Vol. 122 No. 10
THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889
May 6 - 12, 2012
® The
50¢
WILKES-BARRE, PA.
www.mydallaspost.com
AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER
How will Lehman schools survive?
“If | fail, | fail, but I'm not going to back off this
and leave $1 million on the table just because
someone said | can't, or it's too hard.”
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
Though it wouldn’t solve all
budgetary concerns, making
changes to the district employee
health care plan would save about
$1 million annually Lake-Lehman
School District Superintendent
James McGovern told an audito-
rium packed with residents at a
town hall meeting Wednesday
evening.
McGovern called the meeting
to promote transparency, as he
felt there were concerns and con-
fusion about what the board was
proposing in order to balance the
James McGovern
Lake-Lehman Superintendent
budget.
The district is proposing to re-
move itself from the Northeast
Pennsylvania Health Trust, a con-
sortium of 11 districts formed to
keep insurance costs low, in favor
of a self-funded plan that could
save about $1 million a year.
The district was recently de-
nied removal from the trust, as it
requires at least one year notice
before a district can leave the
group. McGovern proposed a mo-
tion for the trust to change its by-
laws so the district could leave
more quickly.
Despite the denial, the district
plans to continue to fight for the
health care changes McGovern
told residents, employees and
parents.
“If 1 fail, I fail, but I'm not going
to back off this and leave $1 mil-
lion on the table just because
someone said I can’t, or it’s too
hard,” he said.
The district is facing a $1.8 mil-
lion deficit for the 2012-13 school
See SURVIVE, Page 12
AT RIGHT: Lake Lehman School District Superintendent Jim
McGovern moderates a town hall meeting with parents and teach-
ers at the high school auditorium on Wednesday to discuss fund-
ing the school budget for next year and beyond.
FUNDING
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PETE G. WILCOX/ THE TIMES LEADER
Sign will track
progress of sign
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
The Dallas Foundation re-
cently installed a sign in front of
Dallas Elementary School off
Hildebrandt Road to track the
progress of its first major pro-
ject — the installation of another
sign.
The group hopes to raise
enough funds to install a state-
of-the-art electronic sign on
State Route 309 to replace the
current sign that dates back to
he 1960s.
0 sign in front of Dallas
¥.lementary will be used to cre-
ate public awareness of the pro-
ject and to track its progress. It
was created with the help of
Dallas High School students
and technology education
teacher Marty O’Hora.
“My children created the
Mountaineer design,” said
Chad Lojewski, a foundation
board member.
Lojewski gave the design to
O’Hora, and the students
worked on the project between
class assignments on a volun-
teer basis.
“We can only do so much as a
foundation, and to have this
kind of engagement so quickly
was great,” said Lojewski.
Lojewski said Gerard Geise,
owner of Dallas Center Hard-
ware, donated paint for the pro-
ject and school officials, such as
middle school principal Tho-
mas Duffy, even helped in the
sign’s creation.
“We had complete support
from administration,” he said.
“There were a lot of people in-
volved.”
MORE INFORMATION
For more information about the
Dallas Foundation, to make a
donation or to suggest a project,
visit www.ourdallasfoundation.org.
Additional photo, page 13
Geise said the sign ties the
Dallas Foundation and the dis-
trict in with the community.
“The idea of the Dallas Moun-
taineer has been around since
the 1960s, and now here he is
brought to life,” said Geise.
Lojewski said the goal of the
foundation is to support stu-
dents within the district,
whether it be by providing sup-
plies or creating scholarships,
and he hopes the community
will see it as a worthy cause.
“People get cautious during
this kind of economy, and hope-
fully we can bridge the gap and
help with budgetary concerns,”
said Lojewski.
David Simpson, vice presi-
dent of the foundation, said the
tracking sign will spur more
fundraising projects and he
hopes the community will be-
come more vocal about what
projects are needed within the
district.
“They can come and ask us
and bring forth ideas for pro-
jects,” he said. “Our goal is to
have the electronic sign up by
this summer.”
One of the several upcoming
events in support of the founda-
tion is a golf tournament to be
held on June 22 at the Mill Race
Golf Course in Benton.
3 3
+ YH
pr
BILL TARUTIS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
The Dallas Foundation placed this sign in front of Dallas Elemen-
tary School to display its progress in raising funds for a new Dal-
las High School digital sign to be placed along state route 309.
student body during a Trashion Show at the school.
Is huge
By SARAH HITE
shite@mydallaspost.com
Tammy Keller of Fair-
mount Springs was the epi-
tome of a bag lady at the
first-ever Trashion Show at
Ross Elementary School on
April 27, but then again, she
wasn’t alone.
Her ensemble was created
using various bags — crochet-
ed plastic grocery bags made
a mini skirt and a fancifully
cut “feeder” bag was fash-
ioned into a chic top. Keller’s
tote bag was one of the only
things not made of bags — it
was created by sewing empty
juice pouches together.
“I had seen a similar bag at
the store and it’s very expen-
sive,” said Keller, whose
niece and nephew, Sarah and
Nathan Stanski, attend Ross
Elementary. “I work at a pre-
school and my friends drink
these so I just had them save
them for me.”
The Trashion Show was
held in conjunction with
Ross Elementary’s daylong
Earth Day celebration, a
school-wide tradition for
nearly 10 years.
Several other teachers and
family members made cos-
tumes out of grocery bags,
but found fashionable uses
for other recyclable materi-
als, too.
Trashion show
SUCCESS
“This is fantastic. The
kids are just so excit-
ed.”
Megan Nice
Teacher assistant
Ellen Boyer, of Ross Town-
ship, and her granddaughter
Megan Hogan developed the
idea for the woven magazine
strip dress Boyer donned for
the event.
The dress was accentuated
with a foil bracelet, a neck-
lace made out of a CD and
drapery hooks, and a plastic
container-turned-purse.
“When I was in college, I
read a book called, ‘Future
Shock,” said Boyer. “It talk-
ed about a throwaway socie-
ty, and eventually people be-
came things, and they were
disposable, too. I want kids
to learn there are other uses
for things.”
Kids participated in other
environmentally-conscious
activities throughout the
day, including a scavenger
hunt, face painting and a mo-
vie about Planet Earth.
Second-grade teacher
Shannon Kreidler, of Pikes
Creek, said a committee of
teachers found the idea on
the Internet as a way to up-
date the celebration.
Kreidler, who adorned her-
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Melissa Jarnot, a teacher at Ross Elementary School, dresses in newspaper and buttons as she walks the runway to the adoring
Karen Raspen, a parent at
Ross Elementary School,
wrapped herself in plastic and
paper to walk the runway dur-
ing a Trashion Show at the
school.
self in multi-colored bubble
wrap for the occasion, said
the event creates a visual re-
minder for kids to learn
about reducing waste.
Teachers, parents and fam-
ily members created -cos-
tumes to model at the fash-
ion show, which featured a
green-themed runway, strobe
lights, a DJ and Ross Ele-
mentary student Jacob Prest
as master of ceremonies.
It was one of those times
that young children were en-
couraged to scream their
lungs out — teachers and par-
ents paraded down the cat-
walk as youngsters hooted
and hollered while extending
their tiny hands for a high-
five from the strutting mod-
els.
“This is fantastic,” teacher
assistant Megan Nice, of
Sweet Valley, said after she
sashayed down the runway
wearing an outfit made of
duct tape and coffee filters.
“The kids are just so excit-
Ellen Boyer, grandmother and
former Dallas Middle School
teacher, created her own trash
outfit for the first Ross Ele-
mentary School Trashion
Show.
ed.”
Nikki Kowalski, of Sweet
Valley, dreamed up her
Trashion Show debut the
night before the event. She
outfitted herself in a black
garbage bag, but cinched her
waist with a broken rainbow-
colored Slinky.
Kowalski even made a fas-
cinator the royals of England
would envy — the show-stop-
ping factor was a cardboard
paper towel roll protruding
above her head.
“It gets kids thinking
about recycling,” said Kowal-
ski, whose two grandchil-
dren, Faith and Patrick De-
Piero, attend Ross Elemen-
tary.
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