Walmart gives $5,000 to Lehighton elementary
Lehighton Area Elementary Center received a $5,000 grant on Friday courtesy of a local community grant from the Walmart Supercenter in Mahoning Township. Pictured, from left, are Melissa Volcskai, LAEC grades 3-5 principal; Aaron Sebelin, LAEC K-2 principal; and Girvin Janicki, store manager of the Walmart Supercenter in Mahoning Township. JARRAD HEDES/TIMES NEWS
Lehighton Area Elementary Center received a $5,000 grant on Friday courtesy of a local community grant from the Walmart Supercenter in Mahoning Township.
Store manager Girvin Janicki said he had collaborated with K-2 principal Aaron Sebelin in the past, helping the former Mahoning and Shull-David schools with gift cards for supplies and other items, leading to Lehighton’s successful grant request.
“The company, through the grant program, is trying to make a larger impact this year on the communities it serves,” Janicki said. “To us, there is no better way to make an impact than to invest in our children.”
The two sides of the elementary center will split the money, with K-2 getting $2,500 and grades 3-5 getting $2,500.
Sebelin plans to use the money to purchase outdoor supplies for the playground such as hula hoops, kick balls and goal posts in order to enhance the different types of games students can play at recess.
Melissa Volcskai, principal of grades 3-5, said she is looking into Padcaster Studio equipment. According to its website, Padcaster helps transform an iPad into an all-in-one mobile production suite through accessories such as microphone kits, a green screen, teleprompters and varying lenses, among other items.
“We’d love to see the students doing mock news shows and talking about the things going on in their community,” Volcskai said. “It all goes back to our speaking and listening standards. It would also get the older students a jump on the video editing they’ll do at the middle and high school level.”
The equipment, Volcskai said, isn’t anything that she would normally request in a department budget, meaning grants like the one from Walmart are the only possibility to make such a purchase.
While the playground supplies could be something the school asks a group like the parent-teacher organization to help finance, those funds can now be used in other areas.
“We have a very active PTO, but by not having to ask them to purchase this type of stuff, they can keep that fundraising money going toward filed trips and the other things they support throughout the year,” Volcskai said.
Comments
The existing management of the district has led to a financial unsustainable situation. Broke, and underwater in a legacy of debt the past immoral management apparently had failed to provide for such basic needs. Thank you Walmart for stepping in.
If the Walmart finance team would only step in to educate the remaining four immoral board, teaching effective decision making skills, we may have a chance for financial stability.
The district is an educational entitlement program, and the closure of schools under the immoral regime has caused significant community burdens. Some of those discarded, safe, debt-free schools still house students, and now nonunion educators at a what appears to abe a significantly higher cost per student. Go figure. Taking from the community without regard for the proper disbursements of educational benefits is a bad habit that needs correcting.
If the community can lobby Rita Spinelli, Larry Stern, Wayne Wentz and Steve Holland to be less immoral with their decision making, we all can restore a government of, by and for the people.
A task force consisting of moral leaders, Nathan Foeller, Joy Beers and myself has been proposed to review and report the costs of mandated educational benefits to the people. This review will help the community take actions, thereby steering the board into financial decisions helping prevent a state take over.
Sincerely,
Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
This is a story about charity, why would you bring morality into this?
Charity is voluntary, and very moral.
Everything about public (government) school has become corrupt and immoral.
You mention Unions? The Greatest immoral entity in PA Public Schools is the Teachers Union.
The second Greatest immoral act of the government schools is the unfair and immoral school tax.
I'll not get in to the removal of God and His Word.
It's all being done wrong, and it's failing.
Thank you for stepping in to the lions den.
God Bless
How many Principals does it take to run an elementary school?
No, that isn't the start of the classic joke line. It is a question about how much money can Lehighton waste in one school!
Oh ! Excusez moi s'il vous plait. We are speaking of an Elementary CENTER. That explains it all.
They coordinate and integrate resources and services from federal, state, and local sources. To be considered for title 1 school funds, at least 40% of the students must be considered low-income." AT LEAST 40% ARE LOW INCOME! Needs vs. wants. Common sense.