It's an understatement to say that Thursday's celebration at Sugarcreek Elementary School in Armstrong County was well deserved.

It was made possible because of what can best be decribed as a monumental effort by students, teachers, administration, parents and everyone else connected with the school.

That effort resulted in the school receiving federal designation as a Blue Ribbon School. It's an award accorded to only about 250 public schools nationwide each year in recognition of achieving the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind law, or showing great improvement toward that end.

At Sugarcreek, in one key testing area, 100 percent of the students scored proficient two out of the past three years. And, the U.S. Department of Education took particular notice of the school's test scores because, under federal guidelines, more than half of the students are considered economically disadvantaged. Thus, as state Sen. Don White, R-41st, correctly noted during the celebration, the award puts the school in very elite company.

Sugarcreek School has about 260 students in kindergarten through Grade 6, and Thursday's celebration was a sea of blue T-shirts worn by the students as they assembled for their special recognition.

For the students, it will be a recognition that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives. For the school, it is an honor that can be cherished and serve as an example for generations of students to come.

A headline in Friday's Butler Eagle proclaimed the message "Mars catches recycling fever." Indeed, Mars Middle School is "afflicted" with that environmentally friendly ailment, and the school merits praise for what it will be doing.Money raised by the collection effort will go into an environmental fund, to be used to buy an environmentally friendly item later in the school year.Not only will the effort focus on common items such as newspapers, junk mail, catalogs and other paper, which will be recycled; an interesting focus of the collection also will be old athletic shoes that will be directed to Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program.According to science teacher Mary Jo Phillips, who has been overseeing the school's environmental committee for six years and who is spearheading the project, shoes collected will be recycled into track and playground surfaces, basketball and tennis courts and gymnasium floors.Additionally, the committee will be collecting new or gently used sweaters and coats until Jan. 29, with the items to be donated to the food bank at Lighthouse Foundation in Middlesex Township. They'll be given to needy families during the weekly food distribution.Also benefiting from the school's recycling emphasis will be Habitat for Humanity, Mars History and Landmarks Society, and Consolidated Communications.Consolidated will be receiving old phone books that will be used in the manufacture of ceiling tiles. Tabs from aluminum cans will benefit the History and Landmarks Society, and the cans will help raise money for Habitat for Humanity.The school also will be collecting used ink and toner cartridges.It is no small endeavor that the school is pursuing.Phillips praised the generosity of Mars residents. But just as important is the commendable energy, attitude and commitment not only of herself but others who will help with the collection and eventual distribution of the items.

Connoquenessing Township is exercising its right in appealing a ruling against the municipality by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. That ruling ordered the township to offer reinstatement to two former street workers who were fired in April and pay them back pay and benefits, including interest at the rate of 6 percent.The ruling also ordered that the township end interference with union labor business, including resistance to collective bargaining.But while the township has the right to appeal and a majority of the supervisors opted for that action, the supervisors were wrong in not setting aside money in the township's 2010 budget for payments to the fired workers, if the appeal is unsuccessful. That's not sound budget management."We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," supervisors Chairwoman Evelyn Hockenberry said.It's the right of residents to know how the township expects to meet financial obligations. That's why municipalities' budgets are public information.<B><I> — J.R.K.</B></I>