May 31, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
Logan Elementary School teachers Angela Turkowski and Jennifer Kolodychak volunteer to help during the Wednesday Fueling Future Wildcats food bag assembly. (Kristen Keleschenyi photo for Tube City Almanac)
Reading, writing and arithmetic. These are the cornerstones of elementary school learning. But in some cases, there is another component needed: Food.
At Logan Elementary School, in the East Allegheny School District, a program called Fueling Future Wildcats helps fill a need that can oftentimes go unnoticed.
“There are some kids that are almost flying under the radar, because they come to school looking like they are doing OK, but we never really know if the family is really struggling,” says program coordinator Kaitlyn Gida.
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May 14, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News, North Versailles Twp. News, Sports
McKeesport Tigers varsity baseball players include, first row, Brady Boyle, Colin Scharritter, Duston Strom, Brayden Kovach, Jason Peterson and Ryan Tucker, and second row, Jaden Smith, Jake Miller, Logan Shiffler, Noah Marcic, Austin Riggs, Alex Reigh and Ricky Heyz. (Submitted photo)
For fans disappointed in the Pittsburgh Pirates, high school baseball is an exciting alternative in the Mon-Yough area.
For the first time in 23 years, East Allegheny High School’s Wildcats are section champs (WPIAL Division 3A) as they advance to the playoffs and for the first time in 21 years, McKeesport Area High School’s Tigers (WPIAL Division 5A) have earned a playoff spot in their conference.
But why has it been so long since these teams have had something big to celebrate? According to Ron Bishop, head coach of McKeesport’s varsity team for the past nine years, it takes a long time to create a competitive team. Sometimes his players are coming together, for the first time, at the high school level.
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April 29, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News, Wilmerding News
Logan Elementary School sixth-graders were armed with shovels last week to help find a time capsule buried in Wilmerding more than 20 years ago. (Photos courtesy Kim Reno)
When you think of places for an archeological dig, Wilmerding probably doesn’t stand out as a prime location. But for a group of current and former East Allegheny students, the grounds of Westinghouse Arts Academy this month provided an exciting locale for an excursion 23 years in the making.
Back in 1999, students in Kim Bollinger’s sixth-grade science class at Westinghouse Elementary School, then part of the EA school district, put together a time capsule as the final part of their ongoing recycling project.
Westinghouse Elementary School closed in 2009 and now is home to the Westinghouse Arts Academy Charter School.
“At the time we didn’t have paper recycling bins [in the school],” says Kim Reno, formerly Kim Bollinger. “We put boxes in everyone’s room and had all of the teachers put their used paper in the box. My students once a month would load it into the back of my trunk and I would take it to the South Side and they paid you for the paper.”
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March 29, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: Entertainment, North Versailles Twp. News
Nora Keleschenyi (Katherine), Austin Phelan (Bill), Colby Miller (Jack Kelly), and Kason Sciullo (Romeo) rehearse a scene from the musical “Newsies.” (Kristen Keleschenyi photo special to Tube City Almanac)
If you go...
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‘Newsies’
Where: East Allegheny Junior-Senior High School, 1150 Jacks Run Rd, North Versailles, PA 15137
When: April 7–9 with shows each night at 7:30 p.m. along with a 2 p.m. matinee on April 9.
Tickets: easd.Booktix.com.
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Disney’s “Newsies” will mark the first “post-pandemic” musical performance at East Allegheny Junior-Senior High School. It has been an interesting journey these past two years to raise the curtain on spring musicals.
“Awesome 80’s Prom,” a play adapted to include musical vignettes, was performed in the outdoor court of the junior-senior high school in April of 2021.
“A Pirate’s Tale,” the show originally planned for 2020 but was cancelled, was performed just a few months after Prom with masks required and auditorium seating in every other row. (Many of the students who were originally cast in “A Pirate’s Tale” returned for the show including a number of 2021 graduates.)
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February 28, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
East Allegheny School District may soon make a change to its COVID-19 health and safety plan.
The current plan states masks are required to be worn by students, staff and visitors throughout the day in school and on the bus. At the February meeting, Superintendent Alan Johnson said that with the substantial decline in COVID-19 cases it might be time to join other local districts and drop the mask mandate.
“If we are continuing to see the kind of drops in the incident rate that we are seeing presently we are probably going to ask the board to approve a change to the health and safety plan to eliminate the use of masks that we have in place now,” Johnson said.
On Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention relaxed its mask guidelines. Many parents have taken to social media wondering what the policy would be moving forward for EA students in light of the new guidance.
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February 02, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
North Versailles Twp. commissioners recently honored retired township manager, Patricia Logo, with a plaque for her years of service. Pictured are Greg Evashavik, solicitor; Frank Bivins, board president; Logo; and George Thompson, commissioner. (Kristen Keleschenyi photo for Tube City Almanac)
North Versailles Twp. employees who get or have received their COVID-19 vaccination will receive a $100 bonus.
Township commissioners unanimously approved the bonus at their January meeting. Also approved were five paid days off for employees who contracted COVID-19 if they were vaccinated prior to Dec. 31, 2021.
The additional days are valid through March 31, 2022.
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February 02, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
A representative of a landlord that owns properties in North Versailles Twp. is questioning the municipality’s recently enacted rental registration ordinance.
Kurt Skvarla of Addleman Realty and Landmark Companies spoke at the January board of commissioners meeting. The company owns apartment complexes on Dix Drive, near the intersection of Routes 30 and 48.
Skvarla said the fees are a hardship for the family run business and might lead to raising the rent for their tenants.
“The North Versailles Twp. license fee on our Dix Drive property is 25 times higher than if that same building was located in East McKeesport,” Skvarla said. He asked for documentation illustrating how the fees were determined and what they are used for.
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January 24, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
After 18 years of serving as an elementary school principal within the East Allegheny School District, Sean Gildea has been named the new director of education.
Along with coordinating a comprehensive overview of the school’s curriculum, this new position will be dedicated to curriculum development and implementation, professional development and assessment, school officials said.
The school board voted unanimously to promote Gildea at the January school board meeting.
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December 31, 2021 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
After serving North Versailles Twp. for more than two decades — most recently as township manager — Patricia Logo is now preparing to retire.
At the December commissioners’ meeting, board President Frank Bivins thanked Logo for her efforts to guide the township through a period of financial difficulty. “Since she’s been here, she’s done a wonderful job,” Bivins said. “We were in the hole when she got here and she brought us up to where we’ve got a surplus.”
Logo’s last day will be Jan. 28.
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December 21, 2021 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
There are five new faces on the East Allegheny School Board. At the Dec. 6 reorganization meeting, new members were sworn in and took their seats.
Superintendent Alan Johnson thanked the outgoing board of directors for their service. “I do really truly understand what a commitment it is and oftentimes what a thankless task it is,” he said.
The first big task of this new board of directors will be to tackle the district’s masking policy. In light of the recent decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to overrule the governor’s state mask mandate, the topic will be on the agenda at the next school board meeting which will be held on Jan. 10.
Until then, masking remains a requirement at Logan Elementary, the junior-senior high school and school buses.
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