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YATESVILLE — Pittston Area Superintendent Kevin Booth praised the district’s maintenance staff and their efforts during last week’s blizzard.

He said the staff worked every day in the storm’s aftermath to “get the building back in working order by Friday.”

Pittston’s school board added days to the school calendar at their meeting Tuesday to make up for last week’s lost class time. Graduation was also moved back two days.

Students will now attend school April 13, the last makeup day built into the schedule. The remaining days will be added to the end of the school year. Students will report for half-days June 8, 9 and 12.

Graduation has been rescheduled from Wednesday, June 7, to Friday, June 9. Further cancellations won’t affect graduation.

Parent questions class

When it came time for public comment, the board fielded questions from two district parents about Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) tests. Booth said PSSAs will be administered this year as per state requirements, but the tests will not have any bearing on a student’s graduation.

Meagan Galonis, a parent from Suscon, posed a curriculum question to the board.

Her son, a ninth-grader, was recently assigned what she called “a self-esteem project” in a class entitled Personal Development. Galonis described the project as charting self-esteem from infancy to adulthood.

“To me that sounds like a class where they sit around and hold hands and sing ‘Kumbaya,’” Galonis said. “They could be learning how to balance a checkbook or something that’s actually important.”

District employees in the crowd, including Curriculum Director Janet Donovan, addressed Galonis’ concern. The class satisfies a number of Pennsylvania State Educational Standards and also teaches life skills, as well as the non-academic aspects of college prep.

“When you ask a student how many credits you need for a bachelor’s degree or how much a college class costs, you know what answer I get? They have no idea,” Donovan said.

Galonis implored the board to take a closer look at curriculum.

The last public comment came from Pittston’s Melissa Cencetti, who was concerned with the district’s ailing SAT scores.

Booth said the scores Cencetti referred to were outdated statistics from the graduating Class of 2016 and current scores are improved. Cencetti asked the board about SAT prep, and Booth told her the board is considering options.

Donovan said the district pays for all students to take the Preliminary SAT (PSAT), a test that measures college readiness and serves as a “test run” for the SAT.

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By Gene Axton

[email protected]

NEXT MEETING

The next scheduled meeting of the Pittston Area School Board is 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 11.

Reach Gene Axton at 570-991-6406 or on Twitter @GeneAxtonTL