Home Care In Wallingford, PA

Pennsylvania’s top 25 public elementary schools are all located near Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, according to Niche, a site offering data on schools and colleges across the country.

Reviews and data from sources like the U.S. Department of Education, Common Core Data, Civil Rights Data Collection and more fuel Niche’s rankings. The Pittsburgh-headquartered school search platform ranks public elementary schools through the following categories:

Niche breaks down its overall grades into the following segments:

Pennsylvania’s top 25 schools received “A+” grades, though their strengths and achievements vary. Here’s a brief look at how the institutions compared.

Location: Wayne, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and B+ diversity

Niche calls New Eagle Elementary School a “top-rated” school with a 15-1 student-to-teacher ratio. The school’s most recent standardized test scores showed roughly 82% of its 516 students are proficient in math, while about 92% of students are proficient or better in reading.

Location: McDonald, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and A- diversity

Another top-rated school, South Fayette Township Elementary has a 17-1 student-to-teacher ratio, Niche reports. The institution’s latest batch of test scores indicated at least 98% of its 723 students are proficient or better in math, while about 96% are proficient or better in reading.

Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and B diversity

Niche reports a 13-1 student-to-teacher ratio at O’Hara Elementary School. Its 671 students recently posted respective proficiency rates of 86% and 92% in math and reading, according to the latest test scores.

Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and B- diversity

Another Pittsburgh-based school, Baker Elementary School has a 16-1 student-to-teacher ratio with 433 students in its care. Its most recent batch of test scores reports proficiency rates of 87% and 92% for math and reading, respectively.

Location: Swarthmore, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A academics, A+ teachers and B diversity

Swarthmore-Rutledge School posts a 14-1 student-to-teacher ratio with a student body of 561 students, Niche reports. Roughly 82% and 90% of the school’s 561 students are proficient or better in math and reading, respectively.

Location: Allison Park, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A academics, A+ teachers and B+ diversity

Out in the Pittsburgh suburbs, Hosack Elementary School boasts a 14-1 student-to-teacher ratio. Recent standardized test scores found at least 77% of the school’s 373 students are proficient or better in math, while at least 87% are proficient or better in reading.

Location: Wallingford, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A academics, A+ teachers and B diversity

This top-rated public school offers a 12-1 student-to-teacher ratio. At least 77% of its 554 students are at least proficient in math, while roughly 90% of its students are proficient or better in reading.

Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and B- diversity

Back in Pittsburgh, this school boasts a 13-1 student-to-teacher ratio spread across 252 students. Foster Elementary School’s most recent test scores indicated proficiency rates of 87% and 92%, respectively, for math and reading.

Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and C diversity

Markham Elementary School joins Foster Elementary School in Pittsburgh’s Mt. Lebanon School District. With 305 students in its care, this school posts a 14-1 student-to-teacher ratio and proficiency rates of 87% and 95%, respectively, in math and reading, according to the latest standardized tests.

Location: Devon, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and A- diversity

Devon Elementary School educates 406 students and offers a 14-1 student-to-teacher ratio. Its most recent test scores indicate proficiency rates of 82% and 92% in math and reading, respectively.

Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and B- diversity

Another Pittsburgh School, Fairview Elementary School has a 14-1 student-to-teacher ratio. The school’s latest batch of standardized test scores indicate proficiency rates of 92% and 95% for math and reading for its 397 students, respectively.

Location: Radnor, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A academics, A+ teachers and B+ diversity

Back near Philadelphia, Radnor Elementary School has a 13-1 student-to-teacher ratio with 595 students in its care. The school’s students are at least 75% proficient in math and roughly 87% proficient in reading, according to test scores.

Location: Berwyn, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and B+ diversity

Hillside Elementary School boasts a 13-1 student-to-teacher ratio throughout the school, which offers grades K through four. According to state test scores, 87% of the school’s 428 students are proficient or better in math, while 92% are proficient or better in reading.

Location: Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and B+ diversity

Cynwyd Elementary School, aptly named after its location, has a 13-1 student-to-teacher ratio. At least 86% of its 560 students are at least proficient in math, while roughly 89% of its students are proficient or better in reading.

Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A academics, A+ teachers and B diversity

Peebles Elementary School boasts a 14-1 teacher-to-student ratio with 419 students in its care. Recent standardized test scores found at least 82% of the school’s students are proficient or better in math, while at least 87% are proficient or better in reading.

Location: Wynnewood, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A teachers and A- diversity

Penn Wynne School maintains a 13-1 student-to-teacher ratio across a student body of 760 students. Its most recent standardized tests showed math and reading proficiency rates of 85% and 89%, respectively.

Location: Wayne, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and B+ diversity

Wayne Elementary School offers a 12-1 student-to-teacher ratio spread across 537 students. Its most recent standardized test scores indicated proficiency rates of 76% for math and 87% for reading, Niche reports.

Location: Narberth, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and A- diversity

Penn Valley School boasts a 12-1 student-to-teacher ratio covering 638 K through five students. Recent standardized test scores found proficiency rates of 81% in math and 87% in reading.

Location: Merion Station, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and B+ diversity

With 579 students, Merion Elementary School offers a 12-1 student-to-teacher ratio. Its most recent batch of standardized test scores indicated proficiency rates of 84% for math and 90% for reading.

Location: Wexford, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and A- diversity

Back near Pittsburgh, Marshall Elementary School has a 15-1 student-to-teacher ratio across 903 students. State standardized test reports indicate proficiency rates of 83% in math and 87% in reading.

Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and B diversity

This top-rated Pittsburgh-area school offers a 14-1 student-to-teacher ratio among 275 students. Hoover Elementary School’s students produced proficiency rates of 82% in math and 92% in reading through standardized tests, Niche reports.

Location: Bradford Woods, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and B+ diversity

Bradford Woods Elementary School owns a 16-1 student-to-teacher ratio with 488 students in its care. A recent batch of standardized test scores showed proficiency rates of 87% and 91% in math and reading, respectively.

Location: Sewickley, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and B+ diversity

This top-rated school offers a 13-1 student-to-teacher ratio with 377 students under its wings. According to standardized test scores, roughly 88% of Franklin Elementary School’s students are proficient or better in math, while 95% of students are proficient or better in reading.

Location: Souderton, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and A- diversity

This charter school located in the Philadelphia suburbs hosts 235 students and has an impressive 10-1 student-to-teacher ratio, Niche reports. About 82% of the Souderton Charter School Collective’s students are at least proficient in math, while roughly 92% of them are at least proficient in reading.

Location: Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Grades: A+ overall, A+ academics, A+ teachers and A- diversity

Finally, the top-rated public elementary school in Niche’s Pennsylvania database is Ithan Elementary School, which hosts 470 students and offers a 12-1 student-to-teacher ratio. Roughly 85% and 92% of its students are proficient or better in math and reading, respectively.

John Joseph Cramer 2-5-1929 - 1-8-2023 (From your daughter, Sandra)

My father was the first son of the late Michael and Anna (Orenic) Cramer of Williamsburg, PA. (near Altoona). He was a 1947 graduate of the local high school, followed by several years employed as a lab technician for the Westvaco Corporation.

Dad was drafted in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict and after discharge, was employed at the DuPont Experimental Station in Delaware for 38 years.

Aside from his parents, Anna and Michael, Dad was preceded in death by his wife, Minn, in 2011, their son, Richard at the age of 35 in 1989, brother Theodore in 2014 and his grandson Robert in 2020.

Surviving are: daughter Sandra of Wilmington; Robert’s wife Elizabeth and their girls, Emmie, Eva and Anna; Richard’s son, John (Leslie) and their sons, Mal, Obi and Eli; grandson Luke and his dad Bo and daughter in-law Mary Keith (Kelly); Also surviving is his sister Susanna of Annandale, PA, his brother Robert (Eileen) of Rose Valley, PA and Theodore’s wife Jennie of Wallingford, PA.

Mom and Dad were married for 58 years, enjoyed traveling, whether to places as Aruba or Hawaii, or the countless trips visiting relatives in Pennsylvania. Dad was an active member of Sts. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, where throughout the years, he served in various office positions and participated in the church fund raising programs. Dad also had a love for the outdoors, always working in his yard.

A special thank you to Kellie (Dad’s caregiver), Theresa and Fred, Kristen and his loving neighbor, Sue.

I will leave you with this quote that my dad read to me many times, by (Stephen Covey), Be Proactive, Begin with the End in Mind, Put First Things First, Think WIN/WIN, Seek first to Understand, Then To Be Understood, Synergize, Sharpen The Saw, Physical, Mental, Spiritual, Social and Emotional.

Thank you Dad for all the wonderful years! Farewell my dad, hero, friend, mentor. Till we meet again, Love your daughter, Sandy.

A viewing will be held on Thursday January 12, from 10-11am followed by a service at 11am at Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 1406 Philadelphia Pike Wilmington, DE 19809.

My dad will be laid to rest next to his beloved wife, son Richard and grandson Robert on January 19, in Abingdon Episcopal Church Cemetery in Glouster, VA. Flowers are welcome as dad loved them. (Kirk’s Florist, 302-737-8072 or 302-737-3931. In addition, contribution’s may also be made to St. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church or Delaware Hospice, 16 Polly Drummond Center, 2nd Flr. Newark, DE 19711.

Greg and Gabrielle Miller had not planned to leave Philadelphia as soon as their first child was born.

“We thought we’d stay in the city for a year or two after our son, Hudson, was born,” she said. “After one day with all three of us in our condo, we changed our minds.”

They saw a 3,000-square-foot, four-bedroom home in Wallingford called Lindenshade. It featured a two-story library designed by Frank Furness for his brother. They kept looking at other properties, but Miller said they could not get Lindenshade out of their minds.

“We saw this home, then looked elsewhere,” she said. “But we always measured everything to Lindenshade, and nothing could compare.”

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They bought the home in 2007 and set to work modernizing it.

“It took some creativity to see past the cement exterior, dated interior and wall air conditioners,” she said.

They added central air and dual-zoned climate control, refinished the library ceilings and moldings, and added stucco to the exterior.

“We also landscaped to try to keep the yard as Horace Howard Furness discusses in his letters,” Miller said.

Horace Howard Furness (1839-1912) was a Shakespeare scholar and collector. The Furness Memorial Library at the University of Pennsylvania, named for him, is devoted to the study of Shakespeare and other Tudor and Stuart dramatists.

Gabrielle Miller said Lindenshade’s library remains her favorite area inside the house.

“The space is enormous and welcoming, with many of Horace’s books and letters still in the stacks,” she said. “It’s like a book-filled oasis.”

The gardens are another property highlight, Miller said. The grounds include a pond with waterfalls and separate gardens. And the family has added some features.

“We put in a zip line, slack line, swing set, trampoline, and there are fish in the pond with three waterfalls,” she said.

Miller said a professional opportunity means she and Greg have decided to list the home for sale.

“I got a job offer I could not refuse,” she said. “It’s bittersweet to leave this incredible home.”

The home is listed with the Vince May Team at Coldwell Banker Preferred for $599,900.

Dr. June Elcock-Messam says her passion is showing each child in the chair across from her why they matter.

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Dr. June Elcock-Messam says her passion is showing each child in the chair across from her why they matter.

WALLINGFORD, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A Delaware County pediatrician has made it her life's work to take care of children in her community who are going through hard times.

Dr. June Elcock-Messam says her passion is showing each child in the chair across from her why they matter.

"I think that every child deserves a chance to be happy and safe and have a bright future. And everything I do is to try to make that happen for as many children as I can," said Elcock-Messam, the president of Every Child Counts and co-founder of Media Pediatrics.

She is the only board-certified child abuse pediatrician in Delaware County.

"My goal always was to grow up, become a doctor and protect kids who experience trauma," she said.

It's something she wished she had as a child growing up and experiencing violence in Guyana.

"There were soldiers with guns that would come and tear gas us, beat our teachers, beat students," she said.

When she was 16, her parents immigrated their family of 10 to the United States.

"They gave up everything for us to come and become whatever we wanted," said Elcock-Messam.

Last year, Elcock-Messam's mom passed away. For her, it's still so hard to imagine the woman who sacrificed everything for her kids to have a better life is gone. But it's also why she's working so hard to share that mother's love with every kid who needs it.

"She'd be so proud. She would be so proud," she said.

There's now a scholarship in her name through her daughter's nonprofit, Every Child Counts. Some of its programs include trauma-informed activities for kids going through hard times and resources for children who are homeless or in foster care.

"To be able to help to protect kids, it almost makes sense of my life like why I would have gone through something so difficult as a child," said Elcock-Messam.

It's adversity her mom always knew she would achieve.

NETHER PROVIDENCE – Groundhog Day will roll around again on Feb. 2, but those paying attention to a vote by the Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board on Monday, Jan. 27, may also have a sense of deja vu.

At a meeting that evening, the board will be asked to approve a proposed preliminary budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year that begins July 1.

There will be other approvals needed prior to the spending plan’s anticipated final adoption on June 22. However, the decision on Jan. 27, if in favor, will lock in two key parameters: The projected tax increase will not exceed the state’s Act 1 index for the district of 2.6 percent and the district will once again take an exception – this time for 0.8 percent — for special education costs allowed by the state.

The net effect will be a proposed tax hike of 3.4 percent, generating roughly $2.21 million in new revenues.

For the current fiscal year, the boost in taxes was pegged at 3.2 percent, based on a slightly different formula. Wallingford-Swarthmore adhered to the Act 1 index for 2019-20 of 2.3 percent and took a special education exception of 0.9 percent.

That translated into an additional $260 in school taxes for a home assessed at the district average of $179,000 and $549 more for one assessed at $337,000. The respective overall school tax bills were $8,109 and $17,079.

Business Administrator Martha Kew provided details at the board’s latest meeting. It was her fourth time rolling out the district’s budget roadmap for the upcoming fiscal year.

And as in previous years, Kew devoted much of her time to the way in which the district’s hands are tied due to costs over which it has no control, notably its required contributions to the state retirement system for teachers.

For FY 2020-21, Wallingford-Swarthmore will shell out $200,000 more to the Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System, or PSERS, as its contribution rate rises from 34.29 to 34.51 percent.

While the growth rate has slowed, “it has been a dozen years since pension growth was anywhere near the ’09-’10 growth rate of .4 percent,” she said.

To put those numbers in starker terms, Kew said, “In slightly over a decade, the pension employer contribution rate has increased over 600 percent.”

Even though the district receives back about 17 cents on the dollar from the state in reimbursement, the amount it must pay out represents just under 40 percent of its budget outlays.

“That’s quite a number,” she said.

As a result of initial costs, pension reforms approved by the state Legislature are not expected to start to yield savings for districts until 2034-35.

With respect to special education costs, Kew said they have increased by more than 40 percent.

Wallingford-Swarthmore relies on local revenues to cover about 80 percent of its budget. State revenues handle about 20 percent while federal subsidies make up less than one-half of 1 percent.

Kew pointed out that the district, which is home to a limited number of commercial properties – most notaby downtown Swarthmore – is number one in the county for its reliance on residential property taxes.

“We do not have land for growth,” she said.

In order to balance its budget, the district plans to tap $916,000 from its fund balance, or reserves, though that number could fall as revenue and costs projections are refined. At the conclusion of FY 2018-19, the district had about $9 million in reserves.

Board President David Grande urged district taxpayers to contact their legislators for changes to school funding.

“At the same time, it’s important to say that despite these pressures the district continues to thrive in so many ways,” he said.