Art Teacher Named Finalist for PA Teacher of the Year 2013

insight: the newsletter of the Wyomissing Area School District
A “Ducky” Day at the Hills
2
Tuesday, June 5, did not start
out as a usual day at
Wyomissing Hills Elementary.
When second-grade teacher
Kelly Keim arrived at work, she
saw a mother duck frantically
circling an area of the parking
lot and quickly discovered several
ducklings had fallen into
the storm drain. Although she
WYOMISSING HILLS G
ELEMENTARY CENTERG
could hear quacking, she
couldn’t see the ducklings because
they were in the horizontal pipe
between the two storm drains under
the parking lot. Efforts to rescue them,
including tempting them with popcorn
and using cellphone apps with
duck calls, were fruitless. Benito Diaz,
WHEC custodian, called the District’s
Buildings and Grounds Department,
and workers Barry Matz, Jack Kasopsky,
and Jim Jackson were sent to the rescue.
After using a crowbar to remove
the grates, Kasopsky and Jackson each
entered a drain. With Matz lying on his
stomach, dropping a towel down the
drain each time a duckling emerged,
the trio captured eight, one by one, and
secured them in a cardboard box. Two
additional stubborn ducklings evaded
capture until Jon Yorgey, grounds foreman,
suggested using a backpack blower
to gently push them through the pipe
to be rescued. The mother was finally
reunited with her brood.
Lauren Yelinek, a teacher’s aide at
WHEC, owns a farm that boasts
three ponds already inhabited with
ducks. With the assistance of Lauren’s
grandmother and aunt, the mother
duck was captured, and all were safely
delivered to Lauren’s farm to live
happily ever after.
RESCUE CREW
L to R: Barry Matz, Benito Diaz, Jon Yorgey, and Jack Kasopsky
Missing: James Jackson