Fund-raiser lunch
With the summer coming to a close the Summer Day Camp is finishing up strong. Thank you to all the kids who spent the summer with us. We had a wonderful adventure. On Sunday, Aug. 12, the Sugar Grove Free Methodist Summer Day Camp will hold an end of the year Pulled Pork Luncheon from 12:30 p.m. until food is gone. Lunch will be a pulled pork sandwich, macaroni or potato salad menu with dessert and beverages. The cost is a donation to the Summer Day Camp program. The Summer Day Camp staff will be serving lunch. All proceeds from the luncheon will help defray the costs of operation the program for 2012. Thank you for your community support.
Vote for your Favorites
Check out the Times Observer's Reader's Choice Event which is going on now. If you search the categories you will find numerous places to vote for our local Sugar Grove area businesses. There is even a category to vote for your favorite Sugar Grove Business.
Places nominated by the general public in Sugar Grove area were: The Bucket, Chase Car Care, the new Darling's Pharmacy, Gaylon Critz Excavation, Kwik Fill, March Chiropractic, McNutters, Town & Country and Northwest Savings Bank. If you are unsure where the new Northwest Savings Bank is located, it's because we only have one bank in the community and it is a PNC bank. In any event, we appreciate the great service in the community we receive from our local PNC bank staff. Good luck to all our businesses nominated. If you would like to enter a vote, log on to warrentimesobserver.com and click on the Reader's Choice 2012 box to enter your selections.
Book Club
The next Book Club at the Sugar Grove Free Library will meet on Aug. 27. The selected book is The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama. It is a short read with layers of history and human behaviors. Please join us for our last of the summer discussion evenings.
This book club will not be held at the Library. We will meet in front of the Library and then car pool to a member's summer cottage at Chautauqua Lake.
Thank you to all who came out to join us for discussions at our July Book Club on "Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts.
Vacation Bible School
The Hessel Valley Lutheran Church will be holding its Vacation Bible School the last week before school starts, Aug. 20 through the 24 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. All children are invited to come out for great fun and learning about the love of Jesus for us through games, music, stories, snacks and songs. Remember, this year VBS will be at night, not during the day as in the past.
Eisenhower supporters
Remember to stop by the Warren County Fair and support Eisenhower food vendors. Stop by the famous Potato Place and enjoy a wonderful potato will all the toppings and support the Knight Time Players Drama Team. You can also stop by the Eisenhower Ice Cream Booth and cool off with huge scoops of ice cream and support our many Eisenhower music programs.
Renovations
at the library
The Sugar Grove Free Library is getting new carpet and will be closed Aug. 20 through the 23 while it is installed. The Library will reopen for normal hours on Aug. 27. They could use some volunteers to help move the library to the fire hall on Aug. 17 & 18 and then back into the library on Aug. 24th after carpet is installed.
If you can help out please call the Library at 489-7872 or email them at sgfreelibrary@gmail.com.
Thank you
The Sugar Grove United Methodist Church would like to thank those individuals who purchased baked goods or ate lunch with us during Sugar Grove Sale Days. Your continued support year after year is so greatly appreciated. Thank You.
Class of 1967
The Eisenhower High School Class of 1967 will its their reunion weekend on Aug. 17 and 18. Members of the Eisenhower Classes of 1966 and 1968 are also invited to attend the hot dog roast on Friday evening. Please call Sue Shield Yovich at 489-3733 for more details.
Superintendent
at Council
The Sugar Grove Borough Council held it's monthly meeting on Monday. The guest speaker prior to the business meeting was Warren County School District Superintendent Brandon Hufnagel. In communications from the council in July, we were told we would be informed of the date and time of this special meeting, but the council failed to inform us. We are sorry for the confusion and that more of the general public could not be present to hear Superintendent Hufnagel.
His 1.5-hour talk was extremely informative on the future closing of the Sugar Grove Elementary School and the new construction happening at the Eisenhower High School.
Council members were encouraged to ask questions to gain a better insight into the plans. Superintendent Hufnagel and Council members discussed some of the benefits of the newly proposed K-12 facility and whether or not there are truly cost savings involved.
The Superintendent stated that, "The key to making a K-12 work is separate buildings sharing teachers, support staff, and resources on one campus. The elementary students will be in a separate wing, but have the benefits of having the older students nearby." They discussed the cost savings from making the 2012-13 school year boundary slide happen between students in Sugar Grove and Russell. The savings the boundary slide project created have helped the start of this K-12 Eisenhower building project.
One borough council member asked questions on the fate of the Sugar Grove Elementary School building. "The Lander school was sold with stipulations placed on it. Being that we are a family community in the Borough we would not like to see any stipulations placed on the building (SGES)." Other members asked if the building would revert back to the borough. "Sugar Grove once had a University. We gave that up for a High School and then gave that up for an Elementary School to now go to nothing." stated a council member. All council members expressed the desire to see the SGES building remain a school such as a technical school or something in conjunction with Jamestown Community College or Pitt Bradford. "You hit the nail right on the head. The most foolish thing a district can do is sell their buildings." stated Superintendent Hufnagel.
Questions were raised on the importance of our playground and ball fields located on the property. "As long as I am Superintendent we will still maintain the playground and ball fields, because it is an important part of the community."
Questions were raised on longer bus rides for the Sugar Grove area students to a new K-12 facility at Eisenhower. It was discussed that only one bus run will be longer. The majority of all the existing Sugar Grove Elementary bus runs already make the loop to the Eisenhower High School.
There were financial discussions on the expense of the teacher's retirement packages, health care, and some of the larger expenses that the WCSD simply cannot change according to negotiated contracts. The Superintendent was asked, "Just a short time ago we (Eisenhower) were facing elimination and now we seem to be the chosen one. What changed ?" The Superintendent made it clear that as long as he has been here and even during his interview process the school board made it clear to him that the majority of them wanted to always keep Eisenhower open.
Superintendent Hufnagel said, "I am not closing schools to close schools. I have a rational and there is a reason. Looking at the finances of this District our financial picture is not good. We need to find a way to right the ship and I am trying to make a plan to keep our District going."
The Superintendent brought plans for the new K-12 facility which the council can keep for their review. Ground will break on the new facility in early fall.
The entire council thanked him for taking the time to attend their meeting and all the information he provided. It was beneficial to all in attendance to see the direction the WCSD is heading with their plans for the Northern Attendance area.