FARRELL, PA. Pedas donates additional $20,480 to schools

The former teacher has given the district more than $400,000.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
FARRELL, Pa. -- He's been giving back to the Farrell Area School District for 33 straight years, and Ted Pedas did it again Monday, handing the district $20,480 to help fund programs his gifts helped to start.
Pedas retired two years ago from the district as a teacher and director of the high school planetarium that bears his name, but his desire to encourage those in school and even some out of school goes on.
To date, his 34 gifts total $414,472.
He organizes astronomical and historical cruises around the world, something he started years go while still a teacher. He is also a former columnist for The Vindicator and an administrator emeritus at Youngstown State University's planetarium.
"These annual donations have been given as a small token of appreciation to the Farrell Area School District which has provided an education for my brothers and sister and me," Pedas said.
Web sites
Pedas has donated $3,500 over the past couple of years to fund the creation of a school district Hall of Fame to recognize outstanding alumni whose achievements, service or commitments have distinguished them.
He added no money to that pot this year, saying there are sufficient funds to get it going and he hopes to see the first inductees announced in 2004. Nor did he make an allocation to the school district Web site or the Web sites dedicated to Farrell High School alumni and the city of Farrell.
He funded the creation and maintenance of those sites and said that he will continue to fund the alumni and Farrell sites but that the school district site must be replaced with one produced and constructed by students.
The creation and maintenance of a school Web site should be an integral part of the computer class curriculum and should involve active student participation, he said.
Pedas recognized his brothers, George and Tom; his sister, Marcy Pedas Sigler; and George's wife, Kathy, for lending their computer expertise to the creation and maintenance of the three sites.