Truman Senior Accepts $246,000 College Scholarship

Bristol Township senior Drew Mickolas was recently awarded a massive scholarship to Trinity College in Hartford, Conn

From the Bristol Township School District: Drew Mickolas, a senior at Harry S. Truman High School, has accepted a four-year scholarship to Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.  The scholarship, valued at $246,000, covers tuition, room and board, books, fees and some personal expenses. Mickolas, who was selected in his junior year as a QuestBridge National College match scholar, was introduced to Trinity through Questbridge. He plans to major in Public Policy and chose Trinity because it is “a highly regarded, smaller college with a good learning environment.” Questbridge is a national organization that seeks out high performing high school students and introduces them to a network of top colleges and universities.  The Truman Guidance Dept. …

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Bristol Township School District Makes Schedule Adjustments

Student and parents will be impacted as several days have been added to the district calendar.

The Bristol Township School Board recently approved making some chages to the students' school year to make up for days lost because of Hurricane Sandy. Additional days where students will be reporting to school: If no additional days off are needed, school will end for students on June 18, District spokeswoman Eileen Kelliher told Patch. She said the changes were made due to the  week that students missed after Sandy hit Bristol Township.  Hurricane Sandy caused widespread damage in the Levittown area and forced 90 percent of Bristol Township residents to lose power.

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Police & Fire

Police: Man Behind School Threat Under Arrest

Daniel Gallagher was taken into custody by Bristol Borough police hours after phoning threats to a Philadelphia lawyer. The two public schools in the borough were locked down as officers searched for Gallagher.

  A Bristol Borough man is facing several charges after he is alleged to have harassed a Philadelphia defense attorney and made threats against a school. Daniel Gallagher, 50, of the 200 block of Mill Street was taken into custody by officers who flocked to the borough to search for him. He was thought to be armed, but police discovered no weapons on him. The 50-year-old is facing charges out of Philadelphia because he called a city defense attorney that represented him during an arson case in the 1980s and made the threats, borough police chief Arnold Porter said. Gallagher is alleged to have harassed the lawyer and told him that “blood will flow” at an unnamed school. Philadelphia police detectives alerted borough authorities at 2 p.m. …

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Outrage Over End of Halloween Tradition in Bristol

Dozens of parents are causing a stir in Bristol Township after hearing that Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School's traditional Halloween event is being drastically altered.

  The planned end of the annual Halloween parade at Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School in Bristol Township has dozens of vocal parents up in arms. Questions and concerns were raised by parents with children enrolled in the school last week after it was announced the traditional Halloween costume parade would be abandoned in favor of a “Fall Harvest Festival.” “A Fall Harvest Festival is something our teachers have wanted to do for years,” according to a letter sent to parents from the school’s new principal, Terrie Giardine. She added that the teachers have discussed the topic “at length.” The annual event featured the Harry S. Truman High School Marching Band, a student costume parade and other fun happenings for the kids. Parents said…

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BTSD Submits Concept Plans for New Schools

The Bristol Township School Board approved submission of preliminary plans that would shutter some schools, renovate others and construct new ones.

  The Bristol Township School Board approved 5-1 the submission of PlanCon materials to the state Department of Education. The district’s PlanCon packets, which were prepared by the Schrader Group, layout potential plans to construct new, larger elementary schools and renew the middle and high schools. The PlanCon submission does not mean the district has to embark on the project, estimated to have a price tag of more than $170 million dollars. The district also does not have to carry out the plans in full. “These are very preliminary plans,” Dave Schrader, managing partner at the Schrader Group, said to the board during Thursday night’s meeting. The PlanCon materials have to be presented to the state by October 1 if the district wants to …

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Bristol Borough & Township School Districts Warned by State

Both districts failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress goals set by the state Department of Education.

  Both the Bristol Borough and Bristol Township school districts received warnings from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (DOE) after the districts did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals. District and school performance on statewide math and reading PSSA assessments, taken by students in elementary through high school, is the primary factor in determining AYP, which is federally mandated under 2001’s No Child Left Behind act. Science and writing PSSA results are not counted toward AYP. “The AYP student performance target for the 2011-12 school year was 78 percent for math and 81 percent for reading, compared to 67 percent and 72 percent, respectively, in 2010-11,” the DOE noted in a release. Bristol Borough School …

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