BOX 336,
BRIGHTON,
EXCH
52540
by Tom Mooney
“It's going to make the kids push
a little harder,” said Dallas Senior
High School principal Edgar
Hughes recently of the district's
new beefed-up graduation require-
ments.
The tougher regulations, chiefly
an increase in credits required and
a great emphasis upon English, will
be applied starting with the class of
1983--the students who will be
sophomores this September. Y
While Dallas students previously
needed just 13 credits from their
years in order to qualify for
graduation they will now need 15.
Under the Dallas system, a credit
equals a full, year-long course.
Additionally, every senior will
now be required to take English.
Huges, along with curriculum
director Gerald Wycallis, explained
that the district wanted to avoid
putting students in the position of
having substantially completed
their credit requirements by the
end of the junior year, a situation
that sometimes led to reduced in-
terest in. school during the final
year.
‘We've always liked to challenge
the students,”’ said Wycallis. “‘If
you give them good choices that will
help them, they'll take them? he
added.
The demand for English in the
senior year, the two administrators
said, stems from the district's
growing awareness that both
employers and colleges expect solid
basic skills from the just-graduated
and that Dallas students have
sometimes tended to ‘‘shy-away’
from the English courses that would
develop their reading, writing, and
verbal skills. ‘‘The math and
science electives have always been
popular,” said Wycallis.
The actual two-credit increase is
listed under ‘‘electives’’ in the new
curriculum design prepared by the
Senior High Administrators-
Counselors Committee. Those
electives have been increased from
3.40 over the three years to 5.40.
Social studies. and physical
education are also required in the
senior year.
Additonal reforms
assinging each class a single
guidance counselor to remain with
that class through graduation,
phasing out study halls, setting
more definite course withdrawal
procedures, and making attendance
rules stricter.
‘‘What we're saying to the
students is, ‘We want you to set your
sights higher,” ” ‘said Hughes,
adding that, as far as he has been
able to determine, ‘‘Most of the
students feel it's a good idea.” He -
also foresees a trend away from
mini-cotirses and courses with
fractional-eredit values in favor of
longer, more solid courses.
The guidance counselor, both
men agreed, will be key figure in
the student’s progress, joining with
the student to outline and recom-
mend choices and designing a
‘‘model” = that provides a basic
changes the student might wish to
make later.
Sophomores will be expected to
take the basic grammar and litera-
ture course, while juniors will find
electives available but will be en-
couraged to begin to satisfy the
requirements for American and
English literature. The “model”
will then include some English in
the senior year.
Improvements in student skills
will be monitored by administering
of standardized tests and by study-
percent of Dallas graduates go on
for some kind of post-secondary
education.
Leonard W. Venable, general
manager of the Shavertown Water
Company, said this week that it
appeared the company’s service
problems in the vicinity of Mt. Airy
and Pioneer Avenues in Shavertown
have been resolved.
Venable said the leak which inter-
rupted water service on the system
was so large, that listening devices
used to locate such leaks provided
be on Perrin Ave. misleading
water company ¢rews into digging
in that area.
Thursday, water company em-
ployees went over the entire
deal with the emergency.
Venable said the company is
awaiting a PUC decision on
repiping requirement for the
Shavertown area and that lawyers
representing the company, tax-
payers association, and PUC are
still working on the solution to the
problem. Venable said the pipes
which failed last week were ‘‘at
least 60 years old.”
Shavertown Water Company pur-
chased water hauling services in a
sterilized tanker owned by the Lake
Carey Volunteer Fire Company
during the emergency, Venable
said.
“The system's holding up pretty
well now,” he said. The water
tables are in pretty good shape and
demand is being met to the point
that his pumps supplying the
Shavertown area reservoir are
actually resting three hours per
night. He said his move to advise
residents to restrict watering lawns
and gardens until after 9 p.m. was
precautionary.
system, finally discovering the leak
at about midnight.
The general manager said he was
OUT AT HOME?--The Wyoming Little League All-Star
appears blocked from home plate in this action photo
while Back Mountain National All-Star catcher Tim
glove. Youth baseball league playoffs were winding up
around the area during the past week and a selection of
available team photos of Back Mountain area youth
Dallas Twp. discharges
Cris Sr niet
L
=
in Harrisburg at a Public Utility
Commission hearing into the com-
plaints of the Shavertown Tax-
payers Association on prior service
problems and was called back to
Attorneys for the Fall Fair
Association and Lehman Twp. were
reported scheduled to meet last
Friday in an attempt to resolve the
zoning problem that has threatened
this year’s fall fair, set for Sep-
Association officials, however,
said last week that they did not wish
to discuss any negotiations’ that
were still in progress.
tion’s desire to use for its fair a
Twp. near the Back Mountain
Medical Center, which it sponsors.
That land adjoins the rest of the
association's land just across the
border in Dallas Borough. The fair
itself is intended for the borough
part of the property, while the Leh-
man area is slated for use for
parking. =
Fall Fair Association members
meeting last Thursday said that
they were not pleased by being
scheduled for a special zoning
appeal to the Lehman Twp. Plan-
ning Commission, Aug. 11. They ex-
pressed belief that elements in Leh-
man are hostile to the idea of the
fair being held there to begin with
and added that if the planning
commission takes a great deal of
time to decide on the case the month
of September will pass without the
fair being held.
Their preference, according to
fair officials, is for dealing with the
township board of supervisors. One
standing that semi-public uses of a
parcel of land can be permitted with
approval of the supervisors and that
it should not be necessary to go
through planning and zoning
regulations.
The meeting of the lawyers was
scheduled in an attempt to develop
this idea and get around the Aug. 11
meeting. Assigned to represent the
Association were Attys. Frank
Townend, James Anzalone, and
Merton Jones. While Attys. James
Van Jura and Paul Mahler were to
represent Lehman.
This is the first year for the fair to
be scheduled for the Association's
new property in Dallas Borough-
Lehman Twp. Previous fairs were
held at the Lehman Horse Show
Grounds. Dallas Borough has given
permission for the fair on its share
of the property, previously an-
nounced, with a stipulation in a
letter from zoning officer Drew
Fitch to the effect that no perma-
nent structures will be allowed.
A fair official also unveiled what
he called the Association’s ‘‘long-
term plan’’ for its property.
Essentially, the association wants
to develop the property as a public
recreation site which can still be
used for the fair each year.
Proceeds from the fair presently go
to support the Back Mountain
Medical Center, and in the future
they would also support. the
recreation site.
The map of the proposed
recreation site provides space for
shuffle-board courts, tennis courts,
food stands, storage buildings, a
softball field, a little league field, a
family picnic area, an ice hockey
rink, a swimming pool, a bath
house, and a new access road to
Rte. 118.
Association members empha-
sized repeatedly that they have no
desire to compete with the horse
show grounds or with the Lehman
Twp. firemen for fund raising but
money to support the medical
center and with making the land
useful to the community throughout
the year.
The Association’ s immediate
objective, however, is convincing
the township supervisors to allow
“the fair by making a decision by or
before their own Aug. 11 meeting.
The long-term plan, members
conceded, will require planning and
zoning approval.
According to Solicitor Frank
Townend, Dallas Township, an
employee was discharged on July
15, and he is being represented by
Atty. John Fine. Solicitor Townend
noted that he had talked to Atty.
Fine and the dismissed employee
intended to appeal the dismissal
and requested a private hearing.
Township officials .acknowleged
police officer but no name or reason
for dismissal would be given. The
only information available was that
the officer had not resigned.
Solicitor Townend noted also that
little would be said in order for the
matter to “gain little attention and
blow over”
Chief of Police Carl Miers was on
duty with the Army Reserves on the
date of dismissal and is unavailable
for comment. Nor further informa-
tion can be obtained.
In other business, the board dis-
cussed the amount of money needed
to equip the Dallas Towne Park.
According to Chairman Phillip
Walter, it would cost $55,000 to buy
all of the items for the playground.
Because the play area will not be
staffed nor supervised the board
buy equipment which could be
dangerous to unsupervised young-
sters.
It was partially decided to
prepare a parking area, build a
walk bridge and buy some picnic
tables for the park
“OLD CHINESE SAYING’
statue of an ancient Mandarin
adorns “The Sacred Way.” a park
‘near the great wall. Access is
limited. See Story P. 3.