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If November is the month for gathering with family and friends and feasting, members of the SCASD community got things off to a good start on Tuesday. Hundreds of English language learners and their families from across the district came together over plates of delicious food at State High for the annual ESL Potluck event.

The SCASD Board of Directors unanimously approved Casey Yates to be the new Park Forest Middle School principal. She will begin at SCASD sometime after Jan. 1. Yates comes to the district from North Carolina, where she is the principal at Brentwood Elementary and, before that, was the assistant principal at Gray’s Creek High School.

Senior Tanner Cohagan has a story in his head, a graphic novel featuring original superheroes, the kind of book he’d want to read himself. But for Cohagan, who is blind, drawing his heroes on paper presents a unique challenge. Now thanks to a drawing class he is taking this fall, Cohagan is learning to create art through touch, imagination, and persistence.

L. Hope Palm has started her new role as assistant principal for the SCASD Virtual Academy. Prior to joining the district, Palm worked as principal at Mount Union Area Junior High School in Huntington County, and before that she was assistant principal at Mount Union junior and senior high schools.

Flames flared last week at the LifeLink apartments, but firefighters were already on hand to show SCASD students exactly what to do. Students along with their families and coaches took part in a fire training outside the district’s LifeLink apartment, simulating what might happen if a cooking fire got out of hand.

Students were off Thursday, but learning didn’t stop in the State College Area School District. Teachers and staff spent a busy in-service day in a wide range of professional development sessions, highlighted by two nationally recognized experts who presented some of the latest research in their fields.