Cheer

Cheers and best wishes to Shirlann Harmon. A junior class student at Seneca Valley High School, Shirlann will represent students from around the state as an adviser to the state Board of Education.

Shirlann was recently chosen to a two-year term as a non-voting advisory member. She is one of only two high school students, and the only junior, picked for the position.

To be considered for the position, she had to submit a resume, essays and letters of recommendation and then be interviewed by members of the Pennsylvania Association of Student Councils.

She said she and five other finalists went to Harrisburg and made presentations on the differences between the federal acts No Child Left Behind and Every Student Succeeds. They also held a roundtable discussion on whether or not they thought a college education is important.

Harmon doesn’t vote and can’t do much during the business meetings, but she does get to participate in conversations with the 21 voting board members.

Jeer

It’s one thing that the new Pittsburgh Schools superintendent, Anthony Hamlet, is reported to have enhanced his resume with plagiarized and exaggerated items. It’s another thing entirely that the Pittsburgh Public Schools Board let him get away with it.

Hamlet doesn’t even start his $210,000-a-year job until July 1, yet aleady he has had to defend himself against claims he did not improve schools in Palm Beach County, Fla., as dramatically as he has claimed.

It was in the course of investigating Hamlet’s performance record in Florida that Pittsburgh media outlets discovered word-for-word similarities between his writings and, in at least one instance, a Washington Post editorial about educational philosphy and transformational leadership.

Now red-faced school board members are asking why the $100,000 consultant they hired did not do a better job fact-checking Hamlet’s application. Maybe it’s partly because the board didn’t do a very good job vetting the consultant, who was offered a no-bid contract after the board president and one other board member heard him speak at a conference.

And while the board says they expected the consultant to perform a routine background check on all the candidates, their contract did not specify it.

Cheer

Cheers to 10-year-old Cassidy McCune, whose seizure disorder gets in the way of being a carefree kid who loves the outdoors. Cassidy’s mother, Nicole McCune, says her daughter “looks pretty normal on the outside, but makes life quite difficult at times.”

But after a weekend of work by a dozen volunteers, the Slippery Rock area girl and her family have a special play area all their own. The volunteers from Team Depot, a charity arm of national retailer Home Depot, transformed the family’s backyard on Parklane Drive to feature a new, modified clubhouse and play area for Cassidy. They also performed general upkeep work and outdoor home repairs.

Cassidy is non-verbal. She communicates mostly through hand gestures, facial expressions and noises.

McCune’s boyfriend, David Loch, said Cassidy might not be able to speak, but he sees joy in her reaction to the group’s work.

“I see a smile that is endless,” Loch said.