9

Greetings from the Western Region.  The western Region held its annual holiday dinner meeting on Wednesday, December 7, 2005.  The meeting was held at Atria’s Restaurant.  We welcomed former board members and some potential new board members to dine with us.  It is because of the efforts of those people that our organization is what it is today.  A special thank you to Treasurer J.P. Prager for his efforts in arranging the dinner.

 

The Western Region is in conference mode.  We will hold our annual middle level conference on Monday, January 16, 2006.  This year’s conference will be held at Neshannock Junior High School in New Castle, Pennsylvania.  The theme of this year’s conference is “Middle School has S.P.I.R.I.T.”.   Mr. Denny Barger will keynote the conference.  Mr. Barger is a former sixth grade teacher who has dedicated his life to educating kids about bullying and the ill effects that it has on students.  We hope to see you there.  If you need information on the conference please contact Nick Perry at (724) 656-9562 or by e-mail at nperry@neshannock.k12.pa.us.

The date and site are still under investigation.

Membership is an on-going focus of the board. New membership continues to be accepted and five schools have recently joined.

            

Tim Stoops used Millcreek’s Channel 16 to hold panel discussions on such topics as middle level learning, nutrition, growth, and development to celebrate the month of the young adolescent. Karen Jez expressed her hopes that Channel 16 could share the production with Titusville’s Channel 3.

 

The board extended its congratulations to Karen Jez as the Present Elect of PMSA. Karen has been an advocate of the middle level philosophy in the Titusville schools and a hard working member of the regional board.

The focus of current meetings of the Northwest Region has centered on conferences. The board members who attended the NMSA Conference in Philadelphia reported that the sessions were informative. Tim Stoops, regional president, discussed one session he attended on parent involvement. It was similar to the region’s concept that was used for our last fall conference day. Ideas were generated for the next Parent Night which will be held in the spring.

 

The board also discussed the 2006 Spring Conference. The format will be similar to last year’s conference since it was well received. There will be presentations and educational booths for the participants followed by a dinner.

Additionally, on June 22, 2005, Western Region of PMSA in partnership with Dr. Robert Furman from Duquesne University, held a FREE, one day conference for Middle Level Principals.  It was attended by approximately 45 aspiring principals who were students at Duquesne and over 60 principals from Southwestern Pennsylvania and from across the state.  The keynote speaker was Charlie Wayne from PDE who spoke on new developments with regards to PSSA testing.