March 2020

Welcome to the next edition of RAM eNews, a product of the Wyalusing Area School District. This publication will be produced quarterly during the school year to keep community stakeholders engaged in our schools.

The Power of Thought, the Magic of the Mind. That is the theme of the Scholarship Challenge. This is the 39th year that Chuck Carver, the president of WATS/WAVR and host of Scholarship Challenge, has been quizzing high school seniors from Pennsylvania and New York. In the competition, a panel of four students from two schools face off in 3 rounds of 10 questions. The first team to answer each question earns 10 points, except in the 3rd round when the questions are worth 20 points. There is a 10 point penalty for all wrong answers in any round.

Several seventh-grade students practiced for two months to prepare for their challenge. The following students were chosen to represent Wyalusing: Sophia Alvarez, Hezikyah Latini, Kenny Mapes, Savannah McCracken, Cayden Otis, Kylie Pickett, and Trennan Tewksbury. Alternates for the team were Lukas Ashwood, Jacob Girven, Nicholas Johnson, Logan Norton. Their competition was held on Friday, February 28 at 7:00 pm in Sayre.

Our Junior-High Team won the Championship for the first time ever! Congratulations to these scholars.

The students representing Wyalusing this year were Madison Armitage, Carina Beebe, Catherine Brown, Jacob Carfi, Shane Fuhrey, Emily Lewis, andKyle Miller. This is the third year that both juniors and seniors were permitted to be team members.

The Wyalusing team competed on Saturday, February 29. The competition began at 12:00 noon and was held on the Guthrie Campus in Sayre, Pa. The team faced off against the winner of the Montrose/Athens-Black match. They cruised to a victory by defeating Athens-Black with a score of 140-10 and advanced to the final game of the day. This time the opponent was Owego Free Academy. The Wyalusing team proved successful again outscoring their opponent 170-30.

The team will compete in the finals for a chance to win $3000 on Saturday, March 14 at noon. Be sure to root on the Rams by listening to Choice Radio 102.1 or follow the team on the website https://www.choice102.com/scholarship-challenge/.

The Ramettes completed their debut season this year with multiple performances in Layman Gymnasium. Lylah Oswald, Madison Armitage, Ellie Pisula, Sage Superko, Kia Yoder, Hannah Ely, Daphne Knapp, Sydney Friedlander, and Priscilla Newton were all team members.

The Ramettes formed to meet the need of a group of students that didn't play winter sports and are highly trained in dance and gymnastics. Lylah Oswald took the lead from the student side and the group's performances were outstanding. Be sure to check out the video (above) to see the girls in action.

This year the enrollment for the Wyalusing Chapter of FBLA consisted of 83 members. Aside from haunting the halls, they began preparing for their competitive events early in the year. They really put forth that extra effort when they prepared for the regional conference at Keystone College in December.

They studied, they gave speeches, and prepared material they had to present to judges. This year, 47 members, which is a little more than half of the chapter, qualified for states, which is a record for Wyalusing FBLA. It was amazing to see this many students qualify for the state conference. We are so proud of their efforts and are happy that many of the members will get the opportunity to experience the state conference. Go Rams!

Back Row: Jacob Carr, Nicholas Kelly, Sydney Reilly, Riley Smith, Grace Smith, Ethan Lewis, Kyle Miller, Justin Smiley, Colton Miller, AJ Rhodes, Cody Nowland, Logan Newton, Shane Fuhrey, Kadence Carey, Shane Malinowski

Middle Row: Marissa Johnson, Kensy Miller, Olivia Spencer, Pearl O’Connor, Catherine Brown, Karley Chamberlain, Sage Superko, Lylah Oswald, Brody Fuhrey, Emma Rodriguez

Front Row: Bailey Ruhf, Madalyn Valoroso, Erin Salsman, Anna Kipp, London Edwards, Layla Botts, Dawcin Jones, Clair Reed, Mary Stretch, Chelsea Bassett, Catie Caplan, Riley Cobb, Emily Lewis, Emalie Caccia

Not Pictured: Morgan Rockwell, Sydni Burgess, Laci Norton, Tiffany Newton, Madison Patton, Alex Patton, Ellie Pisula, and Grace Howard

Wyalusing High School will present "Into the Woods" by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. It was first presented on Broadway in 1987 and won several Tony awards that year.

The plot intertwines stories from the brothers Grimm and other fables into one complicated story. The individual tales complement each other and the characters trade lessons and morals from their various journeys "into the woods". Our production has 33 cast members from 7th to 12th grade, an orchestra made up both of WVHS students and adult musicians from our area, and many adult volunteers helping with painting, costumes, and makeup. In this way, the Wyalusing Spring Musical is a great example of community and school collaboration that benefits our local kids.

Dates/ Times: March 19, 20, 21

Ticket Costs: $8; Preschool and senior citizens $4

Tickets can be purchased in the high school office 570-746-1600

Basic Education Funding, otherwise known as BEF, is funding from the state for school districts. The amount each school district receives depends on the amount approved each year in the state budget. The BEF portion of the 2019-20 Pennsylvania Department of Education Budget is $6.7 Billion, to which Wyalusing Area School District is projected to receive $7,106,403. That made up 30% of our district budgeted Revenues for 2019-20. The other operating costs are made up of Federal Funds, Grants, and Property Taxes.

The Basic Education Funding Commission was created in 2013 consisting primarily of legislators from both parties to come up with a way to provide more consistency with funding to school districts. Beginning with the 2015-16 school year, they came up with the new BEF formula that is illustrated below.

The factors that are listed below affect our BEF tremendously. The importance of each of them weighs heavily on our funding. For example, ensuring that we have categorized our students correctly in our Student Information System (SIS) drives our PIMS reporting to the state, which then affects this formula and the amount of funding Wyalusing Area School District receives in subsidy payments.

If you would like to learn more about State Funding or any other financial components of our school district feel free to contact the business office.

Jen serves as the district occupational therapist for grades K-12. This is her 4th year at Wyalusing. Her primary responsibilities are to support and service students that present with occupational therapy needs such as fine motor skills, visual-motor skills, handwriting skills, sensory processing, functional skills and overall developmental delays with motor skills.

Jen went to Temple University, where she specialized in pediatric therapy. She has worked in multiple settings over her 23-year career such as acute care, rehabilitation, long-term care, home health care, early intervention, and school-based. Jen lives in Tunkhannock with her husband Bill and 4 sons. One who serves in the United States Navy. Jen is proud to be a Wyalusing Ram.

Email: jmontross@wyalusingrams.com
Location: Wyalusing Valley Elementary School
Phone: 570-746-1600

Mrs. Ann Overman serves as secretary in the high school counseling office and has held that position for the last 14 years. She has lived in Wyalusing all of her life and currently lives in Terrytown with her husband Jeff. A fun fact about Mrs. Overman... her home was built by teachers and retired teachers as well as friends of her family. Jeff and Ann have raised two daughters in Wyalusing and she especially enjoys when they bring her grandchildren home for a visit to the country.

Mrs. Overman's background includes a family of educators who has dedicated their lives to helping students succeed. Mrs. Overman shares that she enjoys working with Wyalusing students and staff and finds it very rewarding to be able to help people.

Email: aoverman@wyalusingrams.com
Website: https://www.wyalusingrams.com/academics/high-school/high-school-guidance
Location: Wyalusing Valley High School
Phone: 570-746-1600

Ms. Maria Alverez is a third-grade teacher and graduate of Wyalusing Valley High School. Ms. Alverez earned her bachelor's degree from York College of Pennsylvania and a master's degree from Penn State University. She currently lives in Sugar Run with my daughter Sophia who is a seventh-grade student at Wyalusing Valley High School.

Ms. Alverez has been teaching for 22 years with 16 of those years in our school district. She is also a board member of the Wyalusing Area Education Foundation and a member of the Wyalusing Area Education Association.

Email: malverez@wyalusingrams.com
Location: Wyalusing Valley Elementary School
Phone: 570-746-1600

Terry was born and raised in the Wyalusing Area and is a 1978 graduate through the on the job training program at the school. He started his career at Arrow United Ind. Terry is married to wife (also named) Terry for 36 years, and they have five children and eight beautiful grandchildren. After departing from Arrow United, Terry went into heavy construction in Allentown, PA installing sewer and water lines. Currently, Terry is employed by Procter & Gamble and has worked there for the last 23 years as a millwright.

Terry has been very active in the community serving as a fireman for 20+ years and on the ambulance as an E.M.T. for 10+ years. Terry has volunteered with the setup and working at the annual Wyalusing Firemen's Celebration.

As a new board member, Terry is looking forward to serving the community and students and faculty once again.

The safety of our students and staff remains a top priority. A priority that necessitates, at times, some inconveniences that can be unpopular. Visitors are required to enter through a designated door that is designed as a secure entrance that limits access to students. Visitors are required to show identification and pre-arranged appointments are strongly encouraged when seeking to speak with any school employee or to pick up your child early from school.

Electronic door locks are commonly found across the campus with more door access control devices being installed this summer. The electronic system allows for a variety of safety parameters which included time limitations and restricted access to certain locations of our campus. In the near future, traditional keys will become obsolete as we work to enhance our security measures.

Many of the security enhancements come as recommendations directly from the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP). A few months ago the PSP conducted a Risk and Vulnerability Assessment of our campus and while this document is confidential for obvious reasons, the board of directors and administration acted on many of those recommendations with other improvements coming in the near future.

During the month of March, school district officials will conduct another safety drill with practical applications of our preparedness to be better prepared for emergency situations. Students and staff will practice our procedures to ensure compliance with regulations and to identify any improvements that may be needed should a safety issue arise.