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Schools get grants for STEAM
The Allegheny Intermediate Unit's Center for Creativity has distributed $212,000 in grants to 20 school districts. The money funds initiatives that engage students in STEAM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics - initiatives.
Individual grants were at least $5,000, but five school districts - Allegheny Valley, Carlynton, Elizabeth Forward, Hampton and Washington, each received $20,000.
Other districts we: Chartiers Valley, Cornell, Fort Cherry, Fox Chapel, Highlands, Keystone Oaks, Penn Hills, Riverview, South Allegheny, South Fayette, South Park, Uniontown, Upper St. Clair, West Allegheny and Wilkinsburg.
Generations swing for fundraiser
Mt. Lebanon Village and the Mt. Lebanon High School Girls Golf Team are sponsoring a fundraiser golf tournament "Generations Swinging Together" on July 13 at the Mt. Lebanon Golf Course, 1000 Pine Ave.
Golf pro Matt Kluck and former LPGA player Missie Berteotti will lead a 30-minute golf clinic at 1:30 p.m., followed by a shotgun start to 9 holes of golf, cart included. A picnic dinner follows.
The $75 entry fee goes to the organizations. The Village is a nonprofit that helps older adults to stay in their own homes. The high school golf team is developing players.
Details: 412 343-4054; registration deadline is July 6.
Native returns for book signing
Amy Elizabeth Smith, a 1982 Ringgold High School graduate, will have a book signing at 6 p.m. July 10 at Monongahela Area Library.
Ms. Smith's nonfiction memoir "All Roads Lead to Austen: A Year's Journey with Jane" chronicles her year spent traveling and holding book groups to discuss Jane Austen's classics.
Ms. Smith teaches writing and literature at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. Her books will be available at the event and a portion of the sales will go to the library.
Information: 724-258-5409.
Interchange named for slain officer
Gov. Tom Corbett is expected to sign a bill that names the Route 136 and Interstate 70 intersection in Washington County the Officer John David Dryer Memorial Interchange.
State Rep. Brandon Neuman, D-Washington, introduced a bill to honor the East Washington police officer who was fatally shot Dec. 19 during a routine traffic stop.
Officer Dryer also was a full-time veterinarian and owned Chestnut Veterinary Clinic in Washington County.
The shooter wounded another officer that day who entered as backup, Officer Robert V. Caldwell. He and Officer Dryer were lifelong friends. Officer Dryer has been an East Washington police officer since August 2010.
State troopers shot and killed the gunman, 58-year-old Eli Franklin Myers, after a 10-hour standoff at his home.
No-new-tax budget passed
The school board Tuesday night passed a final budget for the 2012-13 school year that will hold real estate taxes at 24.1686 mills.
The district's nine school directors voted unanimously for the budget, which contains revenues of $25,689,115 and expenses of $25,588,618.
School director Mike Terrick spoke Wednesday about how increases in revenues helped school board members and district business manager Mark Cherpak avoid a tax increase.
"We had increases in revenue that came in that added more to the revenue side of the picture," Mr. Terrick said. "Our increase in delinquent taxes from the delinquent tax collector was significant."
At the time of the board's financial committee meeting on April 17, the district still anticipated a $200,000 budget deficit.
By mid-May, Mr. Cherpak said a $100,000 increase in estimated delinquent tax collection, a decrease in the district's health insurance rate that would save $20,000, and the addition of $77,000 from the district's Keystones to Opportunity grant totaled $197,000, bringing Steel Valley's deficit down to $3,000.
The $77,000 from the grant will be used to pay the salary of a data liaison person who will oversee the work of technology aides and make sure the educational software used under the Keystones to Opportunity grant keeps working.
On Wednesday, Mr. Terrick said a one-time payment from the local tax increment financing fund to the district of $685,000 in July, 2011 also helped the district avoid a tax increase.
He said teacher furloughs also helped keep down personnel costs.
First Published June 28, 2012 6:27 am
