Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Updated Pa. School Report Cards to be Unveiled Today

Updated Pa. school report cards to be unveiled today

Posted: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 6:35 pm | Updated: 10:47 am, Wed Dec 11, 2013.

By Natasha Lindstrom

Staff Writer,

HARRISBURG -- After fixing data reporting errors, the state Department of Education is set to release Wednesday the statewide results of Pennsylvania's new school report card system.The state has developed a formula-based method of grading schools that replaces the former No Child Left Behind system and assigns schools a rating on a 100-point scale.

In October, the state launched a website, paschoolperformance.org, to showcase the new scores -- but school reporting problems caused officials to withhold results for 626 schools, or about one-fifth of Pennsylvania's 3,000 public schools.
The partial results made it difficult to make any statewide findings about how schools were measuring up. The department also limited temporarily several of the website's functions, including a tool to compare up to four schools side by side and downloadable files to access complete data sets.
Acting Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq said in October that she considered a 70-point score to be "the mark of moving toward success," and that a majority of the schools that had submitted accurate data initially had reached that benchmark.
"The secretary has full confidence in the system itself, has confidence in the way that it was set up and how it flags the scores and what the scores represent," state Department of Education spokesman Tim Eller said Tuesday.
The new website features a variety of school-level data in one place online for the first time, from standardized test scores and Advanced Placement exam offerings to student demographics and attendance rates. The School Performance Profiles include all types of public schools, including charter schools, cyber charter schools and career and technical centers.
The profiles take into account scores from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests administered to students in third through eighth grades and results of the Keystone Exams, which students must pass to graduate high school starting with the Class of 2017.
Starting in 2013-14, the building-level performance scores will account for 15 percent of principal and teacher evaluations.
Some local school officials and union representatives have expressed concerns that the public will place too much emphasis on performance scores that are still heavily weighted on standardized tests.
"Obviously you're not going to make everybody happy," Eller said. "There's going to be concerns on scores for some schools and districts overall, but the Secretary is confident and looks forward to this moving forward in the out-years toward making continuous improvements in student achievement."
Most of the reporting errors stemmed from students not filling in a test identifier bubble on the new Keystone Exams, though some schools said other data was inaccurate, such as the number of Advanced Placement courses their schools offered. The department gave schools until December to make corrections. The department anticipates avoiding most of those errors next year.
"We won't have these issues where the Keystone Exams weren't bubbled correctly -- that was a one-time issue for this year," Eller said.
The website is set to be updated with the full results mid- to late afternoon Wednesday, Eller said.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Morrisville’s Winterfest Brings out the Crowds

Morrisville’s Winterfest brings out the crowds

By Elizabeth Fisher Correspondent

Just minutes after the annual Winterfest Parade in Morrisville on Saturday, hundreds of families streamed into Morrisville High School for the town's annual Winterfest, Morrisville’s kickoff to the Christmas season.In the wake of the fire engines, the antique cars, school and civic groups, and, finally, Santa and Mrs. Claus, local groups shared their holiday spirit by opening their doors and providing family oriented activities.

At the high school, 11-year-old Andrea Rodriguez sat at one of several long activity tables that lined a back hallway to help little ones fill plastic bags with food for Rudolph-the-Red Nosed Reindeer and company, dry oatmeal and colored jimmies resting in a little bed of sparkling confetti.

“There, you have food for the reindeer,” Andrea said as she poured the “snack” from a jar into a plastic bag and handed it to 4-year-old Zoey Marcakis.
“I’m a service volunteer and I love doing this,” said Andrea, as her little visitor ran off to the next activity table to color.
Isabella Medina, Little Miss Winterfest, still wore her tiara as she, too, helped pack food for Santa’s reindeer. Isabella shared the spotlight during festivities with Mr. Winterfest, D.J. Drobnich; Junior Miss Winterfest Emily Eisengrein; and Jessica Worrell, Miss Winterfest.
The high school was the setting for a series of holiday-related events, including the Morrisville School District Chorus, the Acting Natural Chorus, a presentation by the Morrisville Color Guard, and the Morrisville School District 21st Community Learning Center.
One of the younger performers was David Huston, 6, who sang with the Snowflake Club. Earlier in the day, David watched the parade with his mother, Stephanie, and father, Steve, and siblings Emily, 4, and Michael, 5 months.
“This is the first time we’ve been able to come out to the Winterfest because I always had a baby at home,” said Stephanie Huston. “We’ll be going to the high school to watch David sing.”
Some spectators kept their celebrations short. Kelly Strout and her children, Bobby, 4, and Brynn, 2, stood on a chilly corner on Hillcrest Avenue waiting for Strout’s brother, Morrisville Fire Chief Matt Weidenhaefer, to drive by.
“We come out for my son. He just really likes the fire trucks,” Kelly Strout said.
Other activities included a gingerbread house contest, sponsored by the First Baptist Church, which also held a live Nativity scene.
Winterfest also included festivities at Historical Summerseat in Morrisville, refreshments at borough hall, and the annual Christmas tree lighting.

Public-School Advocates Fear Pending Revision of Pa. Charter Rules

In today's Phila. Inquirer.

Public-school advocates fear pending revision of Pa. charter rules

Kathy Boccella, Inquirer Staff Writer

Last updated: Sunday, December 8, 2013, 2:01 AM
Posted: Saturday, December 7, 2013, 8:21 PM

Its sponsors say it is an urgently needed and long-overdue package of reforms for a burgeoning system, but critics contend that Pennsylvania's hotly debated charter-school bill would speed the decline of some conventional public schools.
The legislature is expected to act soon - perhaps in the next few weeks - on Senate Bill 1085, which would embody the first major changes since the once-experimental schools began expanding rapidly across Pennsylvania in the late 1990s.
This year, the Philadelphia School District alone will pay $708 million to charter schools.
One element of the proposal is a cut in the taxpayer funding formula for the state's 15 cyber charters - online schools that have been plagued by scandal and low academic achievement.

But a growing band of public-education advocates is rallying against the bill. While supporting cuts for cyber schools, the opponents say other parts of the bill would speed an already rapid exodus of students from public schools to charters.
That, in turn, would worsen the funding crisis in struggling districts such as Philadelphia and Chester Upland.
Critics, including the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the Education Law Center in Philadelphia, say they are particularly worried about a provision in the bill that would allow Pennsylvania's colleges and universities to open charter schools without approval from local school boards - even though the districts would have to partially fund the schools.
"It will destroy the local taxpayer voice into whether or not there should be charter schools in their district," said Joan Duvall-Flynn, who chairs the education committee for the Pennsylvania NAACP. "It's taxation without representation."
The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Lloyd Smucker (R., Lancaster), won preliminary approval from the Appropriations Committee last month. Smucker has said the measure aims not only to save money through the cyber-charter cuts and reducing pension funding for some charter employees, but also would require open meetings and regular audits, and create a commission to study a fair funding formula.
Joseph Watkins, the state-appointed receiver for the Chester Upland School District, supports the bill, saying that in the short term it could save the district more than $1.5 million annually in cyber-charter reimbursements and retirement payments.
Under the bill, charter-renewal periods would double, from five to 10 years, and terms of the schools' charters could be amended without permission from local officials. In Philadelphia, the School District would have no authority over charters.
The bill would create an 18-member Charter School Funding Advisory Commission, consisting of the secretary of education; six legislators, four of them from the majority party; and, appointed by the governor, 11 representatives of charters, school districts, and a university.
"The commission in this bill is only designed to consider charter school funding needs, not the funding needs of our neighborhood school district schools, nor how the needs of both are intertwined," said Education Law Center attorney David Lapp. "In addition, the commission is not bipartisan. Sixteen of the 18 members come from, or will be appointed by, the majority party."
Districts contribute fixed amounts for students who attend charters. The law center holds that since they tend not to serve the most-vulnerable students, charters impose a burden on poorer districts where a high percentage of pupils are enrolled in charters. With their hefty charter contributions, the districts have less money available for their needy students, the group said.
The primary law establishing charter schools - independently operated, often with unique curriculums, funded through tax dollars - in Pennsylvania was enacted in 1997, and proponents say it is in dire need of an update.
Of about 176 brick-and-mortar charter schools across the state, more than half are in Philadelphia. Statewide, enrollment has risen sharply, to about 119,500 students.
"Pennsylvania was on the leading edge of charter schools. Now, all these years later, other states have more modern laws," said Justin Quinn, spokesman for Smucker. "This legislation is necessary because there are all kinds of problems school districts have with the funding formula, questions about the effectiveness of cyber charter schools and charter schools in general."
He acknowledged that "there is going to be additional work with this legislation to make sure people are on board."
One point of particular concern, said Lawrence Feinberg, a Haverford Township school board member who heads the Keystone State Education Coalition, which opposes the bill, is the language giving colleges and universities free rein to open charters.
Feinberg said he feared that a charter company would be able to open a school under the brand name of a college or university in exchange for a donation to the institution.
Quinn said that while concerns about so-called university authorizers were valid, "the positives we've seen in other states far outweigh that."
The acting president of Widener University, Steve Wilhite, said he believes the measure could encourage more higher-learning institutions to serve students in struggling communities. Widener has launched the first university-sponsored charter, the Widener Partnership Charter School, in Chester, which was aided in 2012 by a $1 million grant from the Peco-Exelon Foundation.
A university-authorized charter "can serve its community while at the same time providing important educational opportunities for students as well as faculty and staff of the university," Wilhite said.
Such arguments do not sway critics such as Duvall-Flynn, who said the language regarding university-backed charters is too loose.
"It is designed cleverly to dismantle any local system," she argued, adding that "each of these children have a little backpack of money attached to them. When the child leaves his classroom, he takes his backpack with him."

BY THE NUMBERS

15
Number of cyber charter schools
in Pennsylvania.
176
Approximate number of brick-and-mortar charter schools
in Pennsylvania.
119,500
Approximate number of students attending charter schools in Pennsylvania.
$708M
Amount the Philadelphia School District expects to pay charter schools this year.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Morrisville Council Seat up for Grabs; Three Residents Interested

MORRISVILLE
Morrisville council seat up for grabs; three residents interested

Posted: Wednesday, December 4, 2013 4:13 pm

By GEMA MARIA DUARTE

Staff writer

His time as a Morrisville councilman is coming to an end for Dave Rivella. And someone needs to replace him.Three residents have thrown their names into the ring: Ted Parker, Bryan Tomasulo and Kevin Larison.Rivella said he expects to stay on the council until he's sworn in as mayor in early January. His replacement for the fourth ward council seat will be appointed by the council sometime in January, he said, adding that he had two more years in his council term.
Parker, a school board member, submitted his letter of interest in early November. Tomasulo and Larison submitted their letters mid-November.
“I believe I can be a voice of reason. I don't like the infighting I have seen from the council in the past few years; this needs to stop,” Parker said. “I believe my years on the school board have taught me how to work well with others whose views maybe very different from yours, and the school board has made great progress moving forward. The council needs to work together so it can focus on progress. I believe with my experience I can help with that.”
Parker said his top priorities as a councilman would be economic redevelopment and public safety, as well as making an effort to uniting the divided council.
Tomasulo, who has been a borough resident for 11 years, said he is also concerned about safety in the borough.
“Like many residents, I share in the concerns of what is transpiring in our borough on a daily basis. The accelerating crime rate, coupled with difficulty of attracting and retaining respectable businesses, makes Morrisville a very difficult sell for the young family trying to start out on their own and also in retaining the wonderful families that came to Morrisville in hopes of raising their families here,” Tomasulo wrote in his letter of interest for the seat.
Tomasulo said his 12 years of working on Wall Street can help him attract businesses to the borough. He also said he has an “attitude of fairness and willingness to work” with other council members.
“My only hope is (that) whoever is awarded this seat occupies it with true intent of respecting its authority and wanting to dutifully represent the fourth ward and its residents,” he said.
Larison has the same safety concerns as Parker and Tomasulo.
“It’s ridiculous that we haven’t had a (police) chief in almost a year,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
The Morrisville Police Department has been running with an officer in charge since Jan. 1. In July, the council hired a consulting firm to help with the hiring of a police chief.
In the 25 years he’s been a borough resident, Larison said public safety and political disagreements “are probably the worst" they have been and "that’s reason enough to go for council.”
His top goal as a councilman would be to “have more cops on duty,” he said.

Cops: Morrisville Woman Made 50 False 911 Calls

Morrisville
Cops: Morrisville woman made 50 false 911 calls

Posted: Wednesday, December 4, 2013 3:30 pm | Updated: 4:00 pm, Wed Dec 4, 2013.

By Jo Ciavaglia

Staff writer

A 35-year-old Morrisville woman is accused of filing nearly 50 false reports about drug activity and drunken behavior in an effort to get people locked up, police said.Malinda Clavell was charged after what police said was her most recent false report, on Nov. 22. Police said she called the 911 emergency dispatch center to report drunken people in a 7-Eleven bothering the cashier. She didn't leave her name and was described as uncooperative, police said.When police arrived at the convenience store, the only person there was an employee. The employee said there were no intoxicated people in the store before police arrived and added that a man and a woman had come in separately earlier.
Morrisville Patrolman William Smith thought the call sounded similar to others received over the last few months involving a local barber shop. All the calls were from a woman with a blocked number who didn’t leave a name or other information and said she didn’t want police to contact her.
After further investigation, authorities determined Clavell was responsible for the calls about both businesses, police said.
When police met with Clavell at her home, she admitted calling in the complaint about the 7-Eleven. She told the officer she called the police because she wanted the people in the store arrested, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Police said Clavell also admitted she made false reports about drug dealing involving the barbershop. Those calls to 911 started April 3 and continued into November.
“Malinda displayed no regret for calling in false reports and only seemed interested in seeking revenge directed at employees of the barber shop and residents who live in the immediate area,” according to the affidavit.
Clavell was charged with 48 counts of misdemeanor false reports and police will proceed by summons with the case.

Monday, December 2, 2013

New Board Members Get Taste of Friction

New board members get taste of friction

By Elizabeth Fisher Correspondent

Newly sworn in Morrisville school board members no sooner took the oath of office before they briefly sampled just how rocky meetings can be.New members Ivan Colon, John Perry and Joe Gilleo, along with incumbent Daniel Dingle, took the oath of office Monday night to the applause of friends and relatives. For the most part, the agenda meeting went smoothly, but when it came time to reappoint Hill Wallack as solicitor, veteran Steve Worob took exception.Despite the support of district Superintendent William Ferrara, who praised the firm’s “quality work and timely response” to district requests, Worob criticized the appointment because of what he called exorbitant solicitor bills.
“The bills have been way over $100,000 this year; there were two months over $17,000. It is irresponsible of this board not the look around,” Worob said, adding that he did not question the work or the service of the firm.
But the board majority overrode Worob’s objections, saying that the higher legal bills this past year were not because of higher rates, but of a lawsuit with the Bucks County Technical High School that required an increased number of hours.
“Thank God for Hill Wallack,” said board member David Stoneburn, who pinned the added expense this year on an increasingly litigious society.
For the most part, however, the meeting went smoothly as the board finalized items to be voted on at next week’s meeting including: the appointment of student representatives to the board; the proposed approval of purchasing ePlus Meraki Options (wireless access points), plus two switches for $10,227, and a motion to participate in additional legal services offered by the Bucks County Intermediate Unit 22 and Sweet, Stevens, Katz and Wiliams, at a cost of $780.
The board will also vote on proposed teacher tuition reimbursements, appointments to the 21st Century after-school program’s staff, and various other appointments.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Potluck #96

Pa. Lawmakers Examine How to Improve School Safety

Pa. lawmakers examine how to improve school safety

Posted on December 1, 2013

by NATASHA LINDSTROM

Securing schools

Posted: Sunday, December 1, 2013 1:30 am | Updated: 6:55 am, Sun Dec 1, 2013.

By Natasha Lindstrom Staff Writer

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania school officials should consider scheduling more drills to prepare for intruders, forming local safety committees and investing in so-called “choke point” campus designs to improve student safety, a new state legislative report has found.Since the Sandy Hook School massacre that took 27 lives last year, Pennsylvania’s 500 schools have been re-evaluating safety plans — much like schools and officials around the nation. The event prompted the state House to convene a special committee to study what schools are doing and how they can improve procedures.“Certainly, tragedies like the Newtown, Conn., shooting cause you to revisit the way you’ve planned to do business and look at all facets of your operations and make sure you’re doing absolutely everything and anything required and possible to keep our kids safe,” Bristol Township Schools Superintendent Samuel Lee said. “If we can’t do that, we can’t do anything. That’s a top priority.”
The final report from the House Select Committee for School Safety provides an overview of safety measures in public and nonpublic schools across the state, and makes recommendations to school officials, local law enforcement and state lawmakers.
“The events just a few states away at Sandy Hook Elementary were always on our minds,” said York County state Rep. Seth Grove, who sat on the school safety committee. “A statewide effort to secure our educational facilities is a challenge in a state as large and diverse as Pennsylvania, but I’m proud of the work we’ve done, and look forward to helping districts implement our recommendations.”
The new report is based on input from school officials, state agencies, law enforcement, mental health experts, students and parents following four public hearings: two at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, one at Sun Valley High School in Aston and one at Slippery Rock University. The special committee, chaired by Lehigh County Rep. Gary Day, was made up of 15 lawmakers, including representatives of standing committees for education, health, local government, children and youth, judiciary and veterans affairs and emergency preparedness.
“When you start to think about safety, there are so many different aspects. You can have weather emergencies, you can have power outages, you can have horrible things with gun violence,” said Rep. Mary Jo Daley, D-148, Narberth, a school safety committee member. “Bullying and mental health issues impact kids’ education.”
‘Choke point’ security models
One of the committee’s top safety recommendations is for schools to design facilities with minimal entrances and exits.
“While no single security measure was universally implemented or mandated, testifiers most frequently noted the importance of defining and securing a single main point of entrance that is staffed with appropriately trained personnel,” the report states.
Some schools don’t have the money to redesign buildings, the report notes, especially amid the moratorium on state reimbursement of new construction projects through the PlanCon program. But most schools have procedures to screen visitors and to keep tabs on campus activity through security officers and surveillance cameras.
The Pennsbury School District uses a design that school officials refer to as a “man trap,” which requires visitors to enter a vestibule and get buzzed in to enter the front office, said Sherwood Taylor, director of administrative services. The school district’s surveillance cameras are accessible in an online system, so Taylor can monitor schools from his desk in the administration building. Police officers alerted to a security issue also can view the camera activity from patrol cars.
“We have a very close relationship with our local police and give them access to our cameras,” he said.
Taylor said the district recently upgraded its camera systems in nearly every school, with plans to equip every building with the upgraded surveillance technology by the end of the school year.
Active shooter drills
State law requires schools to run fire drills once a month, and a disaster or lockdown drill once a year. The committee suggested mandating monthly lockdown drills.
“I was probably a little surprised that they don’t run some of these drills more often,” said Daley, who recalls ducking under her desk during school drills as a child amid the threat of a nuclear disaster.
Many districts already run intruder or active shooter drills more than once a year. In Pennsbury, schools run intruder drills quarterly, and organizers try to mix up the timing and type of emergency.
“We want the kids to practice in different situations,” Taylor said. “They could be at lunch when an alarm comes on. They could be at recess. We’re trying to practice different scenarios so the kids get used to taking the proper precautions. It makes our staff think, too.”
The Bristol Township School District teamed with the local police to put on a major active shooter scenario at the high school over the summer, with faculty and students participating.
“It was about an hour and fifteen minutes and it seemed like it lasted a week,” Lee said. “For us educators who aren’t used to those types of situations, it was quite shocking.”
One of the big questions now, Lee said, is whether the traditional school lockdown is always the best procedure, with an evacuation plan perhaps a better alternative under certain situations.
Among some of the other recommendations:

Install “panic buttons” — like the kind that trigger silent alarms in banks — in school main offices;
Provide teachers and administrators with wireless pendants that can alert emergency responders to trouble;
Install ID scanners at visitor checkpoints to recognize sexual offenders registered under Megan’s Law;
Mandate all students and staff carry identification badges; and
Set up electronic notifications systems to inform parents about emergencies.

Daley emphasized that committee members understand each school district has unique challenges and security systems in place, and might not have the resources or needs to respond to every suggestion. Many districts already have close working relationships with local law enforcement, for instance, and may not need to sign the partnership agreements, called memorandums of understanding, brought up in the report.
“We were not making necessarily in most cases really specific recommendations, but more the idea that law enforcement and the school districts should work together, and that that should potentially include MOUs,” she said.
Daley recognized many cash-strapped school districts don’t have the funds to implement some of the suggestions.
Funding challenges
The state has increased funding for school safety in 2013-14, including $8.5 million in state grants for safe schools initiatives.
In Pennsbury, Taylor is applying for a grant to purchase more than 100 new two-way radios since many of their current units are broken. The district could benefit from more funding to upgrade camera systems, and to hire an additional school resource officer, he said. Currently, six full-time and 24 part-time security officers work for the district, which has about 10,500 students in 15 schools.
“Every grant opportunity, we are writing to enhance what we have,” Taylor said. “We always budget to the funding we have, but it’s never enough to cover our needs.”
The state Department of the Auditor General reviews the safety of school buildings, including whether doors stay locked and the staff gets proper training.
Last year, state auditors conducted 610 initial safe school reviews involving more than 1,500 school buildings, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale told the school safety committee at its July 15 hearing in Harrisburg. In many cases, auditors found that crisis plans had not been updated or explained to local law enforcement, and sometimes individual duties during an emergency weren’t defined clearly enough.
“While we are pleased that our audits resulted in school security improvements, we are constantly looking for ways to improve the process and help provide even greater safety for school students, teachers and staff,” DePasquale said. “As fiscal watchdogs, we will continue to do our part to ensure that schools that receive school safety funding are following the rules.”
View the final report by the House Select Committee for School Safety here.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Food Center at Morrisville Presbyterian Church Feeds the Hungry from Trenton and Bucks County

Food Center at Morrisville Presbyterian Church feeds the hungry from Trenton and Bucks County

Published: Saturday, November 30, 2013

By Petra Chesner Schlatter
pschlatter@buckslocalnews.com

MORRISVILLE – Most of the people, who go to the non-profit Food Center at the Morrisville Presbyterian Church, are from Trenton, N.J.

Some people come from Yardley, Bensalem, Bristol, Levittown and Ewing, N.J.

The center is looking to expand its outreach in Bucks County for residents who need support.

Tim Stauffer, 56, the new director of the center, said it has become harder to keep the shelves stocked because of the economy.

“We’re in a real Catch 22,” he said.

“We used to get support from the state of New Jersey,” he said, “but because they’re cutting everything and we’re in Pennsylvania, they could no longer support us even though 85 percent of our clients come from New Jersey.”

Plus, the annual fundraiser, Hike against Hunger, fell $4,500 short of the goal this year.

A Lower Makefield resident, Stauffer recently replaced Carol Romano, who served as director for five years.

Stauffer recognized her on Sunday, Nov. 17 during the regular service at the church.

The food center is in the basement of the church, which is located on the corner of West Trenton Avenue and North Pennsylvania Avenue in Morrisville Borough.

Stauffer stressed that the food center started as an outreach program of the church.

“Now, we have our own bank account separate from the church,” he said.

The church provides the space to store and distribute the food free of charge.

Stauffer, who worked in the book publishing field for 25 years in New York City, tries to think positively about being unemployed. He said some things are meant to be.

“It has become my life,” he said of the food center. “It’s a beautiful thing.”

Stauffer said volunteering with the food center is like having a full-time job.

“I wanted to do something with my time,” he said. “I got involved in interviewing the clients and I enjoy working with the computer system.”

Part of the interviewing process includes dealing with residency requirements in order for people to qualify for the free program. There has to be verification of their residency and other occupants in the household. Proof of income is also required.

“Based on those, we allot them a certain amount of food,” Stauffer said.

People can bring perishables like frozen turkeys to the food center. Giant Food Stores, for example, gives free turkeys to its customers before Thanksgiving.

Perishables can be dropped off on Tuesdays between 9 a.m. and noon when volunteers are available in the basement location.

Non-perishables can be dropped off at the foot of the stairs after entering through the rear entrance of the church.

Distribution of food takes place on Wednesdays between 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

Clients pick up frozen turkeys before Thanksgiving so they can properly defrost them. There is also a special distribution of turkey dinners for 80 clients.

For people who want to help feed the area’s hungry, Stauffer said the best thing is to write a check.

“The last director and myself decided to buy chicken parts wholesale -- fresh frozen chicken,” he said. “We buy cereals and all sorts of staples at good prices.”

With the monetary donations, the volunteers buy what is needed and what the clients want.

“While donating canned goods and dried pasta is good, it’s more labor intensive than writing a check,” he said.

Even when Thanksgiving is over, the food center will take as many frozen turkeys as possible since Christmas is fast approaching.

“It’s a lot of work,” Stauffer said. “We have an incredible group of people who are united in their desire to feed hungry people. It’s a big operation.”

Last year, the food center distributed over 150,000 pounds of food.

“We need volunteers and we need money,” Stauffer said. “We need people who are computer savvy and people who are willing to lift groceries and haul them out of the building. We always need help with public relations.”

Stauffer said it is gratifying to help people in need.

“I enjoy that our work is so immediate,” he said. “I come on Tuesdays to unload fresh fruit and produce we get from Philabundance. We set up our food tables the next day, and the next day we give it all away.”

Checks can be made payable to The Food Center and mailed to The Food Center at Morrisville Presbyterian Church, 771 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Morrisville, Pa. 19067.

Although the food center is its own entity, the church still helps as a support group.

For more information, call the church at 215-295-4191

or email firstmpc@verizon.net

New Members to Join School Boards This Week

New members to join school boards this week

Posted: Saturday, November 30, 2013 12:15 am | Updated: 4:33 pm, Sat Nov 30, 2013.

By Joan Hellyer Staff Writer

Seven of the eight school boards in Lower Bucks County will reorganize Monday night during special meetings.The state requires school boards to reorganize the first week of December. Most of the governing bodies usually reorganize on the first Monday of the month.The Bensalem, Bristol, Bristol Township, Centennial, Morrisville, Neshaminy and Pennsbury school boards will reorganize Monday night.
The Council Rock board will reorganize during its regularly scheduled meeting Thursday.
This year's reorganizations will include the swearing in of new and returning board members who won election in November. Here’s a look at what will take place during the reorganizations:
BENSALEM
New Bensalem school directors Jason Harris, Kiran Patel and Jennifer Ryan will be sworn in Monday night. Incumbent Kim Rivera will be sworn in for a second term.
Harris, Patel and Ryan will replace outgoing Bensalem school board members Ralph Douglass, Yagnesh Choksi and Elizabeth Cerasi who didn't seek re-election.
Rivera and three new board members will be sworn in during the 7 p.m. meeting. It will be held in the district administration complex at 3000 Donallen Drive. Information: 215-750-2800

.
BRISTOL
The Bristol school board will reorganize at 6 p.m. Monday in borough hall, 250 Pond St. At that same time, new board members will be sworn in.
The outgoing school directors are Joseph Saxton and Beverly Breslin-Kalinowski. Incoming board members are Dave Chichilitti and Kelly Cochran.
Incumbents John D’Angelo and Ralph DiGuiseppe III also be sworn in for another term Monday night. Information: 215-781-1000

.
BRISTOL TOWNSHIP
The Bristol Township school board will welcome back Katherine Bachman, James Baker Jr., Angela Nober and Frederick Black for another term in office.
The four incumbents will be sworn in during the board’s 7:30 p.m. reorganization meeting Monday at the district administration building. It is located at 6401 Mill Creek Road. Information: 215-943-3200

.
CENTENNIAL
The Centennial school board will reorganize 7 p.m. Monday.
Vice President Betty Huf, a Region II representative, and board members Michael Hartline and Jane Schrader Lynch, both Region III representatives, will be sworn in for another term.
The three won re-election in November.
The meeting will be held in the district administrative complex at 433 Centennial Road in Warminster. Information: 215-441-6000

.
COUNCIL ROCK
Council Rock has 3 new school board members coming in.
Denise Brooks will represent Northampton Region 3, Mark Byelich will serve as the Northampton Region 6 representative and Andy Block will be the Upper Makefield Region 8 representative.
Incumbents Bernadette Heenan (Region 3), Robert Donnelly (Region 6) and Paul Anagnostakos (Region 8) opted not to run for re-election.
Incumbent Kyle McKessy won re-election to represent Region 9 on the governing body. Region 9 represents Wrightstown and a small part of Newtown Township.
McKessy and the three new board members will be sworn in during the 7:30 p.m. reorganization meeting Thursday. The meeting will be held in the Chancellor Center at 30 N. Chancellor St. in Newtown. Information: 215-944-1000

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MORRISVILLE
The Morrisville school board will reorganize at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the LGI room at Morrisville High School.
Departing school board members are John DeWilde, Ronald Stout and Jack Buckman. They will be replaced by Ivan Colon, Joe Gilleo and Jon Perry.
Incumbent Dan Dingle also will be sworn in for another term during the reorganization meeting.
The high school is located at 550 W. Palmer St. in the borough. Information: 215-736-2681.
NESHAMINY
The Neshaminy school board will welcome one new member during Monday’s 7 p.m. reorganization meeting at Maple Point Middle School.
Ron Rudy will be sworn in to serve as a Region 3 representative. He will replace William Oettinger, who successfully ran for a vacant seat on the Middletown board of supervisors.
Maple Point Middle School is located at 2250 Langhorne-Yardley Road. Information: 215-809-6000

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PENNSBURY
The Pennsbury school board will welcome four new board members during its 8 p.m. reorganization meeting Monday.
Debra Wachspress and Joshua L. Waldorf will be sworn in as Region 1 representatives and Debra E. DeBlasio and Allison Smith will take over as Region 3 representatives.
Wachspress and Waldorf will replace Simon Campbell and Kathleen Zawacki. Campbell lost his re-election bid in the November election. Zawacki opted not to run for another term.
DeBlasio and Smith will replace outgoing board President Allan Weisel and board member Howard Goldberg. The two men opted not to run for re-election.
The meeting will be held in the multi-purpose room of Fallsington Elementary School at 134 Yardley Ave. in Falls. Information: 215-428-4100