Vol. 121 No. 12 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 May 8 - 14, 2011 The DALLAS POST. 0 _ WILKES-BARRE, PA. www.mydallaspost.com AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER Pilot program allows DHS students to go high-tech Students now allowed to take laptops and personal computing devices to school. By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com The Dallas High School has gone mobile — in terms of com- puting, that is. The school began its one-to- one pilot program on Tuesday, al- lowing students to take laptops and other portable computing devices to school. The program is a test run for next year when students will be allowed to take their own computers to the high school. Laptops will be provided for those students who cannot take their own in to school or for those who do not have one of their own. Currently the district is equipped with one laptop for ev- ery two students, but next year the program is going one-to-one and the pilot program will be a way for teachers, students and administrators to better under- stand its effects on the way mate- rials are taught and how students learn. Bill Gartrell, the district’s tech- VRE INT WV For more information about the Dallas High School's one-to-one pilot program, visit www.dallassd.com. nology director, said the pro- gram has been a long time com- ing — about three years, to be ex- act. He said the district needed to be able to fund the project before it could get off its feet, including getting a faster Internet connec- tion, going wireless and prepar- ing for cloud computing. “With the budget cuts, this was planned out of the technology budget,” he said. Cloud computing refers to uti- lizing e-mail, data space, applica- tions and other functions hosted by another company via the In- ternet. Cloud computing: frees computer space on personal de- vices and saves money spent on software that could perform the same functions. Gartrell estimates about 75 percent of high school students plan to bring a computer from home, which will keep his staff very busy — he and a team of in- terns and part-time staff will need to register and equip each computer with anti-virus soft- ware, as well as answer calls to solve tricky computer issues. “This year, we've had 1,300 calls to our help desk,” he said. “Last year, we only had 450.” Google will host the Dallas program and students can e-mail teachers, retrieve homework and save assignments on the system accessed through a special web- site. “We’re not spending money on software,” said Gartrell. “Google apps is free to schools.” Cloud computing will also give more responsibility to stu- dents in terms of saving work for personal use — while Gartrell said the server at Dallas is backed up every night, students will still need to use USB drives or other ways to save their work in the event a server goes down, or the information is somehow lost. “Google apps is designed for short term use,” he said. “Stu- dents’ accounts will be removed after they graduate.” The school also has secure, fil- tered Internet, making it impos- See PILOT, Page 12 HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Gretchen McClain and her 3-month-old daughter Paige, who was born on New Year's Eve, spend time together during the first weekend of Back Mountain Baseball acting watching Paige's step-brother Evan McClain play for the Back Mountain Yankees. The modern Mother's Day, which is being celebrated today, is held on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March, April, or May as a day to honor mothers and motherhood. Supers stall on gas law By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com Zoning issues related to natu- ral gas drilling are a concern for Dallas Township residents, and supervisors have acknowledged them — the board’s vote against a publicly criticized proposed zon- ing amendment Tuesday was met with applause from resi- dents. The board did approve a reso- lution declaring the current zon- ing ordinance “invalid,” giving the township 30 days to assess the inadequacies in relation to dealing with “natural gas explo- ration, processing, production, transmission, odorizing, meter- ing, filtering, maintenance, com- munication and other related ac- tivities” proposed in the town- ship. The township would also have 180 days in which to provide a cu- rative amendment to the defi- ciencies, which is permitted un- der section 609.2 of the state mu- nicipal planning code. “These things aren’t used very often,” said Solicitor Thomas See GAS, Page 12 First-ever Miss Teen By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com Samantha LaNunziata, 13, of Trucksville, and Mason Palis- sery, 15, of Dallas, held hands while they danced and lip synced to songs on the radio. The girls wore formal dresses — LaNunziata’s was black satin with sparkly décor while Palis- sery’s was a nude, calflength number with a lace covering — but both were barefoot. & Behind them, seven other girls Papplied blush to their cheeks, glanced nervously in mirrors and fidgeted with the tulle and taffeta on their own dresses. The girls were prepping to step onstage in style for the first-ever = OO 09815%20079 Miss Luzerne County Outstand- ing Teen 2011 competition, held last month in the Dallas Middle School auditorium. Four girls from the Back Moun- tain and five others from Luzerne County competed in the event, which awarded prizes to the over- all winner and the first, second, third and fourth runners up. The contest also awarded scholar- ships to an interview winner and a talent winner. The overall winner, Miss Lu- zerne County Outstanding Teen Rebecca Zaneski of Edwards- ville, won, in addition to a $250 scholarship, a crown, a crown box, flowers, a banner, the eve- ning gown she wore, entrance fees for the next competition lev- el and beauty and hair care prod- ucts. For many of the girls, the pag- eant was their first foray into on- stage primp and pomp. LaNun- ziata said she was once the “queen of something,” but couldn’t quite remember the de- __ tails. The seventh-grade softball . earlier this year. Pageant is winner - 7% 2% & "Wi Miss Luzerne County Outstanding Teen - Rebecca Zaneski of Ed- wardsville Won a $250 scholarship, official crown and crown box, flowers, banner, evening gown, entry fees to state competition, Mary Kay beauty prod- ucts and hair care First runner up - Alexis Selli of Nanticoke Won a $50 scholarship Second runner up - Sukesha Ray of Mechanicsburg Won a $50 scholarship Third runner up - Mikayla Orrson of Lehman Township Won a $50 savings bond Fourth runner up - Rebecca Colwell of Wyoming Won a $50 savings bond Talent winner - Sukesha Ray for singing “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” of Phantom of the Opera Won a $100 scholarship Interview winner - Rebecca Zaneski for her platform “B.E.C.K.Y. (Basic Exercising Can Keep You) Healthy” Won a $100 scholarship player wasn’t used to dresses and makeup, but thought the pageant was a fun way to get out of her shell. She was urged to sign up by current Miss Pennsylvania Out- standing Teen Jocelyn Gruber, who spoke to Dallas Middle School students about bullying community service organization “Jocelyn came and talked to me and my mom,” said LaNunziata. “I don’t normally like to dress up but I wanted to have fun and meet new people. I thought it was go- ing to be scary but it’s not.” LaNunziata had about a month to shop for dresses, practice her talent and develop a platform - a CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Mason Palissery and Samantha LaNunziata offer comfort to each other during the tense moments before the contest begins. or campaign, eventually choos- ing to work at stopping animal abuse. “You always see it on TV, ani- mals being neglected,” she said. “And my dog was abused before we rescued him. His name is Co- » nan. Six judges — including Dallas Middle School Principal Tom Duffy — kept score to eventually name a winner at the event. Judg- es were briefed at a conference earlier in the day, and also held private interviews with each of the girls prior to the event. “These qualified contestants shattered any stereotypes of pag- See TEEN, Page 12 eee.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers