Wayne Highlands School Scene 2014

SCHOOLA S p e c i a l S u p p l e m e n t t o t h e S u l l i v a n C o u n t y D e m o c r a t

S E C T I O N H • S E P T E M B E R , 2 0 1 4 • C A L L I C O O N , N Y

A look at activities in the Wayne Highlands

School DistrictHonesdale, PA.SCENE

2H HONESDALE ED TAB SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT SEPTEMBER, 2014

School year begins with badges of honor, fiscal bumpsThe Democrat asked Wayne

Highlands Superintendent ofSchools Gregory Frigoletto to

discuss the recent successes of hisDistrict and the challenges faced thisnew school year.

Q: Last year, the PennsylvaniaDepartment of Education recog-nized Wayne Highlands for excel-lence. How does such success hap-pen?

In four of the last five years, we havesurpassed all of the state averages inall categories of the tested areas, put-ting us in an elite group in our area.Our District and individual schools’School Performance Profile scoreswere among the highest inNortheastern Pennsylvania.

Two of our schools, Damascus andPreston, were recognized asDistinguished Title 1 Schools, basedon exemplary school effectiveness inthe areas of achievement, use ofresearch based strategies, opportuni-

ties provided for all students toachieve, implementation of sus-tained research-based professionaldevelopment, and coordination ofTitle 1 with other programs.

(Note: Title 1 schools have largenumber of students from low-income families. More than 90 per-cent of school systems in the U.S.receive some sort of Title 1 funding,which is used to supplement andimprove programs).

In addition, our Wayne HighlandsMiddle School and Preston AreaSchool were presented with theGovernor’s Award for Excellence bythe Pennsylvania Department ofEducation for their outstandingSchool Performance Profile Scores,which in both cases were above 90.Acting Secretary of EducationCarolyn Dumaresque presented theawards in a public ceremony right at

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Superintendent of Schools Gregory Frigoletto emphasizes that hard work, orderly class-rooms and a caring environment encourage student success continued on page 3H

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School SceneA Look at Activities in the

Wayne Highlands School District

SEPTEMBER, 2014 SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT HONESDALE ED TAB 3H

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Honesdale High School.Through those and other examples

of success, one common denomina-tor exists: hard work. From top to bot-tom, all levels of employees/staffmembers of our District, as well asstudents, wear our accomplishmentslike badges of honor.

We have very high expectations. Wetend to look at the growth model(growing our students) as a moreappropriate measure of success. Inother words, did every individual stu-dent do better than last year?

We continue to be progressive, wecontinue to focus on professionaldevelopment, we try to implementrazor sharp curriculum with fidelity,and we have a Board that alwaysmakes decisions based on what isbest for our kids.

Q: Your District is known for itsstructured learning environments.Can you explain how that looks andplays out in the classrooms?

We’ve always followed the “orderfirst” philosophy. We feel strongly thatstudents thrive in a structured envi-ronment. Students are expected toknow the rules and follow the rules.

They also know what to expect fromus. Consistency is critical. At the sametime, that does not mean that whenyou walk into our classrooms you findstifled environments. In fact, you findcaring, nurturing, cooperative envi-ronments where exciting and innova-tive teaching strategies exist.

Q: What are the challenges you facethis year?

The Public School Employees’Retirement System (PSERS) contin-ues to be a major challenge for allPennsylvania school districts.Increases in PSERS have created hugefiscal burdens.

For us, the net District cost of ourcontribution into PSERS in the 2014-2015 budget is estimated at approxi-mately $2 million.

Special Education costs also contin-ue to rise, while Special Educationfunding has remained flat for years.

To balance our current Districtbudget, 63.8 percent of the revenue isfrom local sources (taxes), 33.1 per-cent is from the State, 2.4 percent isfrom Federal, and .7 percent is fromuse of our fund balance.

Still, Wayne Highlands continues torank with those charging the lowest intaxes. We are 470th out of 500 school

districts in terms of the amount oftaxes. And comparing us to the 22schools districts in Wayne, Pike,Susquehanna, Lackawanna, andWyoming Counties, we are No. 21,with 20 districts asking more in taxesthan we do.

Mandates continue to be a majorchallenge. A short list includes: NoChild Left Behind, Transition to theCore, PSSA’s, Keystone Exams, PVAAS,PIMS, TIMS, Teacher EffectivenessTool, School Performance Profile,SLO’s.

Q: How did you gear up teachersand other staff for this new schoolyear?

In education over the last severalyears, we have operated with a “senseof urgency.” This urgency has been a

reaction to the constant change we allface in education.

This year, we tried to redefine what“urgency” really means. We referredto professor and author Jon Kotter’sthoughts, “Urgent behavior is notdriven by a belief that all is well, orthat everything is a mess, but instead,that the world contains great oppor-tunities. Even more so, urgent actionis not created by feelings of content-ment, anxiety, frustration or anger,but by a gut-level determination tomove and win, now.”

We reminded faculty and staff thatour district, although far from perfect,does many things well. Together weneed to be strategic in evaluatingwhat we already do and how we canutilize those positive things whileaddressing new initiatives.

We also challenged teachers toreflect on who their favorite teacherswere, those that made an impact onthem and inspired them to do whatthey do today. Those individuals did-n’t allow them to get away with things.They asked a lot and they gave a lot —they connected on a human level.Ultimately, we left their classroomevery day knowing that they cared.

continued from page 2H

All photographs and stories for thisspecial School Scene are by

Sul livan County Demo crat Photo grapher/Reporter Kathy Daley.

The Democrat would also like to thank Wayne Highlands

School District for all its cooperation in this project.


New tech director explains the district’s electronic landscapeIt was a modern-day wagon train

that made its way 300 miles acrossthe wilds of Pennsylvania, headed

for Honesdale on July 1.Three U-Haul trucks and three cars

escorted the pioneering Miller family.Friends pitched in to help drive, andthe three Miller kids, Dominic,Brenna and Quinn, rode at the frontof the convoy with their iPads.

“My wife (Rachael) and I wantedthem to be able to watch movies ifthey got bored,” explained ScottMiller, the new Director ofTechnology and Information Servicesfor Wayne Highlands.

Miller has taken over the post fromTammy Ebert, who retired as the dis-trict’s Technology Supervisor.

His role includes supervising theinstallation and maintenance ofhardware, managing the systems,investigating new products and serv-ices and advising the district on the

impact and integration of new pur-chases.

Working with teachers to integratetechnology into their work in theclassroom is a key task of his office,with teacher Laurie Sheldon servingas technology integrator.

“For example, if you’re a teachergiving a unit on ChristopherColumbus, technology allows you toinstantly bring up his ship and view amap of his exploration,” Miller noted.“It’s more 3-D than reading out oftextbooks.”

His office – which includes techni-cians and a network administrator –also supervises the district’s technol-ogy teachers.

Miller himself, who is 33, grew up ata time when there was no such thingas computers in elementary school.

“My parents got me a computer, aCommodore 64, in the 1980s when Iwas in sixth grade,” he recalled. “Ilearned to program at a young age. Itwasn’t until college that someonesaid ‘look at this – it’s called theInternet.’ ”

At the time, Miller was majoring inEnglish and dramatic arts at St.Aloysius College in Cresson, Pa. nearPittsburgh, and he hoped to teach.

But before long, he began fixingcomputer glitches in the college’sadmissions office. Then the school’sdirector of technology suggested hecome up and work in theInformation Technology depart-ment.

“Halfway through my freshmanyear, I realized I really liked the ideaof a degree in technology,” Millersaid.

He received his college diplomaand immediately, at age 21, acceptedhis first job directing a school dis-trict’s brand new technology pro-gram.

“At the time of the millennium,schools started diving into technolo-gy,” he recounted. “Now, in the lastsix years, we’ve seen the use of tech-nology integrated fully into educa-tion.”

For the last six weeks, he’s super-vised putting in new servers district-wide at Wayne Highlands and hasadded improvements to the networkand to the wireless network to sup-port a new initiative that is pilotingiPads for each high school sopho-more.

He’ll be making sure the district’s2,200 computers are up to date withthe latest software so students gradu-ate with skills they can use in college.

He will be ensuring that even ingrades as low as sixth that studentsare able to learn programs like Word,Excel and Publisher.

Another new initiative will ensurethat even the youngest kids gaingood typing skills.

“You tend to see third and fourthgraders with bad typing habits,”such as positioning their handsimproperly over the keys and “hunt-ing and pecking” with only a coupleof fingers.

In the meantime, Miller and hisfamily are enjoying their new life inHonesdale. They are fishing, bikingand exploring a nearby pond, gettingto know local restaurants and turn-ing up for events like the Firemen’sParade.

Wayne Highlands Technology Director ScottD. Miller points out that the face of educa-tion has changed in the past six years astechnology integrates into most arenas. Hislast position was at Richland School Districtnear Johnstown, Pa., where he served for adecade.

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The other day, 5- year-olds inCarrie Meagher’s kindergartenclass pronounced a big new

word – “magnificent,” as in “That wasa magnificent dinner, Mom.”

They also learned that monarchbutterflies sail thousands of miles toMexico for the winter after eating lotsof a local plant.

“What is that plant, boys and girls?”asked Meagher in a questioningvoice.

“MILKWEED!” the class shoutedlustily.

Science, spelling, math. It’s just thebeginning of the school year, butkindergarteners everywhere are up totheir tee shirts in serious studies.

“Kindergarten is much more aca-demically rigorous,” notes veteranStourbridge Primary School PrincipalPaula Brennan.

“There’s a great difference (fromyears past) in curriculum and aca-

demics,” she said. “The level of rigorhas increased. And the style of teach-ing has shifted. Rather than theteacher being the center, now it’sabout teaching youngsters them-selves to be resourceful.”

For generations, kindergarten hastaught children the alphabet and howcertain letters and sounds makewords. They learn to count. Theylearn behavioral and social skills likelining up to go to recess, zipping uptheir coats, and raising their hands touse the restroom.

They learn to be friends with others,cooperate, develop manners and fol-low rules.

But Stourbridge kids are now alsoforging ahead intellectually.

They are learning the varied stylesof writing: the informational style, asin facts about a gorilla; the narrative,which is fiction; and functional writ-ing, which are the “how to” pieces as

in how to build a snowman.They come to know what the author

of a book does, and that the book’sillustrator draws the pictures.

Children learn their lessons inwhole group instruction --- usually all

together on the carpet at the front ofthe classroom – or in smaller, “guid-ed” groups at a special table where,for example, Meagher might workclosely with kids who need helpcounting by 10.

Driving the rigor are the PCS’s, orthe Pennsylvania Core Standards,that spell out what children mustknow and be able to do on each gradelevel.

Kindergarten is recognized as animportant first milestone in the suc-cess of a child’s education career, saidMeagher, who is one of Stourbridge’sseven kindergarten teachers. She’staught first grade and then kinder-garten for 14 years.

“If we can get the kids to buy intolearning, if we can create a culture forlearning, a nurturing environment,”says Meagher, “that will stay withthem their whole lives. We are thetesting zone. If kindergartners can doit, anybody can.”

Still, kindergarten continues to befun for its pint-sized pupils. Learningtakes place with games, songs, andmanipulatives like snap-togethersand pattern blocks – and by means of

It’s academic – kindergartenmoves beyond just play

Kindergarten teacher Carrie Meagher readsabout monarch butterflies to her class, a les-son that incorporates literacy, science andmath.

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continued on page 6H


the unique sensitivity of a goodteacher.

“Look,” said Meagher as she readsto her class from a picture book. “Themonarch butterfly starts out as acaterpillar that looks just like the let-ter J! Just like your name, Jacob! Standup and tell the class that your namestarts with a J.”

Jacob rises to his feet and shyly fol-lows directions. He seems pleased tobe singled out.

“Our teachers are attuned to where

each child is academically and social-ly,” said Brennan, “and our approachis holistic. We grow the brain, and theperson, too.”

“We make sure that kindergarten isstill fun,” the principal added. “Wehaven’t given up on singing, or art, orrecess. It’s still magical to be inkindergarten.”

And just as magical to teach. “Everyday those light bulbs go on inside thechildren, all day long,” she said.Teaching is the best job I could everdream of.”

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Assistant Superintendent Timo-thy Morgan likes to illustrate thejob of a school district by com-

paring a student’s years of learning to aspace shuttle launching pad.

With kindergarten at the bottom ofthe launching pad, and senior year inhigh school at the top, the district mustensure that students are skilled inmath, literacy, problem solving andtechnology before they launch into thestratosphere of college or work.

“We want our kids to be prepared asthey reach the top of the launchingpad,” Morgan said.

A pilot project that has placed indi-vidual iPads into the hands of theentire sophomore class at HonesdaleHigh School is one way to equip thekids with what they need for blast off,notes Morgan.

Across the U.S., school districts arepurchasing electronic tablets toencourage interactive learning envi-ronments. The benefits are many,including an increase in student moti-vation, collaboration between stu-dents and teachers, and collaborationamong students themselves.

At Honesdale High, the project,called the One-to-One initiative, hasallowed for the download onto the iPadof the Civics and Government text-book. Also on the iPads are applica-tions for English, Math, Social Studies,Art, Music and Science.

“The SAT math preparation class isthere,” Morgan added. “There’s a virtu-al tour of the Library of Congress.”

Honesdale’s 230 sophomores canread their lesson, do research and turn

their homework in, all by means of the5 by 8-inch tablet.

Technology Director Scott Millernotes that a teacher using a tablet forinstructing can poll the class instantlyto see if an individual is having troublewith a concept.

“It significantly individualizes the dif-ferent learning modalities,” addedMorgan. “Is a student an auditorylearner? The iPad will read to them. Arethey tactile? As compared to a text-book, which could not be written in,the iPad allows you to underline andhighlight.”

Teaching “good digital citizenship” –that is, the norms of behavior thatencompass ethics, etiquette, onlinesafety and more – are also part of theOne-to-One initiative. Students are notto text on the devices, and a filter stopsstudents from misusing the iPads inother ways.

Students are able to take the tabletshome with them, which allows a childwho is absent due to illness to keep upwith what’s going on in the classroom.

The iPads are also an advantage for astudent who failed to understand a les-

son in the classroom and who wants tocontinue wrestling with the problem athome. The iPad initiative is also helpfulto students who not have access totechnology at home.

All in all, “it’s motivating to kids,”Morgan said.

For sure, the district is not looking todo away with hard copy completely infavor of complete digitalization, theassistant superintendent noted.

But studies do show that theincreased use of tablets offers a signifi-cant savings in textbook costs and theexpense of copying worksheets.

So far, parents are supportive.“We had two ‘rollout’ nights before

school opened, asking students andparents to come,” said TechnologyDirector Miller. “Some of them said,‘We could never afford this (on ourown).’ ”

Within the next several years, the dis-trict hopes to move the project intoother grades as well.

“The whole demeanor in a classchanges with the devices,” said Miller.“When they start using them, the kidslight up.”

Electronic tablets transform classrooms into learning labs

Assistant Superintendent Timothy Morgansays the piloting of a program that suppliesiPads for every sophomore student is reapingrewards.


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Wayne Highlands School Scene 2014