a a iain @® . @® ® - ® > a LJ LJ Wednesday, November 3, 1993 w o $ ’ AB 2 The Dallas Reporter Parent-teacher conferences The Dallas Reporter Wednesday, November 3, 1993 3 New Twice each year, in November and April, parents of Dallas School District students have an oppor- tunity to meet with their child's teacher to discuss student prog- ress. These conferences are con- ducted because the administra- tion and faculty realize the impor- tance of communicating with parents. This year the elementary con- ferences are scheduled for No- vember 15, 1993 and April 18, 1994. The middle school confer- ences are scheduled for Novem- ber 22, 1993 and April 20, 1994. The senior high school confer- ences are scheduled for Novem- ber 22, 1993 and April 20, 1994. Classes will not be held for stu- dents in the schools designated for conferences on their specitic conference date. During a conference, observa- tions of the student's behavior, development, and achievement are shared. This gives both par- ent and teacher better insightinto the student's progress and future academic program. All parents will receive notifica- tion prior to these conferences. The elementary schools and middle school will provide specific times and teachers. Parents of high school students will request the teacher with whom they wish to discuss their child's progress. If a parent is unable to attend the conference as scheduled, arrange- ments can be made to reschedule it. Itis extremely important to meet your child's teacher to discuss educational issues which will impact on your son or daughter's future. Since the inception of parent conferences in the Dallas School District, the parent participation has exceeded 90%. Arranging parent conferences throughout the year can be accomplished by contacting the teachers or the guidance counselors. The Dallas School District believes that par- ent conferences are a collabora- tive effort between the parent and the teacher to develop an appro- priate educational plan which will emphasize the social, emotional, and academic success of the stu- dent. Computers part of everyday learning in Dallas schools Five years ago, District Super- intendent Gerald Wyecallis told the central office staff and school level administrators that the Dallas School District was going to be- come technology-literate. The District immediately faced a number of problems, not the least of which was how to finance this effort. When the financing of ~ the technology was resolved, the problem of what type of hardware should be purchased needed to be addressed. However, the big- gest concern was how to get tech- nology concept to come from the staff, not from the central admini- stration. It’s a known fact that, if the teachers were not sold on technology as a tool to help them teach—and to help students learn—the District goals would never be realized. For the first year, our adminis- trative staff visited many different school districts trying to figure out just what computer technol- ogy was and, more important, to find the right model for us. The conclusion that was reached was there is no universal computer technology “model.” Implement- ing computer technology is a process, and the District needed to develop our own plan. Our staff and administrators, in the process of learning about computer technology, came to believe that the support of our teachers could be gained by show- ing them what computer technol- ogy was doing for others and how it could be useful to them. Teachers were encouraged to take the computer staff develop- ment programs offered by the District, in the areas of computer hardware and Jostens Learning software. Learning will never be the same in the Dallas School District. Teachers began to take staff de- velopment training and volunteer- ing to dc summer workshops needed to acquire the hardware and software skills for classroom managément of the computer technology. Today, computer technology is becoming a natural part of the daily routine in the Dallas School District. The use ofan interdisci- plinary approach gives us the power to tie the teaching teams together via technology resources, computers, videodiscs and CD- ROM units. Using cooperative learning, our students are no longer bound by the four walls of the classroom; they can connect to the real world and concentrate on real problem solving. There are no limits to the learning pos- sibilities using technology. This transformation didn't come about overnight. Five years ago, our state was facing a finan- cial crisis, and the superinten- dent believed strongly that it was foolish to try to run a school sys- tem without knowing where our next dollar was coming from. So how was this movement funded? The superintendent went to the school board and proposed a fi- nancial alternative to support the cost of new instructional materi- als and new technology. The al- ternative was approved by the school board and supported by the community. The superintendent, the school board, teachers and staff pre- sented the new technology con- cept to the community—group by group, meeting by meeting. The superintendent wanted as much public input as possible to justify this large expenditure. Public trust in these matters is a must if the District wants the continued support of the community. One lesson the District learned in this whole process is that computer technology is on a knowledge continuum. Training will always be necessary. The Dallas School District tries to stay on the “leading edge” of what's new, exciting and effective in the technology field. However, the main focus of our technology is assisting teachers with the teach- ing process and supporting stu- dents in the learning process. For the first two years, the Dallas School District operated three networked integrated learn- ing system labs, one each in Dal- las Elementary, Westmoreland Elementary and Dallas Middle School. These labs utilized the Jostens Integrated Learning Sys- tem, a fully compatible software Year. curriculum for reading, math, kindergarten, keyboarding, word processing and Compton's Multi- Media Encyclopedia. Beginning with the third year, a networked lab was added at the Dallas Senior High School for use by English classes for word proc- essing. It uses WordPerfect 5.1, a state-of-the-art, industry-stan- dard word processing program. This is one of the programs many colleges require their incoming students to test-out on as a part of their introduction to college academics. Also during the third year, the Middle School was expanded to provide two distributed, net- worked computers in the Library for electronic research. These are connected via cable to the units in the lab and are available to stu- dents during the entire day. During the fourth year, through the efforts of our Chapter 1 Pro- gram, a take-home laptop com- puter program was started at both elementary schools and the Middle School. Chapter 1 teachers pre- viewed appropriate software for use by their students. Evening training sessions were also or- ganized for parents of Chapter 1 students. These parents who participated in the training pro- gram were allowed to come to their respective children’s schools to sign-out computers forinstruc- tional help at home. The tremen- dous success of this program has prompted the District to expand the availability of additional lap- top computers for home use. Beginning in early 1993, the District extended the computer lab into the classrooms by linking individual classroom computers through the networked system. The result, when all buildings are finished, will be an additional 22 computers at Dallas Elementary, 18 at Westmoreland Elementary, 8 at the Middle School and 8 at the Senior High School. The Dis- trict is also reviewing the possibil- ity of updating the computers in the Math Lab at the Senior High School during the 1993-94 school wR, these two men to see how Dallas Preparing for evaluation Seated from left, Mr. Frank Galicki, Mrs. Helen Hughes, Mr. John Turner. Standing, Mr. Charles Preece, Mr. John Chapple Dallas High School prepares for evaluation The Commission on Secondary Schools of the Middle States As- sociation of Colleges and Schools conducts approximately two hundred secondary school evalu- ations annually. Most of these evaluations take place in the states of New York, New Jersey, Penn- sylvania, Delaware and Maryland. A lesser number occurs in the District of Columbia and outside the continental United States, Puerto Rico, The U.S. Virgin Is- lands, Europe, Africa and Asia. A Middle States Association secondary school evaluation re- quires a carefully designed proc- ess for promoting the improve- ment of programs, services, staff- ing and facilities of the member schools of the Association. This process also includes the services of a Visiting Committee which is composed of educators selected from MSA member schools who conduct a comprehensive, on-site review of all facets of a school’s organization and operation. Dallas High School is presently working on its self-study which is based on completion of forms as prepared by National Study of School Evaluation. These forms are divided into the following se- lections: School and Community, Philosophy and Goals, Curricu- lum, Auxiliary Services, Guidance Services, Learning Media Serv- ices, School Facilities, School Staff and Administration, Student Ac- tivities Program, Other Programs, Individual Faculty. All of our in- service days have been dedicated to the completion of these forms. The Chairperson of our evalu- ation will be Mr. Arthur H. Ebe- ling, who is principal of Chatham High School in Chatham, New Jersey. The Assistant Chairper- son will be Dr. Daniel Chandler who is principal of Montoursville Area High School in Montoursville, PA. There will be a pre-visit by & is progressing with self-study at the end of January. The dates of Dallas Middle States Evaluation are March 8, 9, 10, 1994. The following is a listing of staff members and their committee assignments: Steering Committee: Mr. Turner, Chairperson, Mr. Preece, Mr. Chapple, Mrs. Hughes. School/Community Commit- tee: Mr. Turner, Chairperson, Mr. Pope, Mrs. Makowski, Mrs. Whalen. Curriculum Committee: De- partment Chairpersons and Dr. Griffiths. Philosophy Committee: Mr. Hopkins, Chairperson, Mrs. Fike, Mrs. Kennard, Mrs. Whalen. Auxiliary Services: Mr. Shev- ock, Chairperson, Mr. Argento, Mrs. Bren, Mrs. Sprau, Mrs. Tre- bilcox. Guidance: Mrs. Russin, Chair- person, Mr. Bancala, Mr. Isaac, Mrs. Campbell, Mr. Shevock, Mrs. Garvey, Mrs. Makowski. Learning Media: Miss Au- gustine, Chairperson, Mrs. Buda, Mr. Howanitz, Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Morris, Miss Kmush. Facilities: Mr. Judge, Chair- person, Mrs. Berger, Mr. Helgemo, Mrs. Kennard, Mrs. Bayer. Staff/Administration: Mr. Wagner, Chairperson, Mrs. Fosko, Mrs. Hughes, Mrs. Jenkins, Mrs. Eyet, Mr. McCarthy. Student Activities: Mr. Cicon, Chairperson, Miss Ide, Mr. Hunter, Mrs. Orfanella, Mr. Pope, Mrs. Dudick. Other Programs: Mrs. Storz, Chairperson, Mr. Hughes, Mr. Matyszcak, Mrs. Trebilcox, Mr. Mathers. In summary, the Middle States Evaluation will give us valuable information as to how the High School is delivering services. Itis a healthy exercise, one which we are looking forward to. RE a Sa < Ee CS ord ha Dallas School District recently hosted a meeting of educators from Wilkes University in recog- nition of the district's leadership in the Professional Awareness for Cooperating Teachers (PACT) ini- tiative. The PACT program was devel- oped by Wilkes University and public school educators in 1990 to update techniques for prepar- ing college students to become teachers. The graduate-level course at Wilkes University opens channels of communication be- tween the university and the local public schools, encouraging pub- lic school teachers to refine their training of university students completing student teaching with them. Public school administra- tors express their support for their staff members’ participation by letters of recommendation sub- mitted to the university. The contemporary plan is one in which the student teacher, the PACT cooperating teacher, and the school principal coordinate efforts and energies each day for the benefit of all students. Student teaching for Wilkes students at Dallas now is a coher- ent effort of cooperating teacher and university. The careful coor- dination of public school stan- dards and university: goals pro- vides a highly refined experience for both the student teacher and the public school students, The middle school counseling and nursing staff will soon be starting a series of group counsel- ing experiences for the students in our school. Group counseling has been found to be very helpful in assisting certain youths in dealing with specific problems. It is an excellent way for some stu- dents to learn new skills, develop self-confidence, and better under- stand how to deal with many problems life presents. It is important to distinguish between group counseling and group guidance. Group guidance involves sharing information with a large group, such as an entire class. This information can help students make better life deci- sions about such matters as use ofdrug/alcohol, career paths, etc. Group guidance is designed to Bond refunding saves Dallas School District recently completed a refunding operation of several series of the School Districts existing General Obliga- tion Bonds. Based upon the cur- rent financial market conditions of lower interest rates, the refi- nancing of the 1979, 1989 and 1990 Series of General Obligation Bonds will generate net savings of $232,590 to the district. Most of these savings will be realized in the 1993-94 fiscal year through reduced debt service payments. The state of Pennsylvania through the Pennsylvania Department of SE HOE We Se TR RB Pictured are P.A.CT. participants, as follows: School district is leader in teacher preparation Seated, from left, June E. Eyet, M.S., Dallas High School Science Department; Gerald Wycallis, M.S., Superintendent of Schools, Dallas School District; Christopher Breiseth, Ph.D., President, Wilkes University; Frank P. Galicki, M.S., Principal, Dallas High School; Diane Polachek, Ed.D. Wilkes University Education Department. Standing, from left, Marsha Spear, M.E., Teacher of first grade, Dallas Elementary School; Mary E. Nulton, M.E., Teacher of English, fifth grade, Dallas Elementary School; Georgia Jenkins, B.S., Dallas High School Mathematics Department; Samuel A. Barbose, Elemen- tary Principal, Westmoreland Elementary School; Ruth Tetschner, M.S., Elementary Princi- pal, Dallas Elementary School; Douglas Lynch, Ph.D., Wilkes University Education Depart- ment; William R. Wagner, M.S., Dallas High School Science Department; Donna Trebilcox, M.Ed., Dallas High School English Department; Eleanor T. Buda, M.A., Dallas High School English Department; Anthony B. Martinelli, M.S., Principal, Dallas Middle School; Maryann Storz, M.S., Dallas High School Social Studies Department. Unavailable at time of photo: Grace Reishus, Dallas Elementary School; Charles M. Preece, Dallas High School Mathematics Department. Group counseling aids students prevent issues from becoming problems and is something every student needs and deserves on a regular basis. Group counseling, on the other hand, is remedial in nature. It is meant to help those who are already having problems with specific issues and to ad- dress these concerns as early as possible. In group counseling, small groups are selected by the counselor to receive this service. Group counseling is not the best choice for every child who has problems. Some youngsters need more intense, individualized help and would best be served by indi- vidual counseling or family ther- apy. For example, a child who is involved in a crisis of some sort would not be an appropriate can- didate for group counseling. A youngster who is so shy that he or Education, also will realize sav- ings through this refinancing since the state reimburses the school district for a certain percentage of their debt service payments. The original debt was incurred by the district for building proj- ects such as the Dallas Elemen- tary School addition in 1989, Senior High School addition in 1990, and the remodeling and expansion of the Dallas Elemen- tary School after its original pur- chase in 1979. The issuance of the $4,335,000 General Obligation Bonds, Series Ea AL ah a i Sara a she cannot interact in a group would also not be suited. So, although a student might need help very badly, group coun- seling might not be the best type of service. If you know of such students, the counseling staff would be happy to assist in find- ing appropriate help. ~ The first group counseling experience will be for students dealing with separation/divorce in the family. We also hope to offer a group for students dealing with loss/grief. This group will meet later in the year. Any parent who would like a son/daughter to participate in either group or desire more infor- mation about the groups should contact Mrs. Raelene Olszewski or Mrs. Laura O'Malley at the middle school. $232,590 of 1993, Aaa-rated, insured bonds were and will be used to refund the outstanding series noted above, as well as, pay issuance costs associated with the new Series of 1993 Bonds. During a time of increased demand by government entities for taxpayers’ financial resources, Dallas School District was fortu- nate to be able to take advantage of current financial market condi- tions to help alleviate the taxpay- ers’ burden for the school dis- tricts’ debt service payments. oT TV Vu ———————_—_——_———_——_—— —_—_—_ _—_—_-— b ¥ Superintendent’s Office Asst. Superintendent's Office Business Manager's Office Transportation Office Maintenance Office telephone system The Dallas School District has implemented a new telephone system to insure a more efficient and effective utilization of staff. Community members calling the District telephone number (675- 5201) will make contact with an automated attendant who will present the following telephone menu: Sr. High School - Press 1 Middle School - Press 2 Dallas Elementary - Press 3 Westmoreland Elementary Press 4 Maintenance Office - Press 5 Administration Office - Press 6 Individuals calling 675-5201 may immediately press any number 1 through 7 to get their desired office without waiting for the automated attendant to com- plete the entire message. Each of the above menu num- bers will present a Sub-Menu for that individual building or office. If you have a touch tone phone and know the extension of the party you are calling, you can reach that extension directly by dialing the (#) sign and the three digit extension of the party you are calling when prompted by the attendant. A listing of extension numbers is provided here for your convenience. eddies phesirborraimennane yy DALLAS SCHOOL PHONE NUMBERS 221 263 225 229 255 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL Sr. High Office or Principal Athletic Office Guidance Office Nurse's Office Sr. High Locker Room 208 257 218 220 235 MIDDLE SCHOOL Middle School Office or Principal Guidance Office Nurse’s Office 205 245 247 DALLAS ELEMENTARY Dallas Elem. Office or Principal Home & School Visitor Nurse's Office WESTMORELAND ELEMENTARY Westmoreland Office or Principal Nurse's Office If you do not have a touch tone phone, you may dial the desired number directly. The direct dialing information is listed below. Superintendent's Office - 674-722 Asst. Superintendent's Office - 674-7263 Business Office - 674-7225 Transportation Office - 674-7229 Sr. High School Office - 674-7208 Middle School Office - 674-7205 Dallas Elementary Office - 674-7271 Westmoreland Elementary Office - 674-7283 Maintenance Office - 674-7255 Sr. High Locker Room - 674-7235 As we work through the process of orienting community members with the new telephone system, we ask for your co- operation and patience. 271 275 276 283 213 | | Ea -_ EEN EEE DEEN GENE GENE SON NEE DENS BEDE GaN DDD SEEN DE EE SE EE SE a es . y << : re Sh wa a a wr ad
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