FACTORYVILLE – Each year, Lackawanna Trail Junior- Senior High School uses different ways to thank their Board of Education for their hard work and deliberation.
On Friday, Feb. 3, the board members are invited inside the school’s building for a tour to commemorate Student Directors Appreciation Day. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. that day, Mark Murphy, Trail’s high school principal, will lead the tour.
“This will be our first School Board Day in the building since the pandemic so we’re excited to host them,” he said.
The board members will see physical upgrades and improvements to the school’s technology, which makes the building safer. They are considering additional security projects, including a new window and doors as well as an alarm system. The current upgrades were made in line by the district’s Comprehensive Plan and a list of recommendations provided by the Pennsylvania State Police.
The board will also step inside the current weight room. They are considering ways to improve that space as well but have not yet determined a solution.
“One option that has received a lot of attention is a new wellness center,” said Murphy.
The tour will allow the board to see courses in industrial arts, such as wood shop, CAD (computer-aided design) and graphic arts classes. Some of the courses are taught by co-teaching, in which there is either a second teacher providing additional instruction or a group depending on the lesson or students’ needs.
The tour will be followed by a musical performance by the Lackawanna Trail High School Band and a madrigal choir. The event will conclude with a student leader question-and-answer session, which will be led by the students and class officers from grades 7 to 12.
“It’s a good opportunity for the board to ask questions and experience our building during the school day, so I want to take them to classrooms and common areas that our students use and enjoy most,” said Murphy.
During a January board meeting, Brian Kearney, Trail’s elementary principal, presented a slideshow revealing achievements in the past six months. He showed the Girls on the Run program, which encourages fourth through sixth grade female students to run and exercise. He mentioned that the girls competed in a 5K run at Keystone College on Friday, Dec. 7.
“They (girls) did a tremendous job,” he said.
Kearney acknowledged the chess club, which began last year thanks to the Lackawanna Trail Education Foundation. He said this club has 42 students participating in it. He announced the Pure Reading program, in which fourth-grade students read to students in kindergarten.
“One of the great things is having your older students work with your youngest students,” he said. “Develop that rapport. Be a leader. I want my younger students to look up to the older students.”
