(Story and photos by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Curtis Walsh)

(Chippewa Township, PA)  As I arrived at Blackhawk High School, the parking lot was nearly full as a crowd of approximately 75 individuals worked there way into the school, filling the hallways.  The 3 hour long meeting started off with a long presentation by Superintendent Dr. Robert Postupac on the district plans for returning to school.  He stated that as of the moment the district will not require students to be masked or vaccinated.  The Board said they believe the requirement of vaccines for students would be an unnecessary liability and the benefits don’t outweigh the risks.  The plan is for the school to be open 5 days a week at full capacity with mask wearing being anyone’s choice, both in school and on school transportation.  The superintendent assured that the district will not tolerate any negative behavior to anyone wearing or not wearing masks.  He also noted that the district will continue to not participate in any type of contact tracing, stating that the Dept. of Health threatened to shut down one of their buildings this past year and went as far as trying to make the district perform contact tracing of students families over weekends. One board member stated that he is “a little bit afraid of government right now”  which prompted a big applause from the public.  When it became time for public comments, many took to the podium.  Some examples of statements people made were comments about segregation between vaccinated and unvaccinated people, requests for certain signage regarding masks and social distancing to be taken down, and some going as far as to say the mask wearing was child abuse.  There were also concerns of school security, with parents stating it was too easy to take their child from school, without having to show their uncovered face or any type of identification.  Students of the district voiced their opinions as well with a 9th grader saying that virtual learning caused her grades to plummet and masks gave her headaches, while a 4th grader stated he didn’t have anyone at home to help him with school, and that it was too easy for him to play video games rather than do his school work.  One parent challenged the school board to use only a school issued iPad moving forward, stating that her 14 year old said he “forgot what it feels like to write with a pencil”.  Multiple students are also said to be repeating their grade.  After around 2 and a half hours of public comments, the normal meeting resumed.  The June bills were paid with a general fund budget of $199,894.97, Capitol Projects Fund at $20,897.72, and the cafeteria fund of $89,663.96.  The board approved a 5 year extension for Dr. Robert Postupac after an executive session, and hired Robert Puskas as assistant high school principal. Zach Hayward was hired as athletic director.  The purchase of 10 cafeteria tables was also approved at a cost of $11,306.50.

(Center Twp. PA)  Many were in attendance this morning at the Beaver County Recovery Summit in the CCBC Golden Dome to hear a variety of speakers discuss the recovery of Beaver County.  The event started off with a message from Dr. Roger Davis followed by a segment entitled Beaver County Resiliency with speakers Helen Kissick and Daniel Rossi-Keen, PhD. County Commissioners Dan Camp and Jack Manning took to the microphones to discuss the reopening of the county along with video messages by Congressman Connor Lamb and Senator Bob Casey.  Norm Mitry, President/CEO of Heritage Valley Health System gave his outlook on the post pandemic future followed by Jennifer Shoaf, Deputy Chief Academic Officer of PA Cyber, giving her thoughts on the things we can take away from the pandemic, socially and emotionally.   Charles “Skip” Homan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Beaver County Partnership, Steven M. Ross, PhD Senior Research Scientist and Professor at the Center for Research  and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University, and Senator Camera Bartolotta, for Pennsylvania’s 46^th District, all took the stage to discuss building the future of education in Beaver County. The Beaver County Partnership Quality Education Council (QEC), joined in a collaboration with John Hopkins University to conduct interviews with superintendents, board presidents, college presidents, legislators, municipal leaders, business owners, and other community stakeholders.  Their goal was to gather information on current cost, equity, and quality of education within the county.  They were also trying to learn of any community structural, policy, and cultural issues that could impact education.  Ami Gatts, John Tkach, Larry Nelson, and David A. Wytiaz,  Administrative Director, Beaver County Career and Technology Center spoke on the future of workplace development during a segment that was moderated by John Goberish, Dean/School of Industrial Technology & Continuing Education, Community College of Beaver County.  Bethany Williams gave updates on the work being done by the Beaver County Regional Council of Governments, followed by Lew Villotti and Michael Henderson speaking on business attraction in a post pandemic environment.  Lisa Vesolich, Mike Rubino, and  Dr. Cheryl King closed out the morning with a discussion of Non-Profit Resources & Reflections in Beaver County. The afternoon consisted of a couple more speaking points, one being the construction and and operations of the Shell Plant and the other being small businesses in our region.  All together, the summit was a big success with a lot of informative information on where Beaver County currently stands and how it will continue to grow.

HARRISBURG – Rep. Joshua D. Kail (R-Beaver/Washington) issued the following statement regarding the findings of the economic impact study on the Shell petrochemical facility in Potter Township, Beaver County.

“The facility, known as the cracker plant, is a tremendous asset to Beaver County, the region and Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth is a more competitive, fruitful place for business when opportunities like this present themselves. This 800-acre facility will undoubtedly have significant bearing on the state economy now and in the future. It is now our job to leverage this asset to boost manufacturing opportunities.

“As a state representative, I take great pride in economic prosperity and job creation. There have been employment opportunities missed in the Commonwealth, but I am proud that we were able to capitalize on this chance to bring economic stability and jobs to the region. During the construction phase, nearly 8,000 workers were employed at the pinnacle of this project. Once the facility is operational, hundreds of workers will be employed to carry out day-to-day tasks. It is time to put Pennsylvanians back to work.

“I thank professors Steve Clinton, Marcel Minuolo and Brian O’Roark, as well as Robert Morris University (RMU), for conducting this important study. I also extend my gratitude to Shell for commissioning RMU to carry out this project. I look forward to the facility’s first workday in 2022.”

(Pittsburgh, Pa.) Well if you’re Irish you get a second day to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day Parade will now be held on Saturday September 18, 2021. The original parade that is traditionally held on St. Patrick’s Day Weekend was canceled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. The reason that September 18 was picked is because it is the half way point to St. Patrick’s Day

Today is the final day for parents to decide if they would like for their child to repeat their previous grade in school .Back in June, Governor Wolf signed off on a law that allows students who were enrolled during the 2020-2021 school year to repeat their grade in an effort to make up for any lost educational opportunities because of COVID-19.

Even if the student met academic requirements, they are still permitted to repeat the grade.

If you’ve decided that you want your child to repeat a grade, you must submit a form that you can find on the department of education’s website. It must be submitted by Thursday.

Pennsylvania state university system merges 6 schools into 2
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Six of Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities are being consolidated into two new institutions. The State System of Higher Education’s governing board voted unanimously on Wednesday for the plan that will begin to be implemented in about a year. It calls for Bloomsburg, Mansfield and Lock Haven universities in northern Pennsylvania to form one institution. The other will be formed from California, Clarion and Edinboro universities in western Pennsylvania. They’ll have new names that haven’t been selected. The plan is to keep all six campuses open with their own identities and brands, including existing sports teams.

Money in the bank: Child tax credit dollars head to parents
By JOSH BOAK Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is starting to deposit child tax credit money into the accounts of more than 35 million families. President Joe Biden has expanded the credit for one year as part of coronavirus relief. The result is that most families will now qualify for monthly payments of as much as $300 per child beginning Thursday. Biden is seeking to extend the payments and make them permanent. He says that would cut child poverty in half and help economic growth. Some Republican lawmakers say the payments will make parents less likely to work.