2012-13 school year.

She will be representing Pottstown High School as the Pennsylvania District 8 Representative on the Pennsylvania DECA Board for the 2012-13 school year.

 

It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got that Swing

Members of the Pottstown High School Jazz Band, shown here at the Boyertown Jazz Festival, are: Pierce Bertoti, Marley Bryan, Sam Dudley, Glenroy Greiss, Aaron Kemmerer, Ryan McMahon, Amira Mohamed, Sherif Mohamed, Tamer Mohamed, Amy Moyer, Sara Pargeon, Frank Scaltrito, Joseph Schaaf, Marisa Somich, Miranda Somich, Jeffrey Vontor, Brandon Wilson, Tyler Windish, Jacob Wunderlich

 
OK, so I had the info for how the Pottstown Middle School Jazz Band did at the Boyertown Jazz Festival last weekend, but could not stay for the high school performances.

Then, ta-da! Like magic, director Michael Vought provided the info to Pottstown School District's Minister of Information, John Armato, who passed it along to me and voila! We have a complete report.

Since I've already reported on the middle school performances (see below) on our web site, we'll put the high schoolers results up top here. This the release Armato sent:

Recently the Pottstown High School Jazz Band, under the direction of Michael Vought, participated in the annual Boyertown Jazz Festival. They received a “Superior” rating for their performance.  The “Trombone Section” was recognized for receiving the Outstanding Trombone Section Award.  Members of the trombone section included:  Tyler Windish, Amy Moyer, Jeffrey Vontor, Sherif Mohamed and Ryan McMahon.

Individual honors were gained by Tyler Windish, as the Outstanding Soloist player (trombone) and drummer Jake Wunderlich also received an Outstanding Soloist award.  Mr. Vought had high praise for his entire band.  “Our young people have been working very hard at perfecting their performance.  Many hours were spent individually and as a group to ensure that we represented our school and community with a quality performance.”

Other schools taking part in the event along with Pottstown were Boyertown, Wilson West Lawn, Easton, Governor Mifflin, and Reading.

Here is the middle school stuff:
(Blogger's Note: If you read this already on The Mercury web site Monday night, my apologies. But hey, the video is new!) 

BOYERTOWN — Seven area school districts sent jazz bands to this year’s Seventh Annual “Jazz’n In B-town” Jazz Festival Saturday.

I was present for the middle school portion of the program (sorry high schoolers. but hey, it was my day off).

Participating were bands from the middle schools in Governor Mifflin, Spring-Ford, Pottstown, Wilson West and Boyertown.

Because Boyertown hosted, it was not part of the competition, but it did perform nevertheless.

The Governor Mifflin “Diplomats,” under the direction of Heather Griffin, performed “Living in America,” “Cool, Joe, Mean Joe (Killer Joe),” and “Cantaloupe Island.”

The Spring-Ford Middle School Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Kris Jennings, performed “Perdido,”  soloist was Brian Doman on electric bass; “My Funny Valentine,” soloist was Max Reese, alto saxophone and Hannah Flood on trumpet” and “Grooved Pavement,” soloist was Max Reese on alto saxophone, Evan Truckley on trumpet and Luke Smirga on trombone.



The Pottstown Middle School Jazz Band, under the direction of Ben Hayes, performed “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” “Pure Imagination,” soloist was Justin Beasley on alto saxophone; and “Oye Coma Va,” soloist was John Johnson on trumpet.

Wilson West, under the direction of Jon-Thomas Houser, performed “Gospel John,” “All the Things You are,” and “Salsa Nueva.”



The Boyertown Junior High Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Michael Jordan, performed “Shiny Stocking,” soloist Ty Botts on piano; “Cold Duck Time,” with soloists Adam Helmer on tenor saxophone and Amber Strohl on alto saxophone and “Second Line,” with soloists including Cameron Crider on trumpet, Adam Helmer on tenor saxophone, Amber Strohl on alto saxophone, Zach Talis on trombone and David Ziegler on trombone.

Mifflin, Spring-Ford and Pottstown all earned a rating of “Outstanding,” while Wilson West was deemed “Superior” by the judges.

Here are some of the other results:
• Pottstown — Best Trumpet Section;
• Wilson West — Best Trombone Section;
• Spring-Ford — Best Woodwind Section;
• Wilson West — Best Rhythm Section;
• Vaughn Golden of Governor Mifflin; Max Reese from Spring-Ford and John Johnson from Pottstown were all named “outstanding soloist; and Robby Dalton of Wilson was named “Overall Outstanding Soloist.”

Student Music in the Round Makes for the Well-Rounded Student

Pottstown High School Flute Ensemble was among several groups that visited Harrisburg March 6 and played in the Capitol Rotunda. From front left are: Marissa Somich, Evelyn Bailey, Danae Perrymond. Back row, from left, are Emily Griffin, Jenna Endy, Alesha James, Amira Mohammed.

As an amateur (very amateur) musician, I confess to having a partiality for music programs, both formal and informal.

I began with the clarinet in school and insisted my parents had to buy the instrument before I lost total interest in it.

Middle School Clarinet Ensemble, from left are: 

Casey Mest (Bass Clarinet), Nancy S. Mest, Isabelle Schiffler, Rachael
Levengood, Kyli McKee, Alivia Lopez and Alysha Soto.

Then it was on the bass clarinet, an unwieldy instrument that I tried to convince people was a much cooler (I thought) saxophone.

So, big surprise, I am a big advocate for school music programs. Not only do they epitomize the term "enrichment," but they also teach a valuable skill -- learning to read music.

As someone who could truthfully be described as being "math challenged," learning how to read music, understand how things are segmented into measures, the time, the speed was a kind of back-door math lesson I desperately needed and probably helped me crawl over the finish line for the New York State Regents tests.

(Those are kind of like the PSSAs, except they are a state-wide test in subjects like algebra, trigonometry, chemistry, physics and English -- and foreign languages as well.)

Pottstown Middle School Brass Ensemble, Ben Clarke, 
Chloe Francis, John Johnson, Donta Smith, Kyle Kratzer
and Christian Clarke play in the Capitol Rotunda in
Harrisburg.

As happened last year, it won't be long before the school board sits down to the unenviable task of trying to figure out how to fit is budget into the ever-smaller box Harrisburg provides for public education.

With little choice but to look at "non-mandated programs," the board will eventually come to the point where it considers cuts to art and music programs as they are non-mandated.

It is not an easy place to be, but let's hope they can find some other way. Not just because "enrichment" is what makes school more than just a chore, but because ultimately, music helps with those all-important test scores.

Consider this information from the University of Kansas, provided under the no-nonsense headline "Music boosts test scores:"

"In a time when emphasis on testing often has meant cutbacks for school music programs, a study by KU researcher Christopher Johnson shows that slashing music could undermine standardized test performance in math and English." 

Pottstown High School Clarinet Ensemble, from left front, 

Emily Kolbmann, Dakota Thorne(Bass Clarinet), Carly Mutter 

Back-Tatiana Robinson, Kelsie Andrews, Kelsey Shumaker, 

Katie Kolbmann

 "We picked schools that were elementary or junior high that were fairly well matched in every demographic, except what was going on in their music classrooms," said Johnson.

"We looked for classrooms that had outstanding music education going on and classrooms that were less than adequate," he said.

Johnson, professor of music education and music therapy and associate dean of the School of Fine Arts at KU, found jumps of 22 percent in English test scores and 20 percent in math scores at elementary schools with superior music education. Results were similar in middle schools.
One theory holds that higher scores result because music helps to develop attentiveness.

"When you sit down and do a standardized test you are on task trying to concentrate and focus for an extended period of time. And there's really not a lot of things in school that require you to that," said Johnson.

"You can do a couple of math problems, get off task, look at the wall. You know, read a couple of lines in English and zone out. But if you zone out in band you're likely to be playing a solo. If you zone out in choir, you might sing a solo - that has to be just as mortifying."

Middle School Flute Ensemble: From left, Emilie Lineman, 

Rashel Williams, Sara Dudley, Emily Greiss, Maxine Bacon, 

Sara Butler, Cluadia La, Ziarra Caballero.

But it is not because of how it might help his test scores (full disclosure alert!) that I'm pleased my 13-year-old is involved in Pottstown's music program. Rather, it is more because of the value of an enriching experience, a way to be part of a "team" that focuses on a different kind of ability.

As a parent and music appreciator, it is also a great pleasure to me that music is held in such high regard in this area. (When I was in high school, being in the marching band was not something your bragged about).

So it also gives me great pleasure to share with you some photos e-mailed to me by Nancy Mest, an instrumental music instructor in the Pottstown School District.

She wrote that "the Woodwind Ensembles from both Pottstown Middle School and Pottstown High School plus the Middle School Brass Ensemble traveled to our State Capitol in Harrisburg on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 to perform in the lunch time concert series held  as part of Music In Our School Month. 

Middle School Brass Ensemble

"Groups performed selections such as:  Amazing Grace, Colors of the Wind, Mission Impossible, Mozart's Allegro, Battle Hymn of the Republic, and Arkansas Traveler as well as others. 

"After the performance, student were photographed on the steps of the Rotunda followed my a tour of our State Capitol building," Mrs. Mest wrote.

Sadly, although our public schools treated them to a FREE musical performance, I tend to doubt it will move our state legislators to fund public education to the point that school boards will not have to consider cuts to the music program this year.

St. Al's Donations Already Piling Up

Just part of the food items already collected for the Pottstown Cluster at the St. Aloysius campus

POTTSTOWN  -- The folks over at St. Aloysius have been busy people.

As I wrote about here in Sunday, after a story ran in the print edition of The Mercury about the involvement of St. Aloysius School and the church's prep program for kids preparing for their first Holy Communion or Confirmation, donations for their food drive are already pouring in.

More of the St. Al's haul

An e-mail Sunday from Cathy Wieand, who is coordinating the efforts at the parochial school, indicated that already, 133 items have been collected.

 

"Our count as of Friday morning was 2 laundry detergents and 133 other items for the Cluster. That was after Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, not a bad start," she wrote.

"And as it happens at the end of the day we found two more laundry detergents at our door -- we will count them tomorrow afternoon and I will take a drop to the cluster on Tuesday." 

Added, Wieand, "we have put up a sign and have a box in the Gathering Center, with a sign on the door if anyone is dropping off."

In case you're not familiar with it, the "gathering center" is the spiffy new building between the church and the school on North Hanover Street just north of Beech Street.

The St. Aloysius Gathering Center is next to the church.

The Mercury's Fill the Media Lab food drive is really taking off.

On Friday, our Tale of Two Dogs blogger reported that one person made a massive donation at the Boneyard Joe's drop-off she set up.

In included 89 "human items," and 90 "pet food items" and five bottles of laundry detergent.

"The owner of Boneyard Joe's said Ms. Kline donated all these items herself and would not accept a free lunch from them for her generosity.

It's stories like that which serve as a reminder of how many quietly incredible people there are out there.

Which reminds me to remind you that there are lots of places where you can drop off food donations and lots of places that are benefiting.

Here is a map of the places which have volunteered to be our drop-off locations.

Strengthen Your Family at Family Fest

This year's Pottstown Family Fest will be held this Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. at Pottstown High School.

Sponsored by the Pottstown Family Center, the Pottstown School District and the Pottstown Parks and Recreation Department, the event is designed to provide information on family dynamics, unity and development.

Information booths, roving entertainment and door prizes highlight the event.

Featured entertainment will include the Pottstown Senior High School Jazz Band.

Pizza and a beverage will be provided to all that attend, although children must be accompanied by an adult.

Puzzles were among last year's Family Fest activities

This year's theme urges "Pottstown Families to Play, Work and Serve Together" and to buy locally.

"The whole community plays a role in sustaining our local businesses and social service agencies," the flyer notes.

"This year's theme focuses on buying local and encourages families to find volunteer opportunities that they care about so that they can ultimately give back to their community."

The event is sponsored by the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation and the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

St. Al's Joins the Food Drive

Blogger's Note: This post first ran as an article in The Mercury on March 7.

POTTSTOWN  -- When Mike Kilgore gathered the students of his St. Aloysius “prep program” together recently, he had a few seemingly simple questions for them before they began their lessons for their first Holy Communion or Confirmation.

“How many of you had something to eat before you came here?” he asked them, and was rewarded with a show of hands.

“How many of you are full? How many of you had clean clothes?” he asked.

St. Aloysius Church in Pottstown

“I wanted to get them thinking about things they probably take for granted, and then I told them that there are people for whom the answer to those questions is ‘no,’” Kilgore recalled. “I told them there could be people on their street who need that kind of help.”

All of which, Kilgore said, was to get the class in the right frame of mind to participate in our Fill the Media Lab food drive, being conducted during Lent.

“I’ve always thought that rather than do without on Lent, it’s better to do something positive, so this is a great time to do something like this” Kilgore said.

“I talked the entire class and they’re really excited,” Kilgore said. “We’re going to use the church as the drop off.”

St. Aloysius School

It’s not just Kilgore’s students who will be gathering food.

All students at St. Aloysius School will participate as well, confirmed Cathy Wieand, acting marketing director for the school.

Starting with an announcement Wednesday morning, the school’s Student Council will begin a food drive that will benefit the Cluster Outreach Center, Wieand said.

“It’s going to be the whole school, from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade,” she said.

It will be announced to the school’s families through the weekly mailing and to the school over the morning announcements.

Help us fill this space with food for the hungry

In fact, Wieand said, plans are for the students to prepare “some jingles to sing over the PA system to spur the classes on.”

The food drive is gathering steam, first with the bloggers at The Mercury’s Town Square blogging site, many of whom have taken up the call for filling our Community Media Lab with food for the need, identifying drop-off sites and food pantries that are running short of supplies during a time of greater demand and fewer donations.

Here is a map of places you can drop off food donations:



And now the children of St. Aloysius are stepping up to help. Donations can be made at the Gathering Center on the St. Aloysius campus on North Hanover St.

“Signs are going up in homerooms and letters and flyers will go home and we will remind the children each morning,” Wieand said.

In addition to providing food for Pottstown’s needy, the drive will also provide an important lesson, Wieand said.

“Community means taking care of each other and that’s what we teach our kids,” she said, “that when there is a need in the community, they need to step up and lend a hand.”