Pledge and Invocation:
President Samantha Maruzzelli brought the meeting to order at 12:15 PM at Purkey’s Pink Apple with Norm Kelly reciting the 4-Way Test and leading the Pledge of Allegiance and Bill Milligan giving the Invocation.
Guests:
Heather McPherson – TASD Superintendent - guest speaker
Carolyn Lawson – guest of Rich Seaberg – administrative secretary of TASD
Club News:
Secretary’s Report – Carol Ziomek
Newsletter went out yesterday and website and Facebook have been updated. 2 articles from the Club appeared on page 2 of the Jan 24 Wyo Cty Examiner.
May Trip to CIA
AAA has indicated that a $100 per person deposit is due by Jan 31 to hold our reservation at the Culinary Institute of America for our May trip. Please get your deposit money to Ann Way as soon as possible
Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) – Norm Kelly
Attendance at RLI is free to any member as our Club pays the registration fee. In addition, for every 2 members that go, 1 will be paid for by the District. It is a great learning experience and you will learn a lot about Rotary and all its facets and goals. Lunch is included. It will be on Sat, March 3 at Lackawanna College from 9 AM to 3 PM.
Harvest & Wine Festival - Ron Furman
The first planning meeting for the 2018 Festival will be on Monday Feb 5 at 6 PM at the Tunkhannock Public Library.
Ron will be meeting with Chris Maruzzelli re the Fall Festival entertainment.
Free Tickets for Wyoming County Chorale – Samantha Maruzzelli
As a thank you for our donation to the Chorale, we received 4 free tickets. If anyone is interested in using the tickets, please let Pres. Sam know.
Grant’s Management Seminar – Samantha Maruzzelli
The next District Grant’s Management Seminar is Feb 3 at the Towanda Country Club. President Elect Mike Markovitz, Norm Kelly and Pres. Sam Maruzzelli plan to attend. The seminar is open to anyone who would like to know about the District and Global Grants from the Rotary Foundation.
Al Noble, our Foundation Chair also plans on going.
Rotary Foundation – Al Noble
Please try to make your contribution to the Rotary Foundation by the end of March, so that the District can report it at that time. But if not, please get it in before the end of June. Al has the list if you want to know where you stand. 17 members have already made their contributions for the 2017-2018 Rotary year.
Our next Meeting will be Thursday, Feb 1. Our guest speakers will be from the Tunkhannock HS Interact Club.
President Samantha Maruzzelli adjourned the meeting at 1:30 PM.
Guest Speaker:
The Tunkhannock Area School District (TASD) has reformed a Foundation. Heather passed out a brochure so you can donate to the TASD Foundation, which is a source for non-traditional funding for school activities.
She wants to get out and talk about all the things that are happening in the school district and their accomplishments over the last year.
There have been 13 public meetings to discuss consolidation of the schools and to learn what are peoples’ biggest concerns. Mill City, Evans Falls and Mehoopany will close next year and the schools will be consolidated. They are working on bus routes so that no child will be on a bus for over 1 hour.
- The Primary Center for grades K, 1 & 2 will be at the Roslund site.
- The Intermediate Center for grades 3-6 will be at the current Middle School, with a focus on the children learning collaboration and talking with people to solve real life problems.
- The 7th Grade Academy will be on the bottom floor of the Administration Building. It will include focus on a STEM (science, technology, engineering & mathematics) Academy to solve real-world problems. Kids can help build apps to solve problems. She showed a floor plan for the 7th grade STEM academy. It will have film, computer and various technology including 3D printers, robotics etc. They will be using current resources and not much additional moneys needed. Kids will be in collaborative groups with modular furniture.
- 8th & 9th Grade will be at the High School. Part of the program will be students going out and shadowing in businesses in the community to learn how the community is working.
- 10-12th Grade will be at Senior High. Their will be a focus on career pathways, including vocational pathways. Graduates will have a diploma and an industry certification or 26-34 college credits, so they are outstanding and can easily go onwards in industry or college. We need plumbers, mechanics and folks that can understand robotics.
She feels it is very important to develop career and work readiness and start from the age of 5 in kindergarten.
STEM and the arts need to start early and make it play at the early grades with no grading, 3-6th grade focus will be on making something like digital printing, films etc. Then 7-12 grades would apply STEM to local community issues/challenges.
The District will hire a Chief Operating Officer to handle physical operations and food service etc. In that way, Heather can focus on first line interactions with those in contact with our kids.
She has goals in 4 buckets:
- Teacher planning opportunities are very important and the kids can do fun things at the same time.
- Powerful instructional practices – teachers must use the most powerful tools so that learning sticks with the students. They are part of a NFS grant in partnership with the Smithsonian Institute and researchers from Cornell. The Smithsonian will bring in exhibits and the teachers will plan to teach around them, starting with 7th grade.
- Planning for a standard aligned performance-based collaborative curriculum, so kids can do well on standard tests.
- Build career pathways for all students by providing introductions to various career opportunities through courses that help them toward industry certifications.
The District has also been updating its safety procedures. Rich Seaberg has standardized all the drills in all the buildings so it will be easier once the schools come together. They are installing bus radios, installing security cameras, grandparents support groups and resources to help deal with opioid issues.
The Tunkhannock Area School Board also now has a long-term master plan.
At the end of her presentation, Superintendent Heather issued an invitation for Tunkhannock Rotary to hold a club meeting at the High School with a free lunch and tour of the facilities.
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Superintendent Heather McPherson
