Ed Rendell, former governor of Pennsylvania, visited Copper Beech Elementary School to present Ms. Hagarty’s fifth grade class with a $500 check as part of their award in the 2015 Citizenship Challenge.
Mrs. Hagarty’s class participated in the 2015 Citizenship Challenge, sponsored by the Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Engagement. The class wrote essays expressing their point of view regarding a current issue related to government as well as rights and responsibilities of citizens. An essay written by a team of students in Mrs. Hagarty’s class was chosen to compete in the Finals.
At the National Constitution Center, the team of students from Mrs. Hagarty’s class competed in the Finals. After giving a three-minute team presentation and answering questions about the issue, a panel of judges chose the Copper Beech team to win a fourth place award. $500 was awarded to the school today where Mr. Rendell held a lively session with the entire fifth grade at the school. Mr. Rendell challenged students to analyze and provide their opinion on two scenarios. One scenario involved probable cause as utilized by a police officer in stopping and searching individuals after a report of a burglary in the neighborhood. The second issued involved individual rights of privacy in a Supreme Court case where the FBI tapped a pay telephone in a public place without a warrant, asking whether the user, who utilized the telephone for illegal gambling operations, had the right to privacy and whether the information obtained in the wire tap should be disallowed.
In addition to the $500 award, the school received a selection of books that deal with the Constitution and individual rights, a DVD of the students’ presentation at the Constitution Center, and every fifth grade student at the school received a gavel/pencil.
Photos include: Mr. Rendell challenging students in his presentation; the check received by the school; Mrs. Hagarty (left) and Copper Beech Principal Ms. Stephanie Viola (right); the team from Mrs. Hagarty’s class that made the presentation at the Constitution Center with Mr. Rendell, the check, and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Amy Sichel; Dr. Sichel congratulating the team and the fifth graders that participated in the discussion with Mr. Rendell.