• Pennsbury Township supervisors decided to take a neutral stance on a Zoning Hearing Board application for a side yard setback variance. A hearing for Carmen Campenelli is set for June 7. Campenelli, of Shadow Lane, wants to put in a swimming pool on the side of his home.
• Supervisors approved a resolution establishing procedures for consultants involved in township pension plans to show they have no conflicts of interest. Solicitor Tom Oeste said the resolution was needed because of changes to the state’s Pension Funding Act made in 2009.
• Emergency Management Coordinator Lloyd Roach made a brief presentation to supervisors regarding options for citizens being notified of road closures and emergencies. One option is a reverse 911 call to home phones from the county. Another system, Ready to Notify, also calls cell phones, pagers and sends texts to Smart Phones. People must voluntarily subscribe to that one. The county pays for both systems. There is also a third system run by a private company, but the township pays for that service. Supervisors will review the information Roach provided before making a decision, though Roach did recommend system two. Roach said he would be willing to write an explanation for the township newsletter.
Hillendale Elementary School fifth-graders Sam Schriver and Taylor Godek, with artist Kathryn McEntee, explain aspects of their rocket ship project.
A two-week artist in residence program became more than a matter of up-cycling old plastic water bottles.
By Rich Schwartzman
On the surface, it was a simple project, make something out of old plastic water bottles. But, an artist in residence program turned into lessons on creative problem solving for Hillendale Elementary School fifth-graders, according to artist Kathryn McEntee.
McEntee, a sculptor, was this year’s artist in residence at Hillendale. She said of the program, “It was about the creative process that they had to go through and problem solve along the way.”
Her project, she said, was to inspire creativity using nothing but water bottles. Specific projects — chosen by the individual classes — included building a rocket ship, a chandelier and a marble maze.
“We were incorporating the idea of recycling, which is the theme at Hillendale this year for the entire school,” said McEntee.
She added that the fifth-graders were charged with the idea of how water bottles could be used to inspire creativity.
“Everything was completely driven by the kids making choices and doing a lot of creative mind-mapping,” she said, “and pushing themselves to think, ‘Yes, we’d like to do something huge, but what can we actually do?’”
McEntee said the kids rose to the occasion, brainstorming about what water bottles could be turned into, and how it would be inspirational to the younger kids.” She called the project a legacy to the school and younger students.
The students had many discussions to make, based on what money was available to work on a project, how many bottles they had to work with and then dealing with time constraints.
More than 330 plastic bottles were used for the projects. They were cleaned, cut and colored by the students. The total project time was two weeks, but the actual construction time was four days, working one hour per day. Students also had to decide how to divvy up the work among the class members, McEntee said.
“In understanding all those pieces of the puzzle,” McEntee said, “is how they made choices, sometime hard choices because they weren’t what they initially wanted to do. Some of the things they had to learn was there were always more than one right answer and one way to do things and in order to succeed you’re probably going to make a number of mistakes. We were all about trying every idea no matter how crazy it was.”
She said the entire two-week period was about tapping into the creative mind. “What we now know is that 80 percent of creativity is learned.”
McEntee said creativity is a muscle that needs to be exercised like any other muscle. “Every day we did creative muscle-building exercises that would focus them closer to their goals.”
She said the exercises, asking themselves how they would be affected by the project, then asking how other students would be affected, then how it might affect the community.
School Principal Steve Dissinger said the project tied in very well with the theme of recycling, but also connected to upcycling, converting waste materials into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value. He was also impressed with the creative problem solving aspect.
“Everything they used to create their projects were things that we would normally throw into the trash, so there’s the whole upcycling kind of concept behind everything that they’ve done. That’s the recycling piece of it. The other part of it, that is impressive to me, is that it’s not so much the final project that they come out with, but it’s the thought process that they go through…It’s the whole idea of taking something that looks like junk and let’s create a useful product.”
Dissinger said he also liked the idea that while working in small groups, the kids learned to work together even while having different ideas.
There were other lessons learned, according to McEntee. The students learned that it’s not just artists and poets who need to be creative, but athletes and teachers need creativity as well. So do moms and scientists.
St. Cornelius School students spend a day of fun during the annual Fun Fair. Students also raised $8,000 for the computer lab.
Fun Fair at St. Cornelius; scavenger hunt at CFHS; Alzheimer’s Association holds fund-raiser
• St. Cornelius School held its annual Fun Fair on May 11. In addition to the games and music, there was also a one-hour 45-minute walk-a-thon where students walked the school grounds to raise money for the computer lab. They raised $8,000.
• The Alzheimer’s Association Delaware Valley Chapter will hold its annual An Affair to Remember fund-raising event on May 20, at Harry’s Savoy Grill and Ballroom in Wilmington from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. There are approximately 300,000 people in the Delaware Valley coping with Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder. Statistics show that for every person with the disease, at least 3 or 4 others are affected and involved in the care-giving process. The money generated from An Affair to Remember helps to provide education and support to these citizens through numerous programs. To register for this exciting event, please contact Katie Macklin at 800-272-3900 or katie.macklin@alz.org. You can also purchase tickets at www.anaffairtoremember2012.kintera.org.
• State Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-9, of Chester, will host a Senior Expo on Thursday, May 24, from 10 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Neumann University in Aston. The Expo will feature more than 50 exhibitors offering information on programs of interest to seniors. Scheduled exhibitors include the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, the Delaware County Office of Services for the Aging, Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania, AARP, and the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. The event will also feature free health screenings, nutrition tips, and information on resources available to seniors in Pennsylvania.
• The Phyllis Recca Foundation, a non-profit entity that supports children’s initiatives, is sponsoring three historic scavenger hunts for kids aged 9-14. The hunts are scheduled for June 3 at the Chadds Ford Historical Society, July 22 at Brandywine Battlefield and August 19 at the Christian Sanderson Museum. All events will feature questions about interesting items of historical significance specific to each location. Each scavenger hunt is “weather friendly” and held indoors. The cost is $3 per child; members of each organization may visit the location at no charge. The hunts take place on each scheduled date from 1-4 p.m.; parents or guardians are required for supervision. For more information, please visit www.phyllisreccafoundation.org or contact each venue for details.
Faith and Daisy came from different backgrounds, but when they met it was love at first woof. Faith, a previously stray Lab mix, and Daisy, a surrendered fox hound mix, are two affectionate and happy-go-lucky girls who met at the shelter and are now housed together while they wait for their new home. Some may call them “senior dogs,” but don’t let them hear you say that. Both Faith and Daisy still have the spunk to enjoy long walks and play time outside, but are laid back enough to nap on the couch. They truly enjoy the company of people and other animals and are sure to make wonderful companions for any family. Now is the perfect time to adopt two pets. For a limited time, the Chester County SPCA is featuring a Perfect Pairs Adoption Promotion in which pairs of animals can be adopted for a reduced adoption fee – adopt one pet at the regular adoption fee, and the second fee is 80% off. Faith and Daisy qualify for this program, and their total adoption fee is $150. If you are able to provide Faith and Daisy, or any of our other animals here at the shelter a home, visit the Chester County SPCA at 1212 Phoenixville Pike in West Goshen or call 610-692-6113. Faith and Daisy’s registration numbers are 96807431 and 96807845. To meet some of our other adoptable animals, visit the shelter or log onto www.ccspca.org. Not quite ready to adopt? Consider becoming a foster paren. CCSPCA is particularly in need of kitten fosters at this time. Additional information and applications are available online or at the shelter.
The school district is looking for ways to cut some programs that have low enrollment.
By Jim Phreaner
Unionville Chadds Ford School District faces at least three years of challenging financial issues that Superintendent John Sanville described as an “economic tsunami.”
The UCFSD Board Finance Committee Meeting held met Monday night prior to the monthly work session was the forum for the grim financial forecast.
During the U-CFSD Finance Committee meeting, Sanville said local revenue forecasts are flat, and that the economy is not generating any increase in real estate transfer taxes and other local revenue sources.
“Even our most conservative budget forecasts,” Sanville said, “indicate next year’s budget shortfall may be $1,500,000. The shortfall will increase another $1,500,000 in each of the next succeeding 2014-15 and 2015-16 school budgets. Contributing factors include the spiraling cost of funding pensions and salary and benefit costs. These projected shortfalls are very significant as our entire budget is approximately $71 million dollars.”
District Business Manager Robert Cochran said the district is looking for ways to asve.
“We are employing a variety of strategies to find educational programs to cut where there is low student enrollment. Recent examples have been middle school German language and high school consumer science. We are also collaborating with the transportation and support staff employee groups for suggestions to generate savings.”
Cochran also reported on the recently released homestead / farmstead exclusion calculation, saying “This property relief is generated from designated profits from Pennsylvania gaming activities. The calculated relief of $223 per property this year is almost the same amount of last year’s property tax relief. Each school tax bill will reflect a reduction in assessed property valuation which will correspond to a $223 reduction in school tax.”
The May 14 district work session followed their standard business agenda that previewed the monthly school board meeting which will be held at Pocopson Elementary School at 7:30 p.m. on Monday May 21. School Board Director Kathleen Do led a discussion of student wellness and use of district facility policies for approval on May 21 and the first readings of various board policies.
According to Do, “We live in a rapidly changing technology world and our school district policies need updating.”
She added the district bullying policy remains an important topic of discussion.”
Public comment at the end of the work session featured Birmingham Township resident Harry Miller’s remarks about the Republican administration in Harrisburg obligation to change the public school employee defined benefit pension benefit.
“DuPont, Pfizer and most large corporate employers have abandoned defined benefit pensions as they are noncompetitive and prohibitively expensive. The private sector employers now have enhanced 401k defined contribution plans. Governor Corbett’s administration has the support of Republican controlled Senate and legislature to clean up the pension mess created by former Gov. Tom Ridge,” Miller said.
• A 35-year-old man, reportedly from Chadds Ford, was charged with DUI and disorderly conduct following an incident at the Exxon gas station at routes 1 and 202. According to a report, state police were called to the area near Hooters restaurant because a man was intoxicated and causing a disturbance. When police arrived, the suspect, Brian Michael Maas, was seen in the Holiday Inn Express parking lot. Maas, the police report said, failed to comply with lawful orders and drove his car to the Exxon station where he was determined to be under the influence and subsequently arrested. The incident happened May 9 at 11:34 p.m.
• The Anthropologie store in Concord Township was ripped off on May 9. A police report said someone stole eight shirts valued at $88.
• Three people are suspected of stealing $500 worth of copper pipe from the Sentinel Motel on Route 202. Police said the three, who were not identified in the report, were registered to the room where the theft happened. The piping taken was used for the room’s baseboard heating.
What we may deem as based on common sense may need to be revised—or at least redirected. Psychologist Timothy Wilson, in his book “Redirect,” takes to task many sacred cows, not with the bravado of “opinion,” but with the diligent work of collating the scientific research that proves or disproves certain social programs as well as personal ingrained attitudes. His basic point is that we form subjective interpretations “quickly and unconsciously,” so that we not so much observe our world as interpret it.
Kurt Lewin, a social psychologist of the 1930s and 1940s, recognized this and wanted to not only “view a problem through other people’s eyes,” but also wanted to change viewpoints with simple interventions. Wilson transforms Lewin’s theories into an approach he calls “story editing,” a way to “redirect people’s narratives about themselves and the social world in a way that leads to lasting changes in behavior.”
Wilson cites the work of James Pennebaker who has shown in his research that writing and re-writing one’s stressful or traumatic narrative can be healing. People in Pennebaker’s studies may start out with incoherent stories, seemingly random and meaningless. But with each successive day of the writing of the events, the narrators gain distance and can reframe what occurred and find meaning in their stories.
Not so with Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, which was once touted as the most common sense way to treat traumatic stress. CISD was often used with police and fire fighters, until research showed that it was often more harmful than helpful. It turns out that CISD may have been too much, too soon, and may have hindered the natural process of healing by leaving people stuck in their traumatic stories.
Beyond writing ourselves out of traumatic events, we may also need “story prompting.” Wilson notes that there are situations in which we may need a little nudge. He gives the example of students who were doing poorly beginning college. The simple “prompt” they needed to get out of a negative defeatist spiral was to hear a talk on how many students struggle at first and then improved their grades. In Wilson’s study, this was enough to help reverse the negative thinking of “I don’t belong here” or “I’m not good enough,” etc.
Another redirect technique is the “do good, be good” approach which involves changing people’s behavior first. In Alcoholics Anonymous, people refer to this as “Fake it ‘til you make it.” In other words, do the behavior you want to be. Our behaviors shape our personal narratives. So practicing random acts of kindness is more than a bumper sticker!
While these redirect techniques work, Wilson debunks another acronym that doesn’t: D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). He notes that research studies have shown that the program is ineffective. What does work is Life Skills Training. LST teaches assertiveness so kids will know how to say “No”, and engenders a general sense of wellbeing and self–efficacy, which diminishes interest in drugs or alcohol.
Wilson covers many relevant topics: how to be better parents by shaping our kids’ narratives; how volunteering can prevent teen pregnancies and teen violence; the efficacy of the Big Brother and Big Sister programs; stereotypes and prejudices.
His book is a hopeful read based on solid evidence for what works and what doesn’t. There is something to be gleaned from it for practically everyone. However, for parents, teachers, school administrators, and legislators, it should be required reading.
* Kayta Curzie Gajdos holds a doctorate in counseling psychology and is in private practice in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. She welcomes comments at MindMatters@DrGajdos.com or 610-388-2888. Past columns are posted to http://www.drgajdos.com.
The issue of gay marriage and the myriad debates surrounding it won’t be going away anytime soon. Even recent comments from President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden won’t put them to rest. Yet, those comments exemplify the ongoing nature of the issue.
As Mr. Obama said, his views have evolved. Good for him for admitting a change in attitude.
Attitudes do evolve, at least for many people, and that’s a good thing. While racism still exists, fewer people live that way. Attitudes about gays themselves have also changed. There was a time when homosexuality itself was a punishable offense. No more because the attitudes of most people have evolved to a greater understanding and acceptance.
Now, though, many are concerned about what gay or lesbian marriage may do to the institution of marriage itself. The divide in opinion usually stems from the use of the word marriage when applied to gay and lesbian couples who want to join their lives the way straight men and women do.
Would it be easier for the majority if those advocating gay and lesbian marriage used the words civil unions? Yes, but that’s an easy way out and doesn’t solve the issue of equal rights.
As Bill Frezza wrote in a recent Forbes op/ed piece:
“Gay marriage, or marriage equality, may be the perfect culture war battle. The populace seems roughly balanced between opposing views. These views are evolving as more citizens become comfortable with, or at least feel less threatened by, homosexuality. And the stakes are minimal relative to the more important challenges we face. This makes conditions ripe for the battle to go on for a long time.”
Frezza writes that the conventional divide comes from the conservative right’s religious view that the family is the nucleus of society while the progressive left sees a constant change in social norms and that the government should keep up with those changes.
Yet change for the sake of change is no more valid than holding onto outmoded thinking for the sake of tradition.
The evolution of attitude here begins when one lets go of the traditional use of the word marriage and starts thinking about the rights of individuals and which concept takes precedence.
The homosexual community has advocated for “marriage” because of tax and other advantages made available to married couples, and Frezza offers one solution in the form of a proposed constitutional amendment:
“Congress shall make no law, nor enact any tax, nor provide any entitlement that discriminates in any way between married and unmarried persons, nor shall any State deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws irrespective of any matrimonial status that may or may not be conferred upon them by churches or the States, respectively.”
Such an amendment won’t end the controversy, but it does address the more important issue of equal rights without getting the federal government involved in the definition of marriage.
Blanche E. Robertson, 99, of New London, died Monday, May 14, at Harrison Senior Living in Christiana. She was the wife of William Robertson, who died in 1996, and with whom she shared 28 years of marriage. Her first husband of 28 years, Andrew W. Keegan, Jr., died in 1958.
Born in Hazelton, she was the daughter of the late Brinton and Alice Billings Brobst.
Mrs. Robertson was a homemaker. She loved flowers and was an avid reader.
She was a member of the New London Baptist Church and enjoyed singing in the church choir.
She is survived by two sons, Andrew W. Keegan, III of New London, and James B. Keegan of Norwood; four daughters, B. K. Moore and her husband Robert of Cudjoe Key, Fla., Dorothy Burry and her husband Paul of Cudjoe Key, Fla., Patricia Harron and her husband William of Georgetown, Texas and Roberta K. Petrillo and her husband Michael of Aston; 22 grandchildren, 48 great grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren.
She was the last survivor of nine children.
You are invited to attend her Memorial service at 3 p.m. on Monday, May 21, at the New London Baptist Church, 226 Pennocks Bridge Road in West Grove. A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, May 21, 2012 at Arlington Cemetery, 2900 State Road, in Drexel Hill.
In memory of Blanche, a contribution may be made to the New London Baptist Church. 226 Pennocks Bridge Road, West Grove, PA 19390.
Arrangements by the Cleveland & Grieco Funeral Home, Avondale, (Phone: 610-268-2166).
• Pennsbury Township supervisors decided to take a neutral stance on a Zoning Hearing Board application for a side yard setback variance. A hearing for Carmen Campenelli is set for June 7. Campenelli, of Shadow Lane, wants to put in a swimming pool on the side of his home.
