Latest news with #MiddletownHighSchool
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Vance rode Middletown pride to the White House. Will he help its schools?
The U.S. Department of Education is recalling millions of promised federal dollars from 18 Ohio school districts, including $5.6 million from Middletown City Schools. I wonder if Vice President J.D. Vance will step up and save the day for his hometown school district, considering that 62% of Middletown voters cast their ballots for him and Donald Trump in the 2024 election. It remains to be seen if Vance is as committed to Middletown. As a Middletown native, count me among the skeptics. Unlike so many of my Middletown brethren, I never fully bought into Vance's pretense about his love for our town. I always felt Middletown was nothing more than a prop Vance used to further his personal and political goals. He trashed Middletown in the selling of his book "Hillbilly Elegy," something many proud residents took exception to. He played up his Appalachian roots and connection to the Butler County steel-mill town during the presidential campaign to make himself seem more Middle America, despite more recently being a Silicon Valley tech guy. More: JD Vance's Middletown: What really went wrong In the end, I saw Vance as little more than an opportunist preying on Middletown's sense of community pride. That's the thing about my hometown; the people there are very proud of their own. Middletonians who achieve great success are celebrated, revered, and, most of all, strongly supported and promoted. So, I wasn't surprised when Middletown went all out backing the Trump-Vance ticket. I won't say politics wasn't the main decider, but Middie pride was a big factor in how people there voted, too. Heck, the city put up road signs honoring Vance just a couple of weeks after he was sworn in as vice president. Middletonians stand up for each other that way. More: JD Vance blames local deputy's death on leaders who make police officers 'to be enemies' Now, Vance has the chance to do the same − a chance to show that I'm wrong about him. At least on this one thing. Deliver for all those Middletonians who believed in you enough to give you their votes. Who believed that you could help fix the town's "bad rap." Who believed that not only could you and Trump "Make America Great Again," but that, together, you might also help bring about the resurgence of a once All-American City. Make sure Middletown schools — the district you attended — get to keep that $5.6 million, Mr. Vice President. Pull whatever levers you need to; talk to Trump directly if you have to. Selecting Middletown High School's marching band to perform at the Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C. was nice for those students, but securing nearly $6 million for a new transportation center would benefit Middletown students districtwide. The community is counting on that money, and it is counting on you. You've certainly profited from our hometown. Now it's time to return the favor. Opinion and Engagement Editor Kevin S. Aldridge can be reached at kaldridge@ On X: @kevaldrid. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Middletown's loyalty to Vance meets federal abandonment | Opinion
Epoch Times
14-05-2025
- General
- Epoch Times
Middletown High School Holds Annual ‘Experience Our Programs' Event
ORANGE COUNTY, N.Y.–Middletown High School hosted its annual 'Experience Our Programs' event on May 9, in which all the Middletown School District public schools presented what their classes and programs had created. Hundreds of students from public schools all over Middletown milled around presentation tables and exhibits, and 1,300 parents, friends, and visitors jostled through the school. Artwork from the district's 7,500 students filled halls and classrooms. Some students donated their art to be auctioned, hoping to fund a student's art degree. A sixth-grade social studies class hosted a game show in the library. The district Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps showed its students' drone flying abilities. Students in the biomedical program taught visitors simple medical procedures. Kinsley told The Epoch Times about her third-grade class's book that she helped write. Her class has made a book every year for the past three years. The class recorded their voices reading the book and made QR codes to let people listen to them. This year's book is called 'A Spooky Story,' and the goal was to help the students learn about the writing process, including prewriting, drafting, and editing. The teachers also helped with grammar, spelling, and overall understandability of the story. Related Stories 3/19/2025 3/5/2025 Kinsley described the process of making the story: 'It was hard and kind of easy. And it was really easy to figure out what I wanted to write about.' The Middletown school district has joined a global movement teaching the 'Leader in Me' program in schools. Middletown is in its first year of the program, so currently, the teachers are receiving training on how to apply the curriculum in their classes. The Leader in Me program aims to inspire leadership in students, using principles from the books 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' and 'The 4 Disciplines of Execution.' The curriculum will be included in classes starting next school year, Christine Dumais told The Epoch Times. Dumais is the cultural co-lead, one of the two people in charge of running the Leader in Me program in Middletown. Dumais described the reason why the school decided to start implementing the Leader in Me curriculum. 'We want our students to be more independent and to take more ownership over their work,' she said. 'Leader in Me' Middletown School District organizer Christine Dumais holds "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," the book the Leader in Me program is based on, during the "Experience Our Programs" event at Middletown High School on May 9, 2025. Oliver Mantyk/The Epoch Times Middletown High School student Jadiella spoke about the biomedical section of 'Project Lead The Way.' Project Lead The Way is a program that helps students make advances in STEM fields such as medicine, engineering, and computer science. Students in the first year of the program learn about crime scenes and cause of death analysis. The second year goes into human body systems. In the third year, students learn about medical intervention, teaching them what to do in medical emergencies. Students learn more advanced medical and surgical techniques in the fourth year. Students who complete the program receive a Certificate in Medicine, which in some cases leads to job opportunities in the medical field. 'It's really fun. It's very interactive, which I was very happy with. There's lots of dissecting and hands-on, which is great,' Jediella told The Epoch Times. ' It's not so boring, just learning and absorbing, because it's a lot of hard information. Some definitely want to be hands-on.' Middletown High School and "Project Lead The Way" student Jadiella during the "Experience Our Programs" event on May 9, 2025. Oliver Mantyk/The Epoch Times Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano has three grandkids in the school district and is himself a graduate of Middletown High School. He visits the event every year. 'When we bring business leaders and community leaders into the school district, into these schools and they see what's being provided here, they're just so impressed. And I think it's a big plus for industry and economic development and the community,' DeStefano told The Epoch Times.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Yahoo
Family, friends pay tribute to Butler County woman who died in hit-and-run crash
People are remembering a local mother who died in a hit-and-run crash in Florida. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] 29-year-old Taeler Bennett, her two-year-old son Rio, and five-month-old son Kiylan were hit by a car on Feb. 10 when they crossed a street in Sarasota, Florida. Family and friends help a vigil on Saturday on McKinley Avenue in Hamilton to remember Taeler and call for justice, according to Cincinnati TV station WKRC. TRENDING STORIES: Bus driver shortage due to illness forces local school district to cancel classes 6 new laws take effect in Ohio 'Irreplaceable;' People devastated after items on gravestones thrown away at local cemetery 'I love you, guys,' they said as they released balloons into the air. Bennett was in a coma for two months before she died on Friday. Officers arrested the 72-year-old driver, June Fenton, on March 3. Lawyers said she thought she hit a dog and drove away without calling 911. She is out on bond. Taeler attended Middletown High School and moved her family to Sarasota in December. She leaves behind her two daughters and long-time partner. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The '90s Teens Who Exposed a Toxic Dumping Conspiracy in Their Backyard
Middletown asks a fundamental (and highly pertinent) question: How do you make people believe in a conspiracy theory—and take action to address it—when the conspiracy is actually true? For the students of Upstate New York's Middletown High School in the early '90s, the answer was to tirelessly strive to expose the nefarious conduct and dealings that were polluting their community, and to respond to criticisms and dismissals by putting their head down and doing the arduous and noble work demanded of a real democracy. They were a David trying to fell a multi-pronged Goliath, and Boys State and The Mission directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine's documentary—which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival—revisits their battle via the countless hours of footage they shot about this crisis. What it delivers is a genuinely uplifting portrait of activism under fire. It's also, movingly, a tale about teachers and the life-altering impact they can have on impressionable youth. Middletown's saga begins with Fred Isseks, a 9th-grade English teacher who, thanks to a project in which he had students photograph their world with cameras, was chosen to find a use for Middletown High's new video equipment. His bright idea was Electronic English, an elective that let kids create whatever they wanted with camcorders. Initially, that meant rap videos and comedy skits. Yet Fred soon turned them on to a different focus: looking into the nearby Wallkill landfill, which select citizens were reporting was leaking toxic waste into their suburban neighborhood. Fred was viewed by his colleagues and the student body as a hippie iconoclast with unconventional methods and a do-gooder environmentalist attitude. Nonetheless, the chance to investigate a potential scandal perpetrated by the big bad powers-that-be appealed to rebellious anti-establishment teens. Before long he had a class of devoted disciples, including Jeff Dutemple, Rachel Raimist, David Birmingham, and Mike Regan, all of whom are seen in Middletown's grainy material from the era and also sit down for candid new interviews with Moss and McBaine. As they make clear, they were innately attracted to the thought of uncovering a mystery in part because it hit so close to home, and because Fred—a lively and encouraging presence who trusted them and gave them responsibility—made them believe they were up to the challenge. The students filmed virtually everything they did with regards to the Wallkill landfill inquiry (as well as their downtime). Consequently, Middletown is blessed with an amazing amount of '90s-era VHS material that brings their quest to life. At Fred's suggestion, they broke into the landfill (Fred and Rachel now admit that it was trespassing) and discovered holes in the ground out of which bubbled nasty green liquid. The area was littered with discarded barrels, medical syringes, and other assorted refuse that didn't seem to belong. Afterwards, they began collaborating with a Middletown resident, Donald Tirrell, whose neighbors had been directly affected by waste seeping into their cellars and yards, emitting a pungent smell (Mike refers to it as the scent of 'dead bodies and decay…New Jersey') and, they claimed, creating a scourge of fatal illnesses. Outraged and motivated, Fred and his students set out to shine a spotlight on this crime, and Middletown depicts them interviewing everyone and anyone associated with the dumping ground, from residents to town officials to bigger media outlets, such as the editor-in-chief of the local newspaper, whose anger at being interrogated about his disinterest in their findings is the first of many instances in which the kids ruffle feathers. Getting anyone to confess to their misdeeds was a Herculean task, but their toil did turn up shocking revelations about the design of the landfill—shamefully, it was built on the aquifer that provides Middletown with drinking water—and about the intricate ties between the waste disposal industry, town and state government, big business, and the Mongelli crime family. Year after year, Fred and his kids attempted to make people see that something nefarious was taking place, and Middletown demonstrates that they eventually made enough noise to elicit the attention of The New York Times and 60 Minutes. As Fred now says, the entire experience was like something out of a bad movie—complete with their very own Deep Throat in the figure of the enigmatic 'Mr. B.'—and he reminisces about it with not simply affection but pride at having stirred these teens to look beyond themselves and seek justice. In an old interview, Fred explains that what began as a journalistic process became a crusade, and Moss and McBaine's documentary underscores his articulate point that the two are often naturally and inextricably linked when the subject is an offense that's doing grave harm to innocent people. Fred 'talked to every student as if they were an equal,' says Jeff, and the effect was, according to Mike, 'transformative.' Middletown celebrates Fred and, by extension, the role teachers play in imbuing pre-adults with notions of civic involvement and duty—and, relatedly, the way in which hands-on engagement often stimulates in ways that classroom lectures and projects don't. There isn't a former student of Fred's featured in Moss and McBaine's doc who doesn't look back fondly at their time scrutinizing the landfill and the cover-up they believe was committed by a host of inter-related parties. Whether grilling officials or acquiring proof via Freedom of Information Act requests, they were given a chance to do something meaningful, and they seized it, ultimately revealing the many tangled connections between politicians, corporations, and the underworld—relationships that not only existed in this particular time and place but remain ever-present in contemporary America. Middletown's saga is a case study in disparate individuals comprehending and embracing the fact that the sole way to get things done, to make things right, and to uphold this country's founding principles is often by taking matters into their own hands. Their somewhat clunky final documentary, 'Garbage, Gangsters, and Greed' may have failed to result in lasting change, yet courtesy of Moss and McBaine's film, their admirable work (and the lessons it imparts) lives on.
