Wyalusing Area School District

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 2020-2021 school year has proven to contain a variety of challenges. However, the diligent efforts of all employees and students have allowed for many successes during the first quarter. Students and staff are very diligent in their practices regarding face-coverings, social distancing, and various screenings. School Bus drivers are wearing face-coverings, cleaning, and sanitizing buses. And the custodial and maintenance crew is making extra efforts to respond to the enhanced cleaning needs as they arise. Together we make sure Wyalusing is COVID Compliant and our students continue to benefit from a group of dedicated professionals across the district.

• The student's temperature must be below 100 F.
• Students must be symptom-free: NO Fever, Cough, Shortness of breath, Difficulty Breathing, Sore throat, Runny nose/congestion, Chills, New lack of smell or taste, Muscle pain, Nausea/Vomiting, Headache, Diarrhea. Any of these symptoms should be reported to the school nurse and students should stay home.

Mrs. Lindsay Spencer, Head Nurse

570-746-1600 x 2310

Pictured below, the entire custodial and maintenance crew show just a few of the resources at their disposal to help keep our buildings clean, sanitized, safe, and operational. These dedicated men and women continue to work hard and show their commitment to ensuring a healthy educational environment for all students and staff.

All water fountains have been replaced with Contactless Bottle Filling Stations. The new concept ensures a touchless opportunity for students to stay hydrated and provides a benefit to the environment. In this picture, you will see from the counter that nearly 1000 plastic bottles have been saved from entering the landfill and that is from only one station. Currently, there are about 11 stations spread across the school buildings.

Parent-Teacher Conferences will be conducted in a virtual format this year due to the restrictions associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic. Parents and Guardians should contact the school office to schedule your conference. Several options are available, including video-conference and traditional telephone connections. Please don't let the pandemic cause you to miss out on making an important connection with your child's teachers.

High School Conferences: 570-746-1600 x2301 or email epotts@wyalusingrams.com

Elementary School Conferences: 570-746-1600 x1300 or email caeppli@wyalusingrams.com

Mrs. McMahon eats lunch with 5th grader Aiden Reimard. Mrs. McMahon, a 25-year veteran teacher, frequently gives a little extra motivation to students. In this instance, she is rewarding Aiden for some extra great work in Math class.

Mrs. Alfieri, who serves as the Librarian created a traveling Library that she turned into a school bus, the bubbles that follow her down the hallway add a little extra excitement for students. This year, Mrs. Alfieri travels to student classrooms to provide skills associated with library, reading, and research. She is doing a great job making this class a little extra special!

Pictured here, 6th-grade students Alysha Botts and Ryan Fowler learn STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), Coding and Creativity with the EV3 Lego Mindstorm Robots. These students are working on designs and building strategies using their robots that include Legos. Students then use an app on their Chromebooks to design codes that tell the robots “brain” how to control it’s 8 sensors and 2 motors. This is really cool stuff!

Mrs. Bennett, Gifted teacher, serves as a valuable resource as students explore enrichment activities that allow them to accelerate with some advanced curriculum challenges.

This year the district curriculum and instruction platform had to make a big adjustment. Due to the pandemic, we needed to have an option where continuity of education would be seamless if the district needs to pivot to remote learning.

The entire district staff, as well as students and parents, have adjusted to the Ram Virtual School platform. All students are using this platform for this year which allows for the seamless transition between remote at-home learning and in-class learning. While there were a few kinks in the process during the early stages which are always to be expected anytime a change occurs, the professional teaching staff continues to work diligently to ensure the academic success of students remains the focus.

Despite the new format of the annual Outstanding Young Woman program, 17 young women from across Bradford and Sullivan counties took the stage to be judged on performing arts and their answers to impromptu questions.

Brown performed “Toccatina,” a number composed by Dmitri Kabalecsky, on the piano before being named 2021 Bradford and Sullivan Counties’ Outstanding Young Woman and awarded a $4,400 scholarship to the school of her choice, the OYW medallion, a portrait, and a bouquet of flowers. Congrats Catherine!

Carina Beebe was honored with first place in scholastic and achievement.

The Free Breakfast and Free Lunch opportunities have been a hit! Student participation numbers are growing each day. Encourage your child to get free breakfast or lunch!

Recently, several changes have occurred to the National Free Breakfast / Lunch Program. Beginning on Monday, October 26th through the end of the school year, the Wyalusing Area School District is able to provide Free Breakfast and Free Lunch to all children ages 0-18 that reside in the district. That's right... this program is now being extended to ALL Children, not just current students who attend school.

· Free Breakfast & Free Lunch to all children ages 0-18

· 5 Breakfast and 5 Lunch; 10 total meals each week per child

· Weekly pickup at the high school cafeteria side door from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM

· Complete this form now: Click Here (only if your child is not currently attending in-person learning in the school building)

Wyalusing Area School District is excited to announce year two of the 21st CCLC Grant After School Program. Following the foundation of last year, we will continue to enrich the whole student. Each child will participate in homework and academic review, enrichment and recreation. The program is designed for students Kindergarten through 8th grade. We would like to invite your child to take advantage of this program.

Start Date: October 5, 2020

End Date: May 27, 2021

Time: 2:00- 5:00 pm (Transportation will be provided)

Location: Wyalusing Valley Jr./Sr. High School

Click here for more information and to enroll.

Community members frequently donate clothing and accessories to benefit those in need. The clothing is washed, organized, and folded by students as part of community-based instruction which is directly connected to the high school curriculum. Students who need clothes are able to "shop" and take whatever they need and like. Clothing is also kept for younger and older people in case a need arises. Mrs. Gilroy, High School Special Education Teacher takes the lead for managing the Clothing Closet.

The 2020 Wyalusing Valley Homecoming Court featured: Sierra Allen, Madison Armitage, Callie Bennett, Catherine Brown, Imogen Herbert, Grace Howard, Hailey Jayne, Haley McGroarty, Madison Putnam, Chloe Tewksbury and Taylor Vanderpool.

The crown went to Queen Madison Armitage and Football King Mitchell Burke.

The marching band has had to adjust to a variety of changes this year along with most other school organizations. Unfortunately, several parade opportunities were canceled this year that limited their public performances. Nevertheless, band members performed at each home football game and continue to practice their talents during and after school hours. The Marching Rams are led by HS teacher Mr. Bryan Carr.

The Stream Team has been super active this year working hard to stream as many events as possible due to the limitations of spectator attendance. This powerful and a growing number of students that make up the team often participate in other school activities that fill their busy calendars. This year, 12 new and 6 returning members comprise the Stream Team. The Stream Team is lead by President Emalie Caccie & VP Madison Patton along with advisor Mrs. Fuhrey.

The Stream of home events is relatively new to our school, now only three years old. The team certainly has kicked things into high gear this year, streaming just about every home event so you can watch in the comfort of your home.

Stream Team equipment is supported through our continued partnership with the Wyalusing Area Education Foundation. However, additional donations and sponsorship opportunities are always welcome. Visit the Wyalusing Stream Team Facebook Page or the Stream Team Webpage for more details or to catch a live event!

The return of our golf program this year was extremely successful. We had 8 students participate and saw tremendous growth from all 8 golfers throughout the season. All of the golfers had the opportunity to start multiple matches and each one saw their scores improve during the course of the NTL league schedule. We are only losing 1 senior and have a great opportunity to compete in the league in the near future if the student-athletes work hard on their games in the offseason.

After several years of challenges, this year's Rams Football team brought home the prestigious Bronze Helmet. The Rams defeated Towanda back on September 11th. Hopefully, you were able to see some of the game through the live feed. Remember, most of this year's sports contests are live-streamed so you can watch in the comfort of your home.

The Lady Rams Volleyball Team worked very hard this year. They had to make some significant adjustments due to some limitations associated with COVID-19. Several games needed to be moved and multiple games were played back to back with several occurring during the same week. The team played hard throughout the season and will be completing their season within the next few days. Great work ladies!

The Girls Soccer team has seen some great success this year. The team consists of a good mix of upper and underclassmen. Coach Haley has done an outstanding job in year one and is building a program that should have sustained success. The team travels to their District IV playoff game on Wednesday, October 28th for a 4:00 game at Northumberland Christian School.

Cory graduated from Towanda High School. After high school, he attended Lycoming College, where he graduated with a dual major in Criminal Justice and Psychology with a sociology minor. After college, he moved to Iowa, where he served as a Correctional Officer at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center.

Upon returning to Bradford County, he worked at CONCERN Professional Services as the Crisis and Outpatient Case Manager. Later, he worked for the Abuse and Rape Crisis Center as a Prevention Educator teaching in all seven school districts and the county jail. Finally, he started working for Bradford County Human Services as the School-Based Outreach Caseworker for Wyalusing and Northeast Bradford School Districts.

Cory's role includes:

-Advocating and supporting families

-Providing preventative and supportive services to students and their families

-Helping with basic needs: food, housing, insurance, clothing, etc.

-Helping connect people with mental health resources

Contact Cory via email chodgdon@wyalusingrams.com

Ms. Richmond grew up on a dairy farm in Nicholson, Pennsylvania and always wanted to work in NYC. She fulfilled that dream by working for 4 years in New York and lived near the beach in NJ. But after 20 years away she came home to Pennsylvania.

Ms. Richmond has 4 children ranging in age from 27 to 12-year-old twin girls. She lives with her boyfriend Eddie near Lake Carey, minutes away from the family's still active dairy farm. She is a huge sports fan, loves to cook and eat, hunt, and spend time outdoors on their property.

She is grateful for the opportunity to work for such a wonderful school district in the special education department and is happy to join the Ram Family.

Mrs. Fischer is a WVHS Graduate Class of 2000. She is a graduate of Wilkes University Class of 2004 with a degree in Elementary Ed, Secondary English, and ESL. Mrs. Fischer earned her Masters degree in Information Sciences from Marywood University in 2010. Her previous experience includes several years of teaching in the Montrose Area School District from 2005-2018 as an 8th, 9th, 10th grade English teacher and librarian for a few years.

Mrs. Fischer is married to Brian and as she describes it a household full of craziness with Jack-11, Lia-10, Everett-4, Lucas & Reid 2. She enjoys camping, playing/coaching soccer, and playing board games with her family. She is very excited to be 'back home' as part of the Ram Family.

Mr. Marbaker grew up on a dairy farm in Susquehanna County. He is a graduate of Elk Lake High School Class of 2011 and a graduate of Binghamton University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in Math.

Mr. Marbaker served as a substitute teacher for 6 years in several area school districts including Elk Lake, SCCTC, Northeast Bradford and Wyalusing prior to joining the professional staff. He currently teaches Consumer Math and 8th-grade math and also serves as the Scholarship Challenge Advisor.

Mr. Marbaker shares that his hobbies include reading, golfing, and fishing. He also serves as a Church volunteer at local community church where he preaches 2-3 times a month. In his spare time he enjoys landscaping work during the summer.

Welcome Mr. Marbaker to our Ram family!

The 2020 Wyalusing Education Foundation Spring Fling has gone virtual.

Now through November 2nd at 8:00 pm.

CLICK HERE to see all the items... Bid to Win!