Amherst News-Times, 2001-02-14

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Local cops honored by VFW — Page 3   I  Dale marks 40 years in banks — Page 5
Amherst News-Time?
Wednesday, February 14, 2001
Amherst, Ohio
Happy Valentine's Day; Still need a gift?
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by JASON TOMASZEWSKI
News-Times reporter
You just survived Christmas and
New Year's is over. But there is no
time to rest on your laurels.
Valentine's Day is here and
sweethearts everywhere are scrambling to get that perfect gift The
News-Times enlisted the help of
several local gift shops and florists
to show us some of the new trends
and old standbys of Valentine gift
giving.
Eileen Novak of Eileen's Greens
and Things on Telegraph Road in
South Amherst is a virtual Valentine
expert She has been in the floral
and gift business for the past 27
years, and claims to have seen it all.
"I'm a litde concerned about the
guys this year," stated Novak. "Typically when Valentine's Day comes
on a weekday a lot of guys forget
about it. It's easy to remember when
it's on a weekend because they usually take their date out, but it's
harder when it's in the middle of the
week.**
For the guys who find themselves
in the dog house after forgetting a
day like this, Novak has an entire
line of items to help them get back
into good graces.
"We have our dog house cards
and arrangements," stated Novak. "I
expect to see quite a few guys in
here next weekend."
In addition to her dog house line,
Novak also offers a wide variety of
CONTINUED on page 8
Above left: Eileen, from Eileen's Greens and Things proudly displays some of the items she has available for Valentines Day.
Above right: an employee of Anew Florist shows off a lovely Valen
tines display. Both florists offer a wide variety of Valentine themed
items.
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News-Times reporter Jason Tomaszewski takes time out for lunch   to class to see just how much things have changed since his high
in the senior lounge at Marion L. Steel High School. While Tomas-   school days.
zewski is more of a super duper senior, he did spend the day going
Where's Jay?
We've put News-Times
reporter Jason Tomaszewski
to the test again. Assignment:
get involved in the community.
Second stop: the classroom.
Mix in one part 21 Jump Street, two parts Billy Madison,
and a pinch of "Never Been Kissed" and you've pretty much
summed up my experience at Marion L. Steele High School
last week.
Like Richard Greco in the popular eighties TV drama, I
was there to see what high school was Like in the new millennium. However, just like Billy Madison, everyone knew
that I was not a regular student. Those who have seen
"Never Been Kissed" know that Drew Banymore wrote a
ncw-paner article about her experiences going back to school.
There 1 wes at six in the morning asking myself, "What
are you doing?" I have never been a morning person, but I
can deal with rising at eight to get to work by nine. But
those two hours that I lost were horrendous.
Knowing that I would be spending the day mingling
among the most fashion conscious group of people in the
United States, I was careful to pick out an ensemble that
would be casual but respectable. I settled on a sweater and
jeans. After munching a light breakfast, I headed off to
school.
At the high school, I was greeted by the office staff. They
were all aware that I would be visiting the school and made
me feel welcome. Rather than go through a schedule by myself, I was going to shadow a student as she went through
her day. I was matched up with Lara Petredis, a senior
CONTINUED on page 2
Schools fall one
point on district
report card; still
in tip-top shape
by PAUL MORTON
News-Times reporter
The Amherst schools slipped a
little on the district report card this
year, but they retain their rating —
and attitude — of continuous
improvement.
According to official results released by the stale department of
education last month, the Amherst
schools earned a score of 21 out of
27 performance standards on the
district report card, measuring the
district's performance during the
1999-2000 school year. On the last
report card, the district passed 22
rxiformance standards, also earning
ara-mgofcc-ntinuoi-f improvenienL
The report card measures a district in 27 performance standards,
including percentages of students
who pass the state proficiency teats
given to students in fourth, sixth,
ninth, 10th and 12th grades. The
tests for each grade are divided into
five parts: citizenship, math, reading, writing, and science.
. The final two performance standards ate student attendance and
high school graduation rate.   .
Although the district as a whole
slipped, there was encouraging news
at the high school, where for the
first time the district scored a clean
sweep of all 16 applicable standards, including graduation rate. In
each of the previous two years the
stale issued district report cards, the
Class of 2002 failed to pass the
math portion of the proficiency tests
in sufficient numbers to pass Ihe
performance standard, although they
came within one and a half percentage points each time.
In the current report card, though,
10th grade students passed the math
portion of the test at a 91.1 percent
clip, 6.4 percentage points better
than last year, and 63 percentage
points better than the same class did
as ninth graders.
That was only one of 12 lest areas
at the high school level that saw increases in the scores. And some of
the biggest increases came in the
12th grade, where pawing the lest is
not required for graduation, although ffiwtffti cao earn scholarships from the stale for passing all
five sections of the left
But as dramatic aa the increases
were at the high school, ihe declines
1997-98
1998-99
1999-2000
4*
Citizenship
76.7*
89.2*
73.7
Mathematics
54.6
70.2
61.5
Reading
69.2
S2.2*
79.2*
9576*
Writing
79.6*
83.8*
Science
64.3
76.4*
59.8
G*
Citizenship
83.8*
87.9*
83.4*
68.0
Mathematics
69.1
74.7
Reading
69.1
62.3
67.2
Writing
918*
90.0*
80.8*
Science
74.1
61.2
69.0
g*
Citizenship
84.6*
88.1*
92.6*
Mathematics
73.8
84.6*
88.1*
Reading
94.4*
98.0*
97.1*
Writing
92.6*
95.6*
97.0*
Science
83.3*
87.7*
89.7*
10'"
Citizenship
93.4*
93.4*
95.4*
Mathematics
88.8*
84.7
98.5*
96.7*"
90.7*
91.1*
97.9*     " '
Reading
98.1*
Writing
96.9*
98.9*
94.3*
Science
93.2*
,2.h
Citizenship
73.1*
61.9*
61.6*      . "
79.2*
79.7*
Mathematics
Reading
68.9*
79.9*
76..*
80.2*
Writing
82.1*
SI. 3*
92.1*
Science
67.0*
68..'<*
96.9*
76.2*
Student Attendance
95.4*
95.6*
97.8*
Graduation Kale
96.1*
20
94.9*
22"
....
Standards Passed
21
Happy as/Piggy's'
this family is here
to serve community
were nearly as severe at Harris
School. Fourth grade citizenship
showed a decline of 1S.S percentage
points, and fourth grade science fell
16.6 percentage points from last
year.
The district passed both of those
standards last year, but the decline-
dropped the two subjects below tbe
minimum 75 percent needed to
score a point this year. Testing coordinator Judy Alexander said scores
should begin to improve in coming
years, since (be district realigned the
curriculums for all subjects two
years ago.
"We've been wotting to get our
curriculum aligned with the state
models," Alexander said. "For instance, we've been using a new
math series that uses a spiral
method. It periodically goes back
and reviews everything die student
has learned to that point, because
that's how the lest works."
She said the fourth grade students
who take the lest this year are the
first to have been using such a system for their entire school careers.
In addition to realigned curriculums, at Shupe Middle School sixth
graders are given opportunitka for
extra help. Principal Greg Ring said
CONTINUED on page 3
by JASON TOMASZEWSKI
News-Times reporter
Not since the arrival of
Kermit The Frog and Jim
Henson has someone been
pleased to be called Piggy.
That is unless you are Don
Pignitdla and his daughter
Michelle Henke. They own
and operate Piggy's Main
Street Market on East Main
Street in South AmhersL
While Pignitella has owned
the store for the past seven
years, the store has been in
that location since the 1940s.
"It was originally Thomson's Dairy," he explained.
"They bottled milk there,
made ice cream, and even
had an eating room. They
were a full fledged dairy."
It wasn't until the Thomsons sold the store to tbe
Riddle family that it started
to become more of a convenience store. According to
Pignitella. be purchased the
store from tbe Riddles with
tbe plan to continue the tradition started by tbe Tbomaona.
"My daughter and I warn
k_d___f around tbe idea of
getting into this batiaaaa far
about a year before we
bought the place," he said. "I
was working for a beer distributor at the time, but Michelle steered me in this
direction."
After seven years. Piggy's
has built a reputation for being a hub of activity in South
AmhersL According lo^jg- ♦
nitella South Amherst IJP    ^
dents often call his esTish-
ment to get infonnation about
things going on in the
community.
"There is always- someone
here talking with us," explained Pignitella. "We get
calls here for information about everything from water
main breaks, to if school is
out The funny thing is, most
of die time we know tbe answer to the question."
That point was made obvious during Pignitella's interview. A South Amhent police
officer stopped by to pick up
some drinks. While he was
there he --formed Pignitella
that ihe chief had hurt his
hip again. Anyone who wan
to know Anything about ths
goings on in South Amhent
need only to talk with tbe
people at Piggy's.
Piggy's haa toco-ue ao po-
CONTINUCOon page •
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