Wayne Highlands School Scene 2015

A 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 2 , 2 0 1 5 • C A L L I C O O N , N Y

A look at activities in the Wayne Highlands School District

Honesdale, PA

SCHOOL SCENE

Honesdale School ScenePublished by

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September 22, 2015 • Vol. CXXV, No. 28

Publisher: Fred W. Stabbert III Senior Editor: Dan Hust Sports Editor: Ken Cohen Editorial Assistants: Alex Rau, Allison Ruef, Richard Ross Advertising Director: Liz Tucker Advertising Coordinator: Sandy Schrader Advertising Representatives: Cecilia Lamy, Barbara Matos Special Sections Coordinator: Susan Panella Business Manager: Susan Owens Business Department: Patricia Biedinger, Joanna Blanchard Telemarketing Coordinator: Michelle Reynolds Classified Manager: Janet Will Production Associates: Nyssa Calkin, Petra Duffy, Elizabeth Finnegan, Ruth Huggler, Rosalie Mycka, Tracy Swendsen Distribution: Bill Holmes

2H HONESDALE ED TAB SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT SEPTEMBER, 2015

Judy Kich was hard at work butsmiling broadly as she unpackedHonesdale High School's book

collection. She shelved the volumesinto a blissfully bright and openspace – the renovated school library.

“Before, we were an old library try-ing to keep pace,” said the schoollibrarian. “Now we're a state-of-the-art facility.”

The library features two computerlabs for student small group discus-sion as well as for research, testpreparation and composing papers.

“Colleges want students who areable to work collaboratively,”explained High School PrincipalDiane Scarfalloto, “because that'swhat they will face in the workplace.”

Training an eye on the future whileliving in the present is a balancing actthat Wayne Highlands has come tomaster.

This spring and summer, theDistrict gently escorted the highschool out of the 1950s, when most ofthe school was built. Refinancing anexisting bond at a lower interest rateallowed for a $6.5 million buildingproject that overhauled the mainentrance, main corridor and musicsuite of band and choral rooms alongwith the library.

The funds also helped reconfigurethe school's main office, installingthe special security vestibule thattoday's world demands.

The need to welcome students back

after the summer without any seriouselectronic or technological hitchesrequired a week-long delay ofschool's opening this September.

“The scope of work done washuge,” said Superintendent ofSchools Gregory Frigoletto. “Openingwhen we did was a much better plan.Our Information Technology team,our administrators and staff at thehigh school were incredible. I could-n't be more proud of them.”

In practice, “we try to stay on top of

needed repairs over time,” said thesuperintendent. “Piece by piece, wehave renovated the high school overthree years – the electrical system,[asbestos] abatement, technologyupgrades, painting, plastering.

“We try to be fiscally responsibleand progressive, both,” he said.

Smart and thriftyOver the last five years, Wayne

Highlands has consistently wonrecognition as a high-achieving, low-spending school district. This year

was no different.Taking into account a district's

standardized test scores and its pro-portion of economically disadvan-taged students, the PittsburghBusiness Times ranks school districtsannually. Its highest honor, theOverachiever, went for the secondyear in a row to Wayne Highlands.

“For the second year, we are fifth inthe state in overachieving based onour demographics,” said Frigoletto.

He stressed, however, that the

The new entrance to Honesdale High School awaits finishing touches and a sign.

Out of the ‘50s and into the ‘10s: Honesdale High gets makeover

SEPTEMBER, 2015 SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT HONESDALE ED TAB 3H

District views its poverty rate, whichhovers around 40 percent, as a non-factor in academic success.

“We don't recognize it as a reasonor an excuse for why kids don'tachieve.”

Rather, the District works hard tobuild a culture of success in its fiveschool buildings, from establishing

respect for teachers todemanding big thingsfrom students.

Quoting from the firmbelief of a prior superin-tendent, Frigolettoreminded teachers thisyear: “Every parent issending us the bestthey've got.”

The issue for the facultyto ask themselves, hesaid, is, “Do I care aboutmy students?”

That care was expresslymanifested this past June, when onthe 15th, school closed for the sum-mer, and on the 16th, elementaryschool teachers were expected toattend a four-day educational work-shop – and all 41 showed up.

So do they care? “Absolutely,” said the superintend-

ent.

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Honesdale High SchoolLibrarian Judy Kich shelvesbooks in part of the newschool library. The old roomwas constructed when theschool was – in 1958.

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Odyssey of the Mind tryouts willbegin next month, and HannahHolbert and Taylor Maxson

can't wait.“We can do a lot better this year,”

said Hannah. “After seeing what otherkids did, we want to step it up and donew things, like gymnastics andmusic.”

Hannah and Taylor are eighthgraders at Wayne Highlands' PrestonArea School, and their Odyssey of theMind team, performing last year forthe first time, beat out 11 other schoolsto win the regional tournament atPocono Mountain in March. ThePreston students went on to takefourth place out of 12 schools in a laterstatewide competition in Berwick, Pa.

“Odyssey of the Mind is based onproblem-solving,” explained DonBurchell, a Preston educational tech-nology teacher who is one of twocoaches for the Odyssey program.

The other coach is Greg Adams, who

teaches technology and engineeringeducation at the K-8 school.

An international educational pro-gram that welcomes students fromkindergarten through college, Odysseyof the Mind enlists seven students perteam from each of its participatingschools.

Meeting after school – and whencompetition time nears, even onSaturdays – the teams work on solvingproblems ranging from the construc-tion of mechanical devices to the inter-pretation of literary classics.

The coaches support their studentsin developing collaborative and team-work skills and, as Taylor Maxson said,“in thinking outside the box.”

But the adults cannot do the work forthe kids.

“We are not allowed to tell them any-thing – the students have to discoverthings on their own,” said Adams.

“Each time they fail, they learnsomething,” added Burchell. “Each

time they succeed, they learn too.”Teams work during the school year

on one long-term problem. Last year,students were required to build astructure out of balsa wood that wouldsupport a tremendous amount ofweight. The structure had to be at leasteight inches high and weigh only 16grams, or the weight of seven pennies.

To advance their design plan forwhat looked like a miniature weight-

bearing cell tower, the Preston stu-dents researched tall structures. Insome cases, kids enlisted their parentsto drive them around to look at actualcell tower construction.

At the competitions, students typi-cally present the structure they've builtbut also must perform an original skitthat relates to that piece. Teams arriveat the tournaments with their ownsets, costumes, music and dialogue

Preston Area School eighth graders Hannah Holbert and Taylor Maxson, with coaches DonBurchell and Greg Adams, show off their Odyssey of the Mind team trophy, which rests ontop of their award-winning project: a balsa wood structure that successfully supported1,000 pounds in weight. Their team also includes students Grace Maxson, Breanna Gleim,Emily Bialecki, Dominic Thompson and Andrew Cantu.

‘All together now,build that cell tower!’



ready to go.The Preston students won regionals

with their balsa cell tower that, amaz-ingly, supported 1,000 pounds in gym-nasium-style weights. Their skit wonraves as well.

“Seeing other teams' work [at thecompetitions] was really fun,” saidTaylor, reflecting the Odyssey empha-sis on a healthy respect among all thestudents competing.

The Odyssey coaches and kids saythe program serves many purposes.

“It creates a sense of community forthe team, and it gives kids who are sci-entifically-minded but are also cre-

ative and theatrical a niche,” saidBurchell.

“To see the students take the regularSTEM [Science, Technology,Engineering and Math] classroomeducation and extend that into adiverse competition such as Odysseyof the Mind is rewarding,” addedAdams.

Odyssey pushes students to think,work and enjoy themselves.

“I like it that it's practical, more prac-tical than classes,” said Taylor. “You arebuilding stuff and working as a team.”

“And,” said Hannah, “we really dohave a lot of fun.”

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When inventor and cartoonistRube Goldberg began draw-ing his whimsical machines

with dozens of moving wheels, gearsand handles, he wasn't thinking of theWayne Highlands Middle School stu-dents who would one day build some-thing just like his contraptions.

But this year, that's what’s happen-ing. The middle school's ScienceOlympiad team – and hundreds ofother kids across the nation – will com-pete in a contest to build a Goldberg-type device that features springs,motors, switches and wheels all mov-ing at once.

“The event is called ‘MissionPossible’,” said Middle School teacherChris Roos, who coaches the teamalong with teacher Kelly O'Neill. “Youpush a trigger, and a bunch of thingsare happening all at the same time.”

Science Olympiad is a national com-petition to increase student interest inscience. Olympiad tournaments arerigorous academic meets in biology,earth science, chemistry, engineering,physics and computers.

Teams compete in 23 events thatrange from building structures like athermodynamic box or a workingrobot to coming up with the solutionto a crime, which involves testing forfingerprints and fibers as real detec-tives do.

Each year, events crop up that reflectthe ever-changing nature of science, sostudents might work on a project oninvasive plant species or on geneticresearch.

“We compete in groups of either twoor three, depending upon the event,”according to student Camille Stanton,

who delivered a report at the end oflast school year to the WayneHighlands school board. “All rankingsare used to determine the team stand-ing, so everyone must work hard attheir events. Some events are very con-tent-oriented, and others require us tobuild devices or perform lab skills.”

The middle school launched its first

Science Olympiad team 13 years agoand has met with significant success.

“Over the years, our teams have con-sistently finished first place in the cat-egory of Experimental Design,” notedMiddle School Principal ChrisPietraszewski.

Furthermore, in the past four yearsthe team has placed in the top six at

the regional competition – held lastyear at Penn State's Wilkes-Barre cam-pus – allowing them to go on to thestate tournament.

Last year, the team took a fourthplace medal in one event and scored inthe top 50 percent in an additional 10events, all at the state tournament heldat Juniata College.

The team, which meets at schoolfrom 3-5:30 p.m. twice each week, typ-ically has attracted the academic andnon-athletic students. But in the lastfew years, Wayne Highlands has wit-nessed a broader interest in ScienceOlympiad.

“We've got B-students, kids who areathletes, kids who love an aspect of sci-ence, kids from the band and soccer,”said O'Neill.

Because Science Olympiad allowsstudents to develop the kind of proj-ects they want within the parameter ofloose rules, the program encouragesprocess and growth.

“It challenges kids in subject areasthat they might not otherwise haveaccess to,” said Roos. “Kids have tobuild their knowledge base every year.”

The rewards of Science Olympiad aremany.

“When our kids go to high school,”said O'Neill, “they are very well-pre-pared for the rigors of advanced-levelscience class. They know how to workcollaboratively, how to read additionalmaterials, they're used to gatheringinformation on their own.”

“The program develops in kids astrong work ethic,” said Roos. “They'reused to the pressure, they learn how tomanage stress and improvise whensomething goes ‘south’.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Backed by their coaches Chris Roos and Kelly O'Neill, both Wayne Highlands Middle Schoolscience teachers, is the school's award-winning Science Olympiad team: front row, AbbyPanza, Stephanie Matlaga, Camille Stanton, Alexa Yatwa; second row, Dan Langroudi,Dominic Maglione, Zoie Meyer, Megan O'Neill, Jason Demers, Natalie Zeglen; back row,Andrew Latourette, Nate Mansfield, Liam Carmody, Kayla Taninies, Arjun Fulp. An importantpartner is the fundraising group Friends of Science Olympiad Middle School.


Captivated, absorbed, enthralled.That's how Wayne HighlandsSchool District wants its stu-

dents to feel about learning.And so the District is ramping up its

emphasis on technology.For example, science teacher Mike

Jurkowski filmed a 15-minute seg-ment of himself lecturing anddemonstrating a dissection of a cow'seye. He then “sent” it to his studentsso that they could watch it at home, astheir homework.

The next day, Jurkowski's studentsgot right to work on dissection, withthe teacher serving as facilitator, ableto give individual attention ratherthan standing up lecturing.

The technique, called “flipping theclassroom,” is one creative measureteachers are using this year to keeptheir digitally-aware studentsinvolved to the max.

“Technology is allowing multipleavenues for students to successfullyget the material,” says AssistantSuperintendent Timothy Morgan. “Itlets us tailor education to every styleof learning – visual, oral, kinesthetic.”

Last year, Wayne Highlands secureda Rural and Low Income Schools fed-eral grant to purchase iPad Minis forthe high school sophomore class as apilot. This year, the grant is funding

the first year of a four-year agreementto purchase over 800 iPad Minis thatare now in the hands of every highschool student and teacher.

That means adults and teenagersare introduced to exciting softwareapplications like Quizlet, whichallows students to make their ownelectronic flashcards to help study. Orthe notetaking and archiving softwareEvernote, which also permits stu-dents to film a teacher's classroomlecture or lab experiment so that theycan rewatch the lesson at home or instudy hall.

This school year, “we want to reacha broader scope of students and on adeeper level,” Morgan said. “Whenour kids leave us for college, jobs orthe military, they go into a worldwhere the use of technology is part ofwhat they experience every day.”

Technology also helps teachers

gauge instantly how students aregrasping a lesson and which studentneeds extra help. At Wayne High-lands, a device called Socrative pro-vides immediate feedback for stu-dents, which then motivates them toquickly improve performance.

For teachers, the real-time under-standing that, for example, 40 percentof the students have not understoodthe lesson, allows the teacher to re-teach.

“It changes the dynamic in theclassroom when a student havingtrouble with a lesson sees immediate-ly that others don't understand it andthat ‘it's not just me,’” said Morgan.

IPads are issued like textbooks, oneto each student, with the devicereturned at the end of the year. Butupdating software and educationalcontent is not as expensive or cum-bersome as updating textbooks.

Last year, the District spent $36,000for textbooks; this year, that amountis slashed to $12,000. Savings alsoshow up in the District's paper andink costs as teachers and studentswork electronically together.

Wayne Highlands' younger stu-

dents benefit this year, too – with theintroduction of last year's 260 highschool iPads on mobile carts, goingfrom classroom to classroom alongwith laptops.

Morgan also noted that this year willusher in special professional develop-ment in the new technologies for fac-ulty members.

All these high-tech goings-on arepossible by a complete overhaul ofthe District's wireless infrastructure,a huge effort spearheaded by DistrictDirector of Technology and Informa-tion Services Scott Miller.

Miller applied for and received a$400,000 grant from the E-Rate pro-gram of the Federal CommunicationsCommission (FCC). The funds paidfor upgrading the existing wirelessinfrastructure and installing newwireless.

The work is all geared towardssparking kids' interest in learning.

“We've heard now and then fromparents who say, ‘I have a child who'susually not into the work but is excitedabout doing this with the iPad,’” saidMorgan. “Interest is sparked when thelevel of curiosity is engaged.”

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Teacher Jamie Brown works with Brianna Cawley on an iPad during a Spanish lesson. Brown,chosen by the District to attend an intensive summer workshop as a Keystone TechnologyInnovator, will work on this year's push to assist teachers with new educational technologies.

How to grab student attention: Boot up the technology

Credits:All photographs and stories for this special

School Scene are by Sul livan County Demo crat

Photo grapher/Reporter Kathy Daley. The Democrat would also like to thank the

Wayne Highlands School Districtfor all its cooperation in this project.


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