i Back Mountain Real Estate Vol. 100 No. 4 "A Centennial Edition" Dallas, PA Wednesday, February 1, 1989 25 Cents C.M. Denmon Photo) By CHARLOT M. DENMON Staff Writer “ "EXCEEDS"-just mention it to Eugene Howanitz and his enthusi- asm grows in leaps and bounds. After years of teaching the same subject over and over, he was look- ing longingly down the road to retirement for he felt he had noth- ing new or exciting to give to his students. Then he became familiar with the staff development program advocated by Dr. Madeline Hunter, adjunct lecturer and former prin- cipal of the UCLA Lab School. “After visiting several districts and observing some exemplary programs, I became enthused about the techniques and meth- ods being used to maximize the effectiveness of the teaching proc- ess,” said Howanitz. “It gave me an entirely different outlook on teach- ing.” “EXCEEDS” is the word used to define the professional develop- ment program now being used in the Dallas School District under the direction of Howanitz. The word means Experiencing the Concepts of Essential Elements of Instruc- tion for Development of Staff or “Reaching New Heights in Instruc- tional Skills". The Dallas School District initi- ated the staff development pro- PHASE lI-Dallas School District faculty member Eugene Howanitz begins Phase i of the district's Staff Development Program with one of the first groups of volunteer faculty members, The members of the faculty who took Phase | of the program said they found it extremely helpful in the classroom. "EXCEEDS" program adds new life to teaching at Dallas High gram during the 1984-1985 school year basing its program on current data involving teaching and learn- ing. The staff development pro- gram focuses on teaching effec- tiveness. ‘In order to have what was con- sidered the best possible program for staff development, the district appointed a committee of teachers and administrators who re- searched various programs. Consultations with facilitators as well as observations and visita- tions with exemplary programs of otherdistricts were conducted until the final decision toadopt the model recommended by Hunter. Phase I of the program focused on instructional skills. A survey of teachers proved that some people have skills but can't teach them. In Hunter's method she researched teachers as far back as the 1960's and looked at what was effective in each good teacher's influence on students attitudes and levels of performance. Howanitz and elementary teacher Ms. Kathleen Reiss shared the responsibilities of the program in the beginning, but Ms. Reiss was needed to teach one of the elementary classes, so Howanitz took over the whole program. In the first phase the instruc- tional skills emphasized were 1. Teaching toan objective, such “correct level of difficulty. Since as in grammar, underlining verbs in a story. 2. Selecting objectives at the students in a grade learn at differ- ent levels, if some students cannot do the work as requested, then group them according to their abilities. 3. Monitoring student progress and adjusting the teaching when necessary to improve instruction. If a student gives an incorrect answer, the teacher should use diplomacy rather than putting down the student. Emphasis is placed on design- ing questions so they are relevant to the objective of the teacher. Last but by no means least are the principles of learning for effec- tive instruction with active partici- pation. retention and practice theory. The administrators in the dis- trict went through the four-day program and were excited about the method. It was not compulsory for the teachers with the exception of new teachers, but 138 of the approximately 155 teachers in the district took Phase I. Two in-service credits were given each teacher for Phase I, but these will not be given for II and III. All new teachers must take See EXCEEDS, pg 2 Police issue alert for kidnappers Police in Plymouth issued an alert last week following the report of an attempted kidnapping of a "child in that community. That v incident may have been related to three others that occurred in Luzerne County last week. Two of those reports were from Swoy- ersville. In the Plymouth case, two men .attempted to abduct a 14 year old girl as she was walking home from school on East Main Street. The men allegédly leaped out at her: : from a spot between two buildings, and dragged her towards a car parked in an alley. The girl fought and screamed, and was finally rescued by an unidentified man in his 60's. : In one of the other incidents, young children were approached by two men while walking; in the others only one man was involved. Police released a composite sketch of one of the alleged assail- ants in the Plymouth case Satur- day. He is described as white, in his early 20's, about 5' 10" tall and weighing 150 to 160 pounds. He had a mustache and was wearing a black jean jacket with the words “Metallica” and “Kill Them All" printed on the back. The other man was descibed only as white and in his 20's with blond hair and a medium build. The victim told police the two men od COMPOSITE SKETCH - This is a composite sketch of one of the alleged kidnappers. were driving a small, brown com- pact car with an out-of-state li- cense plate. Police said, however, that the plate could have been an old yellow Pennsylvania one with blue letters. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call their local police department, or the Plymouth police at 779-9552. Kingston Township Police Chief Paul Sabol said Monday that the composite drawing had not been sent to his department, but that Back Mountain police personnel were well aware of the incidents. He said that youngsters who were approached by strangers should run to the nearest “safe” house and call police to report the inci- dent. Many feel Kingston Township police salaries still too low Interviews with residents and businesspersons in Trucksville and Shavertown support the Kingston Township Police Officers Association's contention that they are underpaid, despite recent raises granted by an arbitration award. Monica Mickiewicz, a Trucksville resident and owner of Pizza Per- fect, said she knows many of the officers who have left the force to take better paying jobs. “I feel they are underpaid for people who are risking their lives for citizens every day,” Mickiewicz said. “They really work hard.” Michael Moravec, a four-year veteran of the force and chairman of the bargaining unit, said he was disappointed with the new sala- ries. “We were disappointed with the award in general,” Moravec said Monday. In addition to salary increases, the officers had requested changes in the retirement plan for town- ship policemen. They asked that the minimum age at which an offi- cer could receive full retirement benefits be lowered from 55 to 45 years, with 20 years of service. Moravec said the association had commissioned a study to prove that such a change was actuarilly sound. By not addressing the retirement issue, the arbitrator in effect denied the request. William Tippett, one of two King- ston Township supervisors who negotiated with the police, said the two sides met three or four times before the Township asked that an arbitrator be called in. Tippett said that the officers’ request to change the retirement program was a major stumbling block. He did not disagree with the contention that the former salary schedule was inadequate. “$14,100 was low, I agree with that,” he said. Russell Newell, owner of Newell Fuel in Trucksville agreed. “It's not a lot,” he said, referring to the present salary level. “I feel we have the best police protection in the state. I've seen them in action.” he added. Newell also felt it was unfortunate when an officer had to leave the work he enjoyed in order to make enough money to get by. Under the recently completed salary arbitration, newer members of the Kingston Township police department will earn $16,000 annually as of June 1. They had been receiving $14,100 a year. In See POLICE, pg 5 Recycling interest grows, but Dallas Township program stalls By CHARLOT M. DENMON Staff Writer Recycling of waste materialsisa much discussed subject in Penn- sylvania, and particularly in this area, now that it will become mandatory. Governor Robert Casey ‘recently signed a law that requires municipalities with a population of 10,000 or more to provide curbside collection of recyclable materials by September, 1990. Communities with populations of 5,000 to 10,000 must provide curbside collection by September, 1991. Two municipalities in the Back Mountain should be affected by the law; Dallas Township and Kingston Township. Kingston Township reportedly has approxi- mately 10,000 population and Dallas Township has between 7,200and 7,500, both figures taken from the 1980 census. If increased development con- tinues in the Back Mountain, these figures will probably grow, and several other municipalities may reach the 5,000 mark. Professor Tom Winter, Ph.D, Penn State Wilkes-Barre Campus, has had a recycling program on the local campus for the past year and assisted by three students and the support of everyone on cam- pus, he has sent eight truckloads of material to market. They total- led 11,200 pounds of paper, card- board, glass and metal. Winter says this has meant a saving of 28,000 kilowatt hours of energy and $400 landfill savings as well as earning $228 direct income donated to the Annual Fund. Having worked with recycling for some time, Prof. Winter recog- nizes the good and bad features of the program, and is now working with the Solid Waste Committee of the Back Mountain Citizens Coun- cilin an attempt to work out a plan which will accommodate local municipalities in the future. Dallas Township Supervisor Frank Wagner can appreciate the Shavertown Methodist Protestant churchgoers in the Back Mountain will be able to worship on Saturday evenings starting this week, thanks to the Shavertown United Methodist Church. This Saturday, the church will offer a service from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. in the church sanctuary at 163 North Pioneer Avenue. The service was added at the request of parishoners who had difficulty attending the traditional Sunday services, according to James W. Wert, Pastor of the church. “People who have to work on Sundays, or who must be away often, requested it,” said Pastor Wert last week. Wert said he thought this would be the first Saturday service avail- g begins Saturday service able at a Protestant church in the area. Adding it to the church's schedule was a local decision, he said, and was approved by the church's administrative board. Wert explained that the service will be identical to the existing Sunday, 9:00 a.m. chapel service. “It’s shorter and less formal than a regular service,” he added. At Saturday's service, Rosendo E. Santos will serve as music di- rector and Edward Pall will pres- ent a solo accompanied by guitar. Pastor Wert will give the sermon and Pastor Harriet L. Santos will be liturgist. David J. Jenkins is chairperson of the Worship Com- mittee, which is in charge of ar- rangements. BURNING NECESSARY-Dallas Township maintenance men began burning more than 40 tons of newspaper collected on the township's attemted recycling program. The supervisors were unable to find a market for the paper so finally decided to burn it and cancelled recycling until further notice. Above, Ronald Schwartz, on the ground, takes the paper from workers Jim Kelly and Clifford Chapin and puts them on the backhoe to take them to the back of the lot for burning. (C.M. Denmon Photo) good and bad features of recycling. Wagner started a recycling pro- gram at the township and opened it toother communities in the Back Mountain. The program appeared to be working smoothly in the beginning and Wagner became increasingly involved, attending meetings and ‘visiting other municipalities start- ing recycling in an effort to prepare for the new law. Then came the disappointment. Wagner could find no company to take the paper dropped off at the township. He had 40 tons of newspaper and magazines that the township could not get rid of locally, and since the township has no money in the budget to ship the materials out of town, Wagner had to call a halt to the program for the present time. But he still had the paper. The only solution was to burn the paper. That is what he and township maintenance workers are now doing when they have free time. See RECYCLE, pg 3 i
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