State education secretary visits Bellefonte Area School District

In his “Schools that Teach” tour, state Education Secretary Pedro Rivera made a stop to Bellefonte Area School District to visit with administrators, teachers and students – and from the moment he stepped on the school’s ground, he said the energy was “electric.”

“I showed up a little early and the energy in each and every family member and student walking into school was absolutely contagious, so that really is the first sign of a happy and healthy environment,” he said in an interview with the district’s public relations specialist.

The first stop in Rivera’s trip to the district started on the morning of Oct. 25 at Marion-Walker Elementary School where a roundtable discussion was held with some district staff members and Rivera. It then continued to the middle school, where he toured teacher Jordan Eccher’s class that is focused on engineering; and got a tour of the high school.

“It’s about students and opportunities to build success,” Superintendent Michelle Saylor said. “Not only do we believe in providing our students with a wide range of opportunities to grow, learn, and be successful beyond high school, even more importantly we strive to help them build the skills and attributes necessary for that success and thus empower and enable them to both leverage their opportunities as well as create opportunities for themselves.”

The School’s that Teach tour is a part of a series of campaigns by the state. Rivera said Gov. Tom Wolf is focused on three areas, which include schools that teach, jobs that pay and government that works.

“Through the Schools that Teach tour, we visit schools and districts across the commonwealth and engage in the community at large,” he said. “I’m proud to have visited well over 100 schools and districts, and every time I go back about what’s happening in the field to the policy we’re enacting, (it) helps make us that much better.”