[naviga:h3]Mars student seeks book donations[/naviga:h3]

Mars Area High School junior Patricio Beltran is holding a book drive to benefit children in need in Central and South America.

English and Spanish language children’s books as well as coloring books may be dropped off at Mars Area High School’s main office. The books will be donated to Global Links, a medical relief and development organization, and will be distributed to hospitals in resource-poor communities.

For more information, visit www.globallinks.org.

[naviga:h3]SV pandemic plan captures attention[/naviga:h3]

Seneca Valley’s approach to teaching during the pandemic caught the attention of experts in the education field.

The district was invited to participate in a nationally published white paper by the National Center on Education and The Economy (NCEE). In the document, school districts from across the country were interviewed and shared their pandemic stories.

The result is “The Mother of Reinvention: How System Leaders Respond in a Crisis,” which is available on the NCEE website.

The paper, written in partnership with the National Institute for School Leadership, talks to superintendents about the varied approaches they took leading up to the pandemic and the choices they made in rapid succession during it, including their philosophies.

“I have always as a leader believed you get more out of teachers if you treat them as professionals and then get out of the way,” said Tracy Vitale, district superintendent.

[naviga:h3]Grant helps provide water to Woodlands[/naviga:h3]

The 60 families in The Woodlands neighborhood in Connoquenessing Township will continue to have access to donated water for 32 weeks, thanks to a local group.

Marcellus Outreach Butler has secured a $13,484 grant from the Ohio River Valley COVID-19 Response Team to provide the water to those in the neighborhood who lost their well water in 2010.

Eight of the neighbors settled a lawsuit in 2018 against the former Rex Energy, which they blamed for fouling or eliminating their water supplies by fracking 30 wells around the neighborhood beginning in 2010.

Rex Energy continued to deny responsibility for The Woodlands’ water woes as it paid the settlement.

A news release from Marcellus Outreach Butler said the water bank at White Oak Springs Presbyterian Church was particularly stressed during the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ohio River Valley COVID-19 Response Fund grants are made available to environmental groups extending support to their communities and to local nonprofits responding to diverse and dynamic needs during the pandemic.