McKean Elementary Run Club to race in Edinboro Dome Saturday
January 24, 2020
McKean Elementary students part of the school’s Run Club will be competing in the Edinboro University Dome on Saturday at the indoor collegiate track meet.
The McKean Elementary Run Club organizer Lisa Roberts said around 80 kids have signed up to run. The event is at noon and is free to attend.
The participating students have been running two days per week for around two months after school to prepare for a half-mile or one mile run Saturday.
Run Club began around seven years ago, she said.
College coaches and athletes help the students sand serve as mentors for them, she added.
Run Club students work on flexibility, strength, and endurance. The program is a volunteer program staffed by volunteer teachers, staff and Edinboro coaches and athletes.
Winter fun underway at Edinboro, McKean elementary schools
January 24, 2020
Students at McKean Elementary School and Edinboro Elementary School were finally able to enjoy the winter weather and learn skiing and practice other winter activities.
Edinboro Elementary School physical education teacher Michael Beck took his fourth grade class out Friday for the first time this year.
Beck said this is the first week he’s been able to take classes out to ski due to warmer weather and poor conditions.
Friday was the first time his fourth grade class was able to venture out into the snow. They learned putting on and taking off the skis and the basics and even held a few races.
Meanwhile over at McKean Elementary School, Lisa Roberts, physical education teacher, explored outdoor winter activities with her students, too.
Take a look:
Erie Playhouse production ‘Frozen Jr.’ features GM students
January 24, 2020
The Erie Playhouse production “Frozen Jr.” opens Friday evening and some of the performers may look familiar to the General McLane School District community.
Five General McLane School students will be on stage: Myles Bruce, a freshman at General McLane High School, Parker Irwin, a seventh grader at James W. Parker Middle School, Avery Fiscus, a fifth grader at the Middle School, Eden Irwin, a first grader at Edinboro Elementary, and Braelin Fiscus, a third grader at McKean Elementary.
Each school building in the District is represented in the production.
“Frozen Jr.” is at the Erie Playhouse Friday and 31 and Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, and Feb. 1, 2, 8 and 9 at 2 p.m. All tickets are $15 each. For more information, call 454-2852, ext. 0, or visit www.erieplayhouse.org.
Break a leg to our General McLane stars!
McKean Elementary second graders celebrate diversity for MLK Jr. Day
January 23, 2020
A second grade class at McKean Elementary learned firsthand that though people may look different on the outside, everyone is the same on the inside.
Bridget Hoge’s second grade class at the elementary school discussed Martin Luther King Jr. and how he helped others see beyond skin color in a peaceful way.
“The kids had many questions and were very interested in the work that MLK did to help our world,” Hoge said.
The class conducted an “egg-speriment” Thursday with two different colored eggs.
The students saw that the egg shells varied in color, but when they cracked them open, they all shared similar contents.
The kids quickly caught on to the idea that even though people may look different on the outside, we are the same on the inside.
GM senior uses engineering skills to create gearbox
January 22, 2020
Meet Jacob Janoski, a General McLane High School Senior.
In 2019, he designed a gearbox that won the sumo bot challenge at the Edinboro Challenges, an annual engineering competition. The sumo bot is an engineering challenge that allows students to design a robot that finds its opponent and pushes it out of a flat area.
This year, Janoski has designed what he thinks is an even better gearbox that will top all competitors once more.
He’s participating again this weekend in the Engineering Challenges that’s put on at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and hosted by the General McLane Technology Department and Warren Area High School Technology Department.
These challenges are open for all interested schools. Challenges include the sumo bot and CO₂ dragsters, spontaneous challenge and mouse trap challenge and more.
Good luck to Jacob and all the students who are testing their skills this weekend!
General McLane students move on to Regional Choir
January 21, 2020
Seven General McLane High School students are moving on to the Regional Choir competition after placing in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District choir competition this past weekend.
District Choir is made up of over 200 students from more than 40 schools in the northwest Pennsylvania region. All seven students placed in the top ten of their sections that consisted of approximately 25 students, which qualified them to move onto Regional Choir.
The students are Isaac Smith (6th chair, Bass 1), Clara Enterline (2nd chair, Alto 1), Abby Johnson (1st chair, Soprano 2), Faith Morrow (3rd chair, Alto 2), Kellen Smith (1st chair, Bass 2), Michael Corsale (6th chair, Tenor 1), and Josiah Burkett (7th chair, Tenor 1).
Michael Corsale and Abby Johnson were also chosen by audition to sing concert solos.
Congratulations to all!
General McLane Superintendent to Retire after 40-year career in the District
January 16, 2020
General McLane School District Superintendent Richard Scaletta has announced he will retire at the end of the 2019-20 school year.
Scaletta has worked in the district for 40 years – the last 10 of which he has served as superintendent.
“I have had a wonderful and rewarding career at General McLane,” he said. “I will always cherish the quality relationships I have had with students and adults in the schools and community. GM has been a very special place for me.”
He plans on spending time volunteering and still intends on being a cheerleader for public education in his retirement.
Scaletta began his teaching career in 1980 at General McLane High School as the director of choral activities and assistant director of bands. He started the district’s annual Broadway Dinner in 1981. His GM music career came full circle this fall when he played Old Deuteronomy in the school’s production of “Cats.”
He made the move to assistant high school principal in 1988 and then became the high school principal in 1993. He was named superintendent of the district in 2010.
During his time as superintendent, Scaletta advocated for all district students tirelessly.
He emphasized the importance of promoting creativity among students with Camp Invention for elementary students. He also spearheaded an effort to bring nationally-certified and accredited innovation programming, called Inventionland, to the high school and James W. Parker Middle School. General McLane School District is still the only district in northwest Pennsylvania to offer this curriculum. The Ice House Curriculum, also part of this creativity initiative, is taught at the high school.
Additionally, he expanded career development programs for all grade levels, including the Academy of Medical Arts and Engineering and Manufacturing Academy. He has worked closely with organizations including Career Street, Erie County Career Pathways Coalition, and the Erie Innovation Collaborative to create meaningful and useful opportunities for students that have helped them find the right career paths.
When a foreign language teacher retired at the high school, Scaletta influenced the move to teaching Mandarin and an Asian culture program at the high school. He also spearheaded efforts to develop a foreign student program that allows foreign students to study at General McLane for a year.
He also added the Performing Arts wing to General McLane High School, leading the effort to raise $120,000 for the project, and expanded the weight room and fundraised $20,000 of equipment for students to use.
The district was completely rebranded under Scaletta’s hand with new logos, an upgraded website and a new website called McLane Advantage for potential students. In addition, he launched a strategic planning initiative which defined the district’s mission and codified its ten core values.
Furthermore, he worked with consultants to develop a quality process for hiring teachers and non-instructional personnel and centralized a new student enrollment process with a registrar system.
Over the past decade, security and safety has swiftly transformed schools nationwide. Scaletta has remained devoted to improving both within the district. ALICE training and a district-wide app, called NaviGate Prepared, was implemented to unify security procedures. A student reunification plan was developed.
He also redesigned traffic flow patterns for student pick-up and drop off for middle school students and at Edinboro Elementary to make parents and students safer.
Scaletta has aimed to keep parents, staff and students engaged within the district. He wrote more than 460 weekly columns called “Lancer Letters,” designed to keep the community informed of the happenings in the district.
In his first year as superintendent, he worked with five municipalities to develop a residential LERTA that sought to jumpstart development in the district after more than a decade of minimal development.
In addition, he expanded a central office position to create a robust public relations program to keep the community and families informed.
Scaletta oversaw three major building renovation projects, including an upgrade and replacement of the HVAC systems and building envelope at the high school and Edinboro Elementary School, as well as a new roof at Edinboro Elementary.
General McLane High School teacher receives Golden Apple Award
January 15, 2020
A General McLane High School teacher received a special honor from one of her students last week.
Arianna Hanley, a teacher of health and physical education at the high school, received a Golden Apple Award last week, an award handed out by WJET-TV and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania weekly to a teacher in northwest Pennsylvania that a student wishes to recognize that has changed his or her life.
The segment aired Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. and will air again Thursday morning between 5 and 7 a.m.
She was nominated by Alyvia Carmosino, a senior at General McLane High School.
“I thought this was just something really cool and I thought she would appreciate it,” Carmosino said. “She really deserves it.”
Hanley, who is from Saegertown, graduated from Edinboro University in December 2017 and started in the district a month later, working in a long-term substitute teacher position and was hired following her substitute teaching.
“I was very shocked,” Hanley said. “Oh my goodness. I was so surprised. I still feel like I’m a young teacher and you hear about veterans getting awards and honors like this one.”
Carmosino has had Hanley for a teacher since she began teaching two years ago.
Students may fill out nomination forms to recognize teachers who have made a difference in their lives. The weekly winners are selected from the nominations by a panel of judges.
At the end of the school year, a Teacher of the Year will be chosen from the weekly winners by a committee of education professionals at Edinboro University.
General McLane High School students to compete in District Choir competition
January 15, 2020
Seven students from General McLane High School will compete in the District Choir competition this week under the direction of Bruce Yates.
The competition will run Thursday through Saturday at Conneaut Area High School.
Yates said the students will audition for chair placement on Thursday and if they place in the top 10 in their section, they will move on to Regional Choir, which takes place on Feb. 27 to 29 at Corry High School.
The following students are competing:
Josiah Burkett-Tenor 1
Michael Corsale-Tenor 1
Clara Enterline-Alto 1
Abby Johnson-Soprano 2
Faith Morrow-Alto 2
Isaac Smith- Bass 1
Kellen Smith-Bass 2
Good luck to all!
Sink or float? General McLane middle schoolers learn mass
January 14, 2020
A group of fifth graders in Laurie Santos’ first block class did some hands-on learning Tuesday morning.
The students were predicting whether objects would sink or float, then found the object’s mass and tested their predictions.
They also ordered objects of what they thought were lightest to heaviest and then tested to see if they were correct.
See photos from the class:
More photos from the project in her Block 4 class:
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