Press release April 21, 2005 revised 6/2005
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Cynthia J. O’Hora announces her candidacy for School Director of the Selinsgrove Area School District. Mrs. O’Hora has been an active volunteer in public education for the past 15 years. In the Selinsgrove district, she served as a Helping Hand at the district's Middle School and on several critical district committees including the Technology Committee, Strategic Plan Mid Point Review Committee, Project 720 High School Reform Committee and the Act 72 Task Force. At the district’s request, she offered several classes on making web based educational activities. For more than four years, she has regularly attended School Board meetings, as well as, many School Board committee meetings. |
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"Being a regular attendee at the Board’s meetings has prepared me to serve our community on the Board. I believe it is important to gather information from multiple sources. I have researched issues impacting our schools using online and print sources."
Additionally, she served as the district’s volunteer web master
for 2 years. She posted over 780 web pages including board information,
news articles regarding students’ accomplishments, policies, graduation
project information, food service facts, Alma
Mater Project, HS Murals Project, Health Services info, Registration
for new students, and much more. Her efforts were recognized by Project
Pa.
Mrs. O’Hora earned a BSN from PSU in 1976. For 16 years, she worked
in the Emergency Departments of several PA hospitals. She was the first
nurse at Centre Community Hospital, State College to become a Certified
Emergency Nurse. She was an ACLS Instructor and worked with nurses and
physicians to improve their care of critically ill patients.
A long time patient education advocate, she worked for the implementation
of patient education programs in several hospitals. In 1991, she became
the Head Nurse of an ED in a suburban Philadelphia hospital. In that role,
she was responsible for budgeting, staffing, policy development and implementation,
a quality improvement program and staff training. O’Hora accepted
the added responsibilities of Inservice Coordinator and Head Nurse of
the ICU-CCU in 1992.
“I have worked with multi-million dollar budgets. I support Act 72. I believe that Act 72 can be a valuable tool for controlling costs. The taxpayers deserve this tax break. They should have a greater voice in how their tax dollars are spent.”
“I see a value in the many extras that are provided by public schools.
I believe that students and their parents should contribute more to the
funding of extracurricular programs.”
Mrs. O’Hora lived for 7 years in Conestoga, a small town located
just south of Lancaster. She was a highly engaged volunteer for the local
elementary school. She implemented an aluminum can recycling program.
The funds raised were used to buy 13 computers for the school. Several
other fund raisers were also run which allowed the parent computer support
group to buy nearly 200 software programs, as well as, printers and a
scanner for the school. She provided daily technical support for the computers
and helped teachers use them to enrich the curriculum. She also ran an
after school computer club. Seventy five children participated in the
program. She served as the PTO’s Vice President and President. Teachers
at the school nominated Mrs. O’Hora for the Jefferson Award for Public
Service.
“Computers can provide opportunities and resources that are not
available in a traditional classroom. Online resources make articles and
information available to many students at no greater cost to taxpayers.
The PA Power
Library is a great example of a rich online resource.”
Since 1997, O’Hora has used her personal web sites to provide online
educational activities for children. Mrs.
O’s House offers internet
hunts, online books, nature studies, and crossword
puzzles. The
site has won several
awards and was featured by an area television station. Her Macintosh
computer tutorials were recognized by Apple
Computers, Inc. and are referenced by many schools and computer organizations.
“I believe school districts should use their web site to provide
all publicly available information. The resources are in place to make
this happen in Selinsgrove. The District should proactively reach out
to the community using their web site. For example: I posted some of the
school district's policies
when I served as volunteer webmaster. All the policies should be available
online.”
O’Hora serves on the board of the Friends of the Selinsgrove Community Library. She has developed a web site for them and serves as their newsletter editor.
“I believe education is a valuable tool for each person. We should spend our public education dollars very carefully with the goal to prepare our children to be successful in an increasingly challenging work place and world.”
contact:
Cynthia J. O'Hora
100 Stetler Ave, Shamokin Dam, PA 17870