Dec. 2, 2015

Page 1

the almanac DECEMBER 2-8, 2015

C E L E B R AT I N G 5 0 Y E A R S O F S O U T H H I L L S C O M M U N I T Y N E W S

BACK TO SCHOOL

PETERS TOWNSHIP STUDENTS RETURN TO CLASS

JIM MCNUTT/OBSERVER-REPORTER

Students at McMurray Elementary head back to school Nov. 27 in Peters Township after a 21-day strike by teachers.

By Suzanne Elliott Staff writer selliott@thealmanac.net

Attendance was down at the five area Peters Township schools Nov. 27, the first day of school following a three-week teacher’s strike. While everyone expressed relief that students were back in the classroom, attendance figures were, as many anticipated, down from a typical school day. Reasons for the decline are

twofold: Black Friday coupled with the fact the first day back for the district’s 4,300 students fell on a Friday. At Peters Township High School, which has an enrollment of 1,451 students; 696, or 48 percent of the school were absent. Peters Township Middle School, which has an enrollment of 698, had 280, or 40 percent of the school absent; McMurray Elementary, 918 enrolled, 386, or 42 percent absent; Bower Hill Elementary, 732 enrolled, 277, or 38 percent absent,

and Pleasant Valley Elementary, 376 enrolled, 112, or 30 percent absent. While the district and its 285 teachers were not able to come to an agreement on a new contract during the work stoppage and now face nonbinding arbitration and the possibility of a second strike in the spring, it appears things were getting back to normal at the district. This was especially evident at McMurray Elementary, where a dozen buses filled with

INSIDE • Nonbinding arbitration the next step for teachers and school district, Page 4 • Student spent strike making gift boxes for needy children, Page 5

SEE SCHOOL PAGE 4

Lebo pursues money for deer research project By Harry Funk Multimedia reporter hfunk@thealmanac.net

Mt. Lebanon could learn early next year about the details of a process to receive a permit for a deer sterilization program. Commissioner Kelly Fraasch was among those from the municipality who met with

Just arrived a huge shipment of Guardian Angel necklaces by

Pennsylvania Game Commission representatives to discuss how to secure such permission, which would be a first in the state. “The Game Commission would have basically a template, like they’d give us for any other means of deer management, a draft of it, by the second week of January,” Fraasch said during the Mt. Lebanon Commission’s Nov. 23 discussion session.

She provided information about a Nov. 10 meeting hosted in Harrisburg by state Rep. Dan Miller, D-Mt. Lebanon, with Commissioner Dave Brumfield and municipal solicitor Philip Weis participating by telephone. Also attending were Anthony DeNicola of White Buffalo Inc., an organization specializing in deer management, which is in the process of SEE LEBO PAGE 6

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