Ellwood City Area School District

Chromebook ‘Surplus’ to Benefit Seventh and Eighth Graders

Seventh and Eighth graders in the Ellwood City Area School District will no longer have to “share”  Chromebooks. The announcement came during Monday night’s School Board Agenda Meeting on Monday night. Quickly after the announcement, School Director Renee Pitrelli said she felt the decision was made without board approval. Pointing out that this was the first time she had heard about this one to one Chromebook distribution. “The administration doesn’t make a decision for us,” she said during Monday’s meeting. Her point that board approval should be given for such decisions was met with explanation by administrators and school staff…


Lagoon, Koscinski Hired as Armed Police Officers for Ellwood City Schools

The Ellwood City Area School Board hired two armed school police officers for the 2019-2020 school year. Robert Lagoon of Zelienople and Brad Koscinski of Grove City were announced as the first armed officers who will serve the school district thanks to a $156,400 grant provided by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The grant will allow the district to employ the two officers for two years. A unanimous vote by the board to hire the men was followed with praise from one board member. “I’d like to thank Mr. Mancini and Mr. Sovich for seeing that we were…


Ellwood City Area School District to Employ Armed Guards

Thanks to a grant, Ellwood City Area School District will have two armed school police officers. The $156,400 grant provided by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency will allow the district to employ the two officers for two years. Superintendent Joseph Mancini said a security assessment’s findings led the district to apply for the grant and allocate the funding to be used to hire armed personnel. He said that assessment revealed that the Ellwood City School District was the only one in the county that did not have some type of security personnel on duty during school hours. That…


Ellwood City School Board Expresses Disappointment Over Fireworks; Discusses School Start Times, Fields

The Ellwood City Area School District Board addressed the public on Monday night regarding blame placed on them by the Festival Committee for the cancelation of the Festival’s traditional fireworks display. The school board expressed disappointment in the Festival Committee’s decision to cut the fireworks, and Board President Jennifer Tomon said the move is simply political. “Local politics at its worst … that’s how I’ve seen the nine hard working people at this table and the EC football boosters, who I might remind everyone, are all volunteers, characterized,” Tomon said. “I would argue local politics at its worst would be…