- 2 The Dallas Reporter Wednesday, May 11, 1994 Pictured, sitting, Jeremy Granahan, Erin Heffron, Krystyn Krasavage and Mike Beyer. Kneeling, Jesse Tarity and Sue Smith. Standing, Ms. Anne Seitz, Paul Onzik, Brad Jumper, Becky Beisel, Dave Parks, Jon Saba, Jennifer Siglin, Dan Breymeier, and Mr. Thomas Kilduff. Middle School students help to raise money for Easter Seals Recently students in the Dallas Middle School participated in a Rotary Basketball Shootout fund raiser for the benefit of the Easter Seals Association of Northeastern Pennsylvania. By making bas- ketball shots the students raised money pledged by concerned community members. The fund raiser coordinators Ms. Anne Seitz and Mr. Thomas Kilduff, members of the Health and Physical Education depart- ment, reported that $320.00 was donated to the Easter Seals Asso- ciation. Dallas Elementary keeps busy with service projects Various community service projects occur at the Dallas Ele- mentary School. Students begin their community service at their walkathon. They donate some of the profits to benefit needy families in the school district. At Christmas time the entire school participates in collecting food and articles for the S.P.C.A. At this time of year Mr. Harold Hoover also took the chorus and handchime choir to the Meadows and presented a program. Various classrooms have donated money received for class use to charities of their choice. They have also augmented the amount by contributing their own funds. As an environmental project third grade students adopt a whale. A third grade project for the past few years has been do- nating a quilt made by students to the Back Mountain Library Auction. Westmoreland service projects Westmoreland Elementary in cooperation with the Sociology classes of Dallas Sr. High School and the Back Mountain Food Bank collected food stuffs to be distributed to needy families in the Back Mountain area. Westmoreland alone collected 22 boxes of food for this drive. Dec. 9 - Mr. Pope's Senior High students made a trip to the Clarks Summit State Hospital to decorate the facility for the patients. Westmore- land students participated in this effort by making decorations, chains and Christmas cards to display around the hospital. Westmoreland students made Valentine greeting cards and decora- tive hearts for the patients at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Wilkes-Barre as part of the hospital's National Salute to Veterans Week festivities held from February 14 through the 18th. Ta : Jeff Morris, Harry Phillips, John Thompson and Terry Eyerman loaded up the first truck of non- perishable food items collected last November by Dallas students for the Back Mountain Food Pantry Senior Sociology classes spur food drive The Senior Sociology classes sponsored a food drive for Back Mountain needy families the third week in November. This was by far the most successful food drive that this area has ever experi- enced. The high school collected 15,626 cans of food within five days to help the food bank restock its shelves. The idea was ignited in October during a sociology class when speaking on the subject of values and morals. The students de- cided it was time to take action and make our community better. With these comments a commit- tee was formed with representa- tives from each class. The com- mittee met before school almost everyday for a month planning every detail of the drive. During these meetings certain goals were set. A school wide goal of 4,000 cans was set. This expec- tation at first was speculated as being too high. However, the Dallas High School surpassed this number only two days into the project. By the end of the week the student body had more than tripled its initial goal. The senior homeroom which donated the most cans won a breakfast cooked by the princi- pal, Mr. Galicki and assistant principal, Mr. Bieri. The winning junior, sophomore, and freshmen homerooms earned a pizza party sponsored by Pizza Hut. The enthusiasm of the food drive spilled over into Westmore- land Elementary School. Senior Kelley Collettand her mother, Mrs. Peg Collett, were instrumental in organizing that school’s efforts. Members of the steering com- mittee included seniors Andrew Bishop, Kara Edwards, Lynn Hill, Jessica Kerr, Jeff Krehely, Melissa McLaughlin, Becki Roan, Abby Russin, Michelle Siglin and EricWerner and faculty members Nancy Garvey, John McCarthy, Jay Pope and Maureen Whalen. The fantastic outcome of this project shows the character of the Dallas High School. The student body is certainly very caring and generous. This food drive showed the students that they really can make a difference in the world. With hard work, good planning, dedication and determination. The Dallas Middle School Student Council recently par- ticipated in one of its numer- ous school and community service activities - selling daffodils for the benefit of the American Cancer Society. Miss Norine Amesbury, student council advisor, announced that $410.00 was raised from this annual event. Shown preparing the daffo- dils are: Dana Marquis, Brenda Karavitch, Melisa Karis, Ann Bishop, council corresponding secretary; Jennifer Moran, council president; Jennifer Vodzak, Megan Gusher and Julie Pryor. © Q The Dallas Reporter ~~ Wednesday, May 11, 1994 3 Long-Range Plan sets goals The Pennsylvania State Board of Education charged the Secre- tary of Education with the re- sponsibility forassuring that every Commonwealth school district shall complete a Long-Range Plan (LRP) on a five-year cycle, 1992- 1997. . It was the intention of the Stat Board of Education and the Sec- retary of Education that the Long- Range Plan process be a locally meaningful group activity. Rep- resentatives from the district administration, school board, faculty, other staff, parents, stu- dents and the community at large were involved in the process. It was the Dallas School District's responsibility to assure that a representative advisory group (the Long-Range Plan Steering Com- mittee) be formed at the begin- ning of the planning activity and that the group be sustained and involved throughout the five-year cycle. Step one of the Long-Range Planning process is the prepara- tion of the administrative plan. The administrative plan is a con- tract between the Dallas School District and the Department of Education which describes the long-range planning process the district undertook. The Long-Range Plan Steering Committee consisted of Dr. Gilbert R. Griffiths, Assistant Superin- tendent, Ms. Ruth Tetschner and Mrs. Mary Alice Frederick from Dallas Elementary; Mr. Samuel Barbose and Ms. Claire Morris from Westmoreland Elementary; Mr. Anthony Martinelli and Mrs. Catherine Wega from Dallas Middle School; Mr. Frank Galicki and Mrs. Patricia Russin from Dallas Senior High School; Mrs. Carole Williams and Mr. Yorath Evans, parents; Mrs. Ellen Nagy, Board Member; and Ms. Becky Yurko and Mr. Keith McDonald, students. An administrative plan that was submitted to the Department of Education on November 30, 1991 contained six items that composed that plan. They were: (1) A list of persons and their positions who will serve on the Long-Range Plan Steering Committee; (2) How Chapters 5, 6 and 14 and Title 35 will be addressed in the plan; (3) A list of activities to be completed as part of the preparation of the Dallas School District Long-Range Plan; (4) A time schedule for completing its activities involved in preparing the Dallas School District Long-Range Plan; (5) A list of persons responsible for completing the specific activities involved in preparing the Dallas School District Long-Range Plan; and (6) an Administrative Plan Agreement signed by the superin- tendent. Five elements are common to most planning models, and they represent the framework for the Dallas School District Long-Range Plan. They are: (1) Mission State- ment; (2) General Goals; (3) Needs; (4) Priority Goals amd (5) Action Plans. Each of these elements has been presented during the adaption phase of the Long Range Dallas classes networked in computer pilot project ’ The Dallas School District, in cooperation with Josten’s Learning, Inc. is in the midst of a pilot program involving its computer labs at the senior high school. In the fall of 1993, the Atrium lab as well as the Math lab in room 29 were upgraded to include 39 state of the art computers. The two labs were networked together and Josten's WICAT software was installed for a six month trial period. Since that time, due to the many cancellations of school because of the severe winter, Jostens has agreed to extend the pilot program until January of 1995. WICAT systems contains the following programs, which have the capabilities of being individually structured for each stu- dents: Algebra 1 & 2, Geometry, Writing, Reading, Science (various levels), Literature and Grammar. The system also features a highly sophisticated management system called AIMS, which tracks each student's progress and has the capa- bility of generating various teacher designed reports. The management system also allows for individual structuring of teacher designed tests capable of measuring individual student masteries. Inservice training for teachers has been ongoing during the school year, and will continue into the summer months with the addition of a summer symposium tentatively scheduled for Au- gust. Training is being provided by Josten's Education Consult- ants and by Mr. Jack Wega, District Computer Coordinator. Further information can be obtained by contacting Mr. Wega during the school day at 675-5201. Plan and discussed in depth. The Mission Statement repre- sents the end product of the Dal- las School District Long-Range Plan Steering Committee's analy- sis of values, beliefs and general philosophical principles of the School District. The Committee has described the unique charac- ter of the District and the purpose to which it will commit itself for the next five years. The Mission Statement is a reflection of the Dallas School District and its growth during the five-year period. The Dallas School District's Mission Statements is: “The Mission of the Dallas School District is to prepare our students for responsible citizen- ship in an expanding and rapidly changing world community and to lay the groundwork that will foster cultural thinking, integrity and personal fulfillment.” A fundamental step in the plan- ning process is the development of a set of goals that will guide the general operation of the fulfill- ment of the Mission Statement. So, as a logical extension of the Dallas School District's Mission Statement, the General Goals serve to further define the pur- pose of the School District. For major goals were derived from the Steering Committee: (1) To provide a variety of expe- riences and choices for students that will encourage critical think- ing, foster adaptability, self-moti- vation and self-discipline. (2) To make students aware of the impact their actions and deci- sions can have on themselves, family, peérs and society. (3) To help every student de- velop self-understand self-esteem and a healthy life-style. (4) To develop a curriculum which describes the academic skills and range of competence of each grade level and subject area. The Dallas School District then proceeded with a Needs Assess- ment. A thousand surveys were sent to parents, students, faculty, members of the community who do not have children in the Dis- trict, business persons in the community and institutions of higher learning. From the 859 returns came a report that identi- fied strengths and weaknesses. The end result of the Needs Analy- sis process was to accumulate descriptive data from which spe- cific action plans were developed for implementation. The ultimate purpose of the Mission Statement, General Goals and Needs Assessment process was to create the philosophical basis to identify priority goals. The priority goal selection proc- ess requires that building action planning committees select prior- ity Goals for action from the evalu- ation of the data collected in the Needs Analysis. The Dallas School Board, with advice from the Long-Range Plan Steering Committee and Action Planning Committee, is respon- sible for deciding which priority- goal areas will be implemented during the years two through five. for district schools The decision about which pri- ority-goal areas were selected for the final phase and implementa- tion must be carefully considered due to available resources. At the action-planning stage, the focus changed to the building level for planning. Action plan- ning was intended to be a group activity carried out by an ap- pointed building action planning team. Each of the Dallas building action planning teams consisted of the principal, teachers and with parent and students serving on the team. The resulting action planning activity begins with a careful consideration of conditions within the schools that have an impact on the students and the educational process. With the problem areas more clearly de- fined, the building action plan- ning team prepared action plans specific to that building. The implementation of the Dallas School District Long-Range Plan isdetailed in the Action Plans. Given the ideal situation, the implementation process involves the completion of the Activities identified in each of the Action Plans. Since the implementation is basically a process for monitoring progress of planned activities, the Dallas School Board has indicated a review of the Plan at its March School Board Meeting. The School Board will monitor the implemen- tation of the activities with the Steering Committee and make recommendations for modification of Actions Plans as needed. District scores 100 on state audit The annual reports submitted by Dallas School District to the Pennsylvania Department of Education for the school years of 1990-1991 and 1991-1992 pro- vided the district approximately $5,000,000 in state subsidies and reimbursements for each of those years. It's no wonder then that the state performs an audit of the district every two years. The purpose of the audit was to review the economy and efficiency of the district's operations and to report on the district's compli- ance with applicable laws and regulations. | The Dallas School District re- cently received the preliminary results of that audit. There were no criticisms or adverse findings. In other words, Dallas received the state funds due them based on the criteria established by the state. We accounted for and dis- bursed these and other funds in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations governing High School offers four Advanced Placement courses Dallas Senior High School of- fers four Advanced Placement courses. They are AP English, AP History, AP Calculus and AP Biol- ogy. Each year beginning on ap- proximately May 6th through May 20th students who take these Advanced Placement courses can elect to take Advanced Placement exams, which may, depending on their scores, qualify them for col- lege credits. In April, information was sent home to the parents encouraging students to sign up for the exams and also information about the $64.00 fee for the exam being refunded by the district if the student scores a three or better on the exam. Exam scores range from one to five. Last school year, 1992-93, eight out of the 15 students qualified for refunds. The student must present the score and a cancelled check to obtain the refund. school districts. The auditors’ review of teacher certification, minutes of the meet- ings of the Board of Directors, and pupil membership also revealed the district to be in compliance. The staff takes pride in the efficient operations of the district as well as producing accurate data and evidence of compliance as reported by the Office of the Audi- tor General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. National Teacher Day MAY 3, 1994
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