Recent Stories

Articles by Jonathan Cortez

January 19, 2016

Three School Board Members Wish to Change Ellwood City Festival’s Relationship with District

Although they were shut down by a majority vote on Jan. 14, three Ellwood City school board members wanted to change the district’s relationship with the Ellwood City Festival Committee. Erica Gray, Jennifer Tomon and Danielle Woodhead, all new members as of December, voted no on a routine annual motion to approve the Festival Committee’s request to use district property. “It’s our property. We should negotiate directly with the organizations that will be using it,” Tomon had said at Monday’s agenda meeting. The property specified in the motion includes the old Ewing Park School ground and the parking lot on…

January 15, 2016

EC School Board Gives the Go Ahead for Two Makerspace Labs

The Ellwood City school board granted conditional approval for makerspace labs at Hartman Intermediate and Lincoln High School in a 6-2 vote yesterday. The motion, as passed, approves the administration’s plan for two workshops and will provide the necessary funding to adopt the programs for the 2016-17 school year. In addition, the board will hire a teacher for the Lincoln workshop. This is a significantly different wording than originally proposed, which would have committed to providing $150,000, which the administration said is the minimum cost required to have two functional workshops. The board plans on launching a community fundraising campaign,…

January 15, 2016

Student Brings BB Gun to School

A Lincoln High School student was charged with possession of a weapon on school property following an incident on Jan. 6 According to the police report, officers were called to Lincoln around 3 p.m. on Jan. 6 by Principal Kirk Lape in response to a student possessing a weapon. The offender, a 14-year old male, had displayed a semi-automatic BB pistol in the main gym. The model mimics the appearance of an actual handgun. He was reported by students. Officers questioned the defendant, who admitted to having stolen the pistol on Jan. 4. After shooting a vehicle, the male hid…

January 14, 2016

Ellwood City Athletic Director Proposes Reforms for Equipment Purchasing and Field Upgrades

At Monday’s agenda setting meeting, Athletic Director Darin Morella presented several major ideas to the Ellwood City Area School Board. Foremost, Morella, who was appointed AD this past summer, wished to reorganize the method with which the athletic department purchases equipment in order to cut down on wasted equipment, save money and have equipment arrive in a more timely fashion. His proposal is in cooperation with Richard Zarone, the district’s business manager. As it is currently done, all sports order their equipment at the same time, around May. The athletic department then is responsible for ensuring the orders arrive and…

January 14, 2016

Ellwood City School Board to Vote on Makerspace Funding Tonight

The Ellwood City Area School Board will vote on a motion tonight that will give approximately $150,000 in funding for makerspace workshops in Hartman Intermediate School and Lincoln High School. As of now, the board appears to be split 5-4 into two factions. The larger faction supports the full amount and the smaller faction, a reduced amount. However, the motion will be presented to the board for the full amount. A makerspace workshop is a creative space with high tech equipment such as 3d printers and robotics. Unlike a traditional classroom, students guide the learning through trial and error with…

January 13, 2016

Parent-Teacher Organization Attributes Membership Decline to FBI Clearance Requirement

Ellwood City Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) numbers have dropped from 565 to 72, according to a comment made by school board President Renee Pitrelli. This is an 87.3% drop, although the time span for this drop was not mentioned. At the Ellwood City Area school board agenda meeting on Monday, visitor Kathy McCommons, president of the PTO, attributed much of the decline to an Ellwood School District FBI clearance requirement for volunteers providing services to the district. All district volunteers, whether PTO members or coaches, must obtain three clearances. Two of those, a clearance statement and state police background check, can…

January 12, 2016

Borough Council Forms Committees and Discusses Initial Agenda

The Ellwood City Borough Council announced committee assignments at its agenda setting meeting yesterday. Newly elected president Connie MacDonald consolidated four of the committees into two, reducing the total number from eight to six. In addition, MacDonald instituted a new policy of asking visitors at the conclusion of the meeting for questions and comments. There were none yesterday however. He also specified that the executive session held before the agenda meeting was for legal issues and wage issues. The regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 19 instead of Monday in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day….

January 6, 2016

UPDATED Jan. 7 at 9 a.m. : Man Has Stand Off with Local and State Police

[Update: McCall was arraigned on a $100,000 bond and placed in the Lawrence County Jail.] Local and state police were involved in a stand off at an Ellwood City home yesterday night. The standoff lasted about seven hours, although no one was hurt. According to the police report, Ellwood City officers received a call that a man was threatening to shoot himself and would shoot anyone that intervened. Officers arrived at the residence on Patricia Drive around 5:45 p.m. and made contact with the defendant, Jeffrey McCall, age 39. According to the criminal complaint, officers had attempted to do a…

January 5, 2016

MacDonald Voted New Council President and New Members Sworn In

George Celli, Judi Dici and Marilyn Mancini were sworn in at the Ellwood City Borough Council reorganization meeting yesterday. Celli and Dici were elected after serving on council in previous terms and losing elections in 2013. They replace Ralph Chiappetta and John Todorich, who ran unsuccessfully for re-election. Incumbent Mancini won re-election, so the new council is more-or-less an old council. Mayor Anthony J. Court administered the Oath of Office and proceeded over the opening ceremonies until a new president could be elected. Both the president and vice-president elections were contested. David DeCaria nominated Connie MacDonald and Michelle Lamenza nominated…

December 23, 2015

Star Wars Brings Back the Magic and Wonder of the Original Trilogy

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] [The following review contains no spoilers.] I didn’t have high expectations for “The Force Awakens.” I’ve learned over the years that setting the bar too high leads to sitting in the theater in confused disappointment as the credits roll. After all, how good could a seventh movie in a series be, especially compared to the incomparable glory of the original trilogy? I can’t say I’ve been waiting 30 years for “The Force Awakens,”…