It seems only fitting that Rep. Carolyn Comitta has her district office in what was at one time the junior and senior high school in the West Chester School District. Comitta has spent much of her professional life either teaching, or advocating for education.
“It is the foundation for our healthy and productive community,” Comitta told me. She has just been sworn into her second term as Representative of the 156 District. “A good education builds individual citizens who can lead with their gifts and leave everything a little better than we found it.”
Comitta says a good education starts with a good pre-K program. Her goal is to have an affordable and quality pre-K program available to every child in PA.
“When a child has access to a quality pre-K program, they have the foundation for being successful in school,” she said. “What we see across Pennsylvania are some wonderful pre-K programs. The governor and legislature are putting more and more money into pre-K because we know how important it is.”
We also talked a lot about the Saints Peter and Paul School outside of West Chester that sits in her district. The school was a recent winner of the Blue Ribbon School Award, presented by the U.S. Department of Education. Comitta is no stranger to the facility and is definitely a big fan.
“I have been to visit a number of times and have been very impressed,” Comitta said. “They have a school-wide theme each year and each of the classes works on whatever the theme might be and then at the end of the year they have a school-wide presentation around the them, which is a pretty cool way of integrating all the curricula.”
In fact, Comitta showed me the plaque that she was preparing to present Egan that recognizes another honor that the principal received–in addition to the Blue Ribbon award. She was named as winner of the Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding Leadership. It is given to just 11 principals in the nation!
“Principal Peg Egan always seems to be at the door to greet everybody. She’s there greeting her students every day and she’s greeting her teachers all the time.”
