the almanac M A R C H 8, 2026
SOUTH HILLS COMMUNITY NEWS
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BASKETBALL BRILLIANCE COURTESY OF JEWISH FOUNDATION FOR THE RIGHTEOUS
New Jersey teacher Jill Tejada, Bethel Park teacher Leigh Ann Totty, Jewish Foundation for the Righteous Executive Vice President Stanlee Stahl and Amy McDonald of the Alabama Holocaust Education Center at JFR’s seminar in January.
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Bethel Park teacher continues to expand Holocaust education
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By Jon Andreassi
PHOTOS BY ELEANOR BAILEY
Upper St. Clair, Chartiers Valley and South Fayette flexed their muscles during the WPIAL championships held Feb. 2728 at the Petersen Events Center on the University of Pittsburgh campus. By slipping past New Castle, 52-51, the Panthers became the first WPIAL team to win three championships in a row in the highest classification. In helping USC win its sixth district banner overall, Ryan Robbins led the way with 18 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. Luke Marchinsky and Jake Foster followed, pitching in 14 and 11 tallies. Those three team captains (1) from left Marchinsky, Foster and Robbins hoisted the championship trophy after the victory. South Fayette’s starting five (2) from left, Ella Vierra, Haylie Lamonde, Juliette Leroux, Lailah Wright and Ryan Oldaker jump for joy after dispatching Thomas Jefferson, 57-38, as the buzzer sounds in the WPIAL Class 5A girls final. Lamonde led the way with 19 points followed by 14 tallies each by Leroux and Wright. Oldaker, who finished with nine points, led in rebounding with eight boards. Evan Rou, left, and Silas Verzich, right, (3) react to the wow moment provided by Luca Feredico’s dunk (4) during Chartiers Valley’s triumph over Thomas Jefferson, 63-37, in the Class 5A boys final. Feredico exploded for 31 points, 8 rebounds and three steals in the Colts’ victory. Julian Semplice pitched in 15 tallies for CV. Jake Foster (5) sums up the emotions of all the champions who participated in the madness that is the WPIAL basketball championships. All three teams embarked on quests for PIAA titles this weekend, March 6-7. The Lady Lions are the defending Class 5A state champions while USC and CV both reached the semifinals in 2025. See page B1 for more details and complete results.
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jandreassi@observer-reporter.com
As Leigh Ann Totty strives to educate her students on the Holocaust, she has continuously worked to expand her own education on the subject. Totty is a 10th-grade English teacher at Bethel Park High School. She uses literature about the Holocaust, such as Elie Wiesel’s “Night” and “Maus” by Art Spiegelman, in the classroom, and feels an obligation to be as prepared as possible. “I feel in my role, to be a teacher also means to be a learner. In order to teach a subject as complex as this, as vast as this, I felt I needed to learn from the experts in the field,” Totty said. “I felt that was important, especially since I’m coming at it from a non-Jewish perspective.” Since 2009, Totty has been attending advanced seminars hosted by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous (JFR). Most recently, she traveled to New Jersey in January for a seminar discussing the potential impact of artificial intelligence in Holocaust education. “This was the first one I was able to attend since the pandemic,” Totty said. According to a press release from the JFR, nearly two dozen educators from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas took part in the seminar. “Through this intensive, graduate-level program, participants developed a more nuanced understanding of Holocaust history, testimony, pedagogy and contemporary tools and challenges for teaching about the Holocaust, strengthening their own effectiveness in the classroom and enabling them to mentor other colleagues who teach the subject,” said JFR Executive Vice President Stanlee Stahl in the release. Totty says part of the discussion at the seminar was about Eva Schloss, a Holocaust survivor who died earlier this year. SEE TEACHER PAGE A2
Bethel Park names new superintendent
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PHOTOS BY ELEANOR BAILEY
Kindergarteners to be enrolled for full day in Bethel Park
By Brad Hundt
bhundt@observer-reporter.com
It was once commonplace for kindergarteners to be dropped off at school the first thing in the morning and then ferried home around lunchtime so a new batch of kindergarteners could take their place for a few hours of afternoon instruction. But school districts have been steadily moving away from half-day kindergarten. Instead, those 5- and 6-year-olds are now attending kindergarten for a whole school day. Full-day kindergarten is gaining a foothold in more and more districts across the country, and in the fall it will be joined by Bethel Park.
Through March 27, the Bethel Park School District is accepting registrations for eligible students for its kindergarten classes in the 2026-27 school year. Students will be attending the new Bethel Park Elementary School, the 280,000-square-foot facility on the campus of Neil Armstrong Middle School campus, and those new kindergarteners will be attending for a full day. The district moved from half-day kindergarten to a full day “based on community feedback and a high level of interest,” according to Lisa Miracle-Volpe, who will be the principal of the new elementary school. For half-day programs, families where both parents work have to
LOCATION Students learn Japanese culture through Taiko PAGE A6 What’s happening, B3
make child care arrangements for the rest of the workday, and full-day programs remove that worry. But many educators are also proponents of full-day kindergarten programs, contending that full-day kindergarten allows them to get to know students better, and understand their skills and abilities. “You’re shoving a lot into a halfday,” Miracle-Volpe said. “And you don’t get a lot of the socialization that you’re going to get in a full-day kindergarten.” According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, more than 400 of the commonwealth’s
Bethel Park appointed Dr. Matthew J. Patterson as the school district’s 13th full-time superintendent. Patterson brings nearly three decades of experience in public education and a strong record of instructional leadership, community engagement, and organizational excellence to Bethel Park. Patterson most recently served as Executive Director of Secondary Education and Instruction for the Fox Chapel Area School District, where he provided strategic oversight of middle and high school programs and led districtwide instructional initiatives. His career also includes seven years as assistant superintendent in the West Jefferson Hills School District, as well as central office and building-level leadership roles in the Corry Area School District. “We are excited to welcome Dr. Patterson to Bethel Park,” said school board President Buffie Faes. “Throughout the search process, he demonstrated a deep commitment to students, a collaborative leadership style, and a clear understanding of how to guide a district through both opportunity and change. His experience and values align closely with our community’s expectations for excellence.” Patterson’s professional background reflects extensive experience in curriculum and instruction, data-informed decision-making, school consolidation and reconfiguration, federal programs, and fiscal stewardship. He has led large-scale initiatives focused on literacy, mathematics, and science achievement, strengthened systems of accountability, and
SEE ENROLLED PAGE A2
SPORTS WPIAL champs embark on PIAA play PAGE B1 Classifieds, B4
SEE BETHEL PAGE A2
SIGHTS & SOUNDS America through the lens of Lewis Hine PAGE B3 Real estate transactions, A5