PHOTOS: Paynter Elementary ESL Students Enjoy Carnegie Museum

Paynter Elementary teacher Renee Christman applied for and received a scholarship to cover the cost of the trip.

What better way to learn than hands-on? Sixty-nine English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students from the Baldwin-Whitehall School District and six parent volunteers went on a field trip to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History on March 22. W.R. Paynter Elementary School ESL teacher Renee Christman applied for and received a scholarship through Target and the museum itself which covered the cost of the trip—a-one-hour tour for all of the students and digging in the museum's Bonehunters Quarry for Paynter's kindergarteners and first-graders. "Even the cost of our transportation to the museum (was covered)," a grateful Christman said. "The majority of the (ESL) students are refugees who had never been to the museum before, so it was …

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No Duquesne City Students in Baldwin-Whitehall ... at Least for Now

B-W officials reject a voluntary acceptance of Duquesne students.

Baldwin-Whitehall School District officials will not voluntarily accept students from the Duquesne City School District—a decision that B-W Superintendent Dr. Randal A. Lutz made known at Wednesday night's B-W School Board meeting. But that's not to say that Duquesne City students couldn't end up in Baldwin-Whitehall's public schools one day. Duquesne students in grades 7 through 12 are currently enrolled in the nearby West Mifflin Area and East Allegheny school districts thanks to mandates handed down by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. And should future legislation occur that causes a similar mandate for Duquesne students in kindergarten through sixth grade, those K-6 students would be sent out-of-district, as well, including, …

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NE12Ukid

9:49 pm on Monday, May 20, 2013

I do know of a family that lived near 'the border' on Becks Run and had their kids in BW schools, but were actually living in Pittsburgh. They got caught, and were told they'd have to leave or pay tuition. They left BW schools, and enrolled the children in PPS.   more ›

So What Are the Keystone Exams?

End-of-course assessments—they'll be required soon for graduation—determine proficiency of some high school courses and will be given again in Baldwin-Whitehall starting on Jan. 9.

What Is Changing It's not that Baldwin High School students shouldn't take standardized tests seriously. After all, it's their tests' scores that show how well their school is doing. And how well their school is doing tells employers and college admissions offices how good of an education that their prospects have gotten. But the seriousness should see an uptick at Baldwin High soon—if it hasn't already—as the Keystone Exams begin their implementation at the high school level this school year. Not only will students' performances on those examinations be placed on their transcripts starting with the 2016-17 school year, but also, if members of the Class of 2017 do not show proficiency on the Keystones, they won't be allowed to graduate (…

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Prospect Park Folks Collect Items for Homeless

'Tis the season.

Participants in the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council's English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classes at the Prospect Park Family Center in Whitehall Borough have collected between 250 and 300 toiletries to be given to the homeless at Pittsburgh's Light of Life Rescue Mission. The ESL students, many of whom belong to refugee families in Whitehall, collected the items as part of a holiday giving project. "The response was much greater than expected," ESL teacher Susie Backscheider said, "and I am so proud of our students for their selflessness and willingness to contribute." The giving project led to much ESL classroom discussion about homelessness and helping others. "They (the students) know all too well what it means to 'go without' and …

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WATCH: Refugees Enjoy Thanksgiving at Whitehall Church

You can catch video from the event here.

The Whitehall Church along East Willock Road played host on Nov. 15 to an annual Thanksgiving celebration, and the event's organizers—South Hills Interfaith Ministries (SHIM)—captured video from the event. (See video above.) Originally organized in 2006 to celebrate both Thanksgiving and the announcement that SHIM was opening the Prospect Park Family Center in Whitehall Borough early the next year, the event has grown by leaps and bounds. Dinner at the event features meals prepared by families serviced by SHIM, as well as SHIM employees. The choices range from American Thanksgiving staples, such as turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, to items more typical of some SHIM families' native countries. According to its website, SHIM's …

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cc

9:57 pm on Wednesday, November 28, 2012

It is great to see humanity to these refugees. But we also have millions of Americans that can't feed their families, pay their bills, have places to live because there isn't any jobs. We need to take care of American Citizens who though no fault of their own lost jobs and are homeless.   more ›

Athletic Assoc. Prez Concerned with Refugees' Use of Whitehall Fields

Gary and Melanie Remlinger spoke to the Whitehall Council about that issue on Wednesday night.

Refugees on Borough Fields Like it or not, Whitehall Borough has been forced to handle a large influx of refugee families to its community over the past several years. And a great deal of those people have taken residence in the apartments of the Wallace (Prospect) Park area, very near some borough fields that are also near and dear to the hearts of those running the Baldwin-Whitehall Athletic Association (BWAA)—a baseball and softball organization open to children from all communities. The president of the BWAA—Gary Remlinger—and his wife, Melanie, both of Varner Road, spoke to the Whitehall Council at its meeting on Wednesday night, expressing concern over how some refugees have been treating those parks—specifically, Prospect and …

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Area Refugees Prepare for Brentwood Parade

'In preparing members of Pittsburgh's immigrant and refugee community for the Brentwood Fourth of July parade, identity was important.'

VIDEO: Whitehall Library's Kelly Is Pirates Community Champion

Kelly honored at PNC Park for literacy programs.

Whitehall Borough knows that it has a gem in Paula Kelly, the director of the Whitehall Public Library. And after Friday night, on the diamond of PNC Park, a good bit of the rest of the Pittsburgh area knows that, too. The Pittsburgh Pirates honored Kelly on Friday as one of its 2012 Community Champions. She joined Pirates Chairman Bob Nutting and a number of other front-office types for an awards ceremony at PNC prior to the team's 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals. "This award is given to six area individuals who are 'champions' in their community," said Chaz Kellem, manager of diversity initiatives for the Pirates, "and have positively contributed to the betterment of the diverse community in our region." Many Ly, program services …

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Whitehall Library's LEARN Bus Movie Now Online

Watch a mini-documentary about the borough's award-winning refugee literacy program.

The Whitehall Public Library debuted a mini-documentary about its LEARN, or Library Easy Access for Residents in Need, program at a special screening in early April, and the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch was there. Now, the documentary is available online for all to see. Click here to watch the movie and to learn more about this award-winning program founded in Whitehall Borough that provides transportation for refugees living in the borough's Wallace (Prospect) Park area to the library for a monthly literacy initiative.  --- Follow the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch on Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for the daily Baldwin-Whitehall newsletter.

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Dr. Lutz Defends Baldwin-Whitehall in Face of Local School Rankings

'It's more than meets the eye.'

Calling the Baldwin-Whitehall School District's recent performance rankings in the Pittsburgh Business Times "more than meets the eye," B-W's Assistant to the Superintendent for Elementary Education Dr. Randal A. Lutz spoke to the public during a school board meeting on Wednesday night in defense of the district. The rankings were not kind to Baldwin-Whitehall, showing a drop to 56th place out of 105 western Pennsylvania public school districts, down all the way from 39th in 2008, but Lutz aimed to "dig a little bit deeper (into the rankings) than just on the surface." Lutz, who will become the district's overall superintendent this July, pointed out that B-W improved on its ranking in more grade levels than those that saw their rankings …

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JustMe

11:53 am on Sunday, July 8, 2012

Billie that is the dumbest thing I heard a State Issued Guardian Report Card. "If the parent passes with proficiency then the child should be included in the over all STATE TEST SCORES", what about the parents that live in 200,000 homes that doesn't care about their children educations???? Your blaming all the bad test scores on the minorities in the school and that is totally wrong. What about …   more ›