Mill Hall Elementary Celebrated at School Board Meeting, Bucktail Student Government Reports

By Christopher Miller

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – Mill Hall Elementary School was the “School of the Month” at the February School Board Voting Meeting Thursday night.

Students, faculty, and staff were in the audience, en masse, to celebrate their school with the school board. Numerous students, from grades one through four, spoke to the board during the presentation.

Some items that students spoke about were the school’s four B’s: be safe, be responsible, be kind, and be respectful “all to be the best we can be.” Students also discussed various Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) rewards that are offered to the students for demonstrating positive behaviors.

Fourth-grader A. Lewis said that some rewards to celebrate behavior include extra recess, a snack and hayride event last autumn, a bingo game with prizes, the time students traveled to the Roxy Theatre and were treated to popcorn, a drink, and a movie, and their latest reward: Winter Olympics with their Central Mountain High School friends.

Mill Hall Elementary also told the board about Grandparent’s Day, when over 400 grandparents descended on the school to share treats and special memories with their grandchildren. As well, Veteran’s Day was celebrated with refreshments and an assembly, “for veterans to spend time with students and to celebrate them,” said third-grader R. Neimond.

The school also celebrated first responders with their First Responder’s Breakfast.

A heartwarming part of the presentation was when English as a Second Language (ESL) student Estefania spoke with the board about being a part of the program at the school.

“Mill Hall Elementary now has 23 students learning English,” Estefania said. “My brother places baseball for the Central Mountain Wildcats and my family is very proud of me and my brother. It is a dream come true that my brother can play baseball in the United States.”

Lastly, students presented that they raised $600 for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) during their Pajama Day fundraiser to support the kids being treated at the hospital.

Some teachers were recently asked to present at a conference in Hershey on their school’s literacy strategy to improve fluency and accuracy.

“The program has significantly grown students reading fluency and confidence as readers,” a teacher said. “We partner read everyday and our students see themselves grow as readers.

The literacy strategy has proven to work so well that several schools from across the country have called, asking for help in implementing the curriculum in their schools.

Dr. Breon discussed growth scores at Mill Hall Elementary. The school had 100% growth in ELA, Math, and Science and Biology in all students. “When we say we grow students, we mean it,” Dr. Breon said. “We hope that we will start to see some differences in our achievement scores in ELA and Math.

Absent from last week’s meeting, the school board then heard student government reports from Bucktail Middle/High School.

Kedda Bissman told the board that seventh and twelfth grade had the least amount of referrals (0 for the entire month of January) recently and they were treated to a donut and hot chocolate party. MAP Testing has been taking place and the school is in the 82nd percentile, a well-improved achievement. Sleep in Heavenly Peace has received an astounding amount of donations and congratulations to the 10th grade class for winning the donation contest. Students were also sent to district band and district choir. Bucktail is also hosting this year’s County Band Festival where Sugar Valley, Central Mountain, and Bucktail will get together to have a concert on March 11. And for January’s good behavior, Bucktail students were rewarded with an 80’s themed award day.