Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Spring-Ford board members talk about being prepared for future capital projects.
The financial aspects of running the Western Montgomery County Career and Technology Center came up for discussion at Monday night's Spring-Ford school board meeting. Last year's renovation of the Western Center was a "ten year fight," said board member Joseph Ciresi. Several board members made comments that indicated they felt there should be a change in how the funding responsibility is apportioned. Business manager Tim Anspach explained that the current by-laws require each school to pay a percentage of the funding for capital projects (such as renovations) according to the market value of their districts as well as the number of students using the school from that district. "If you go on just market value, as you know, Spring-Ford has …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Committee continues sign discussion
The Western Montgomery Career and Technology Center's Joint Operating Committee continued discussing signage for the school property at Monday's monthly meeting. The subject was tabled last month because Spring-Ford's representative Joseph Ciresi was absent, and he has been spearheading the research project on new signs. Committee chair William Scott said last month during the meeting that he didn't feel it would be fair to discuss it without Ciresi. Ciresi said he feels the school definitely needs new signs. "We need a sign whether it's lit or not lit," Ciresi said. "Those A-frame signs look terrible." The committee has expressed a preference for lighted signs. The idea of a digital message sign has come up, but the board decided to go …
Center's operating budget will be sent back to school boards for vote
The Western Montgomery Career and Technology Center's Joint Operating Committee voted to approve the 2012-2013 budget, but not without some controversy. Spring-Ford Area School District's three representatives, Joseph Ciresi, Dawn Heine and Edward Dressler, all voted "no" on the operating budget, while the rest of the committee (minus two absent members) voted "yes". The budget will now go back to the three sending districts' boards for discussion and vote. The sticking point for Spring-Ford's representatives is the lack of a capital projects reserve fund in the budget. A reserve fund would pay for any capital projects (renovations, repairs, etc.) that might come up. Without a reserve fund, the three sending districts would have to find …
Monday, April 23, 2012
Pennsylvania’s Best Auto Students Compete for Millions in Scholarship Dollars
and Ford/AAA Auto Skills State Title
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Monday, April 23, 2012
The following release was submitted by Theresa Podguski, Director of Public Affairs for AAA East Central: (ALLENTOWN, PA, April 19, 2012) – Twenty high school automotive students from across Pennsylvania will compete for scholarships in the automotive industry and the chance to advance to the National Finals and earn the title of “America’s Next Top Auto Technicians,” in the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition. The competition, will take place at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at ATC (Automotive Training Center), 900 Johnsville Boulevard, Warminster, PA, targets students looking to jumpstart a career as automotive service technicians. “The Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition is one of the ways in which AAA and Ford …
Friday, April 20, 2012
Limerick-to-Limerick exchange program, Western Center budget also discussed.
The Spring-Ford Area School District Board of Education met for its work session meeting on Monday night at the 10-12 Center. At the meeting, Board President and Tom DiBello reported the finance committee is unofficially projecting a 2-percent tax increase for the 2012-13 budget. "We currently have the working budget down to about $126 million," DiBello said. "Given the amount and changes to revenue, the district is looking at a $1.67 million deficit, which equates to a 2-percent tax increase to cover." DiBello said the committee worked hard after the preliminary budget was comprised, decreasing the deficit from about $5 million. "I want to point out the big expenditures that have increased in district – retirement and appeasers are a $2.2…
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Committee members discuss budgetary reserve issue
Western Montgomery Career and Technology Center principal Robert Weneck announced at Monday's Joint Operating Committee meeting that, as of Monday, the school's enrollment will increase about 17% from last year. "We had outstanding recruitment efforts by teachers and staff and from community events," Weneck said. This past year, the school and the sending districts changed their recruiting tactics. Both Spring-Ford and Pottsgrove districts sent all their freshmen on visits to the school. Weneck said that after those visits, the school followed up with students and those who were interested were allowed to come back and spend a half-day in the classes of the program they wanted to explore. Administrative Director Joe Greb said the districts…
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Western Montgomery Career and Technical Center
77 Graterford Rd, Royersford, PA
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Monday, April 2, 2012
A look at what's going on at our local vocational school.
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Monday, April 2, 2012
The following information was submitted by Cindy Prindle, Student Success Coordinator at the Western Montgomery Career and Technology Center: Every year SkillsUSA has a State Initiative to help a charity within our community; this year the State Initiative is Alex's Lemonade Stand. From March 5 - 16, SkillsUSA held their State Initiative for Alex's Lemonade Stand with the help of a competition between the shop/lab areas with “Money Wars.” The students each had their own container when they first entered the school; they would put pennies into their container to “add” to their total and put silver coins into other shop/lab areas container to sabotage their totals. Whoever had the highest total at the end of the two weeks would win a Pizza…
Monday, February 27, 2012
A recap of last month's leadership and skills competition for vocational schools.
The Western Montgomery Career and Technology Center, located in Royersford, played host to the annual district competition of the SkillsUSA contest on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. SkillsUSA is a compilation of vocational skills and leadership competitions for vocational students across the country. All-in-all, the Western Center kids did an outstanding job, placing in the top three in 23 categories, including 10 first place performances. Those first place students will no prepare for the state tournament, which is being held in Hershey on April 18-20. There are eight technical schools and two post-secondary schools in the Western Center's district (District 2) according to Student Success Coordinator and SkillsUSA Advisor Cindy Prindle. Prindle, …
Friday, February 24, 2012
There was a lot of work done in February by board committees in the Spring-Ford Area School District.
The Spring-Ford Area School District board of education met for a work session on Tuesday night at Spring-Ford High School. The meeting was comprised mostly of committee reports, which revealed a tremendous amount of work that was done throughout the month of February. Board President Tom DiBello filled in at the curriculum and technology meetings, which were held earlier in the month. He gave full reports on both. Telephone system upgrade - There was a long conversation regarding upgrading the current system, which is about three years past its life expectancy. DiBello indicated the committee expressed a need to start putting a plan in place to replace the system. Director of Technology Steve Reynolds provided the committee with a lot of…
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Yet another project by the Environmental Design department
The Environmental Design department at the Western Montgomery Career and Technology Center is hosting its annual fresh flower sale for Valentine's Day. Teacher Barbara Mueller said the sale will be taking place this Monday and Tuesday and the department is currently gathering order forms from customers both inside and outside of the building. "Students are collecting orders from their home schools and their teachers," Mueller said. The three sending schools are Spring-Ford, Upper Perkiomen and Lower Pottsgrove. The kids do year-round flower arrangements as a part of the program. The sale includes pink roses, red roses, orange/yellow roses, a dozen long-stem roses boed with greens and filler flowers, half a dozen long-stem roses with greens…
Kathy
8:54 pm on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
The Western Center with its vastly improved facilities is now a gem. Utilization of the dental lab and graphic design/full color printing capabilities makes sense for the students and the surrounding communities. What does NOT make sense is reducing the hours of the school-to-work coordinator. That position is the key to connect Western Center students with well paying local jobs. Please REthink … more ›