The Superintendent's Honor Roll award is an annual event with nominations available to all full-time and part-time employees who have served at least three years in the North Penn School District.

Award winners are chosen for high job performance, personal impact within immediate job surroundings, personal impact on the entire district, positive professional relationships with other staff members, students, parents or the public, commitment to self-improvement and professional development, involvement with community activities promoting cultural, economic or social qualities of life, and activities and accomplishments that brought distinction to the employee and the district. Winners are chosen by an anonymous panel of NPSD employees.

This year, three deserving staff members were acknowledged with this award. Congratulations to Rosemary "Roe" Burbich, Cindy Danko and Barb Sturgeon.

Roe Burbich has been described as having an infectious enthusiasm that affects everyone she meets. She has been a teacher at Kulp Elementary School since 1993. Prior to her time there, she was a teacher at North Penn High School in the late seventies to early eighties. Several other schools throughout the district have benefited from Roe's teaching as she also worked at Montgomery, York Avenue and Hatfield elementary schools. The students, staff, district and community benefit from her hard work and dedication. Her co-workers described how Roe sparks her student's interest in art by teaching them about the renowned artists for the first time in their lives. She teaches the students that they, too, can become a future Picasso or Van Gogh by guiding them in creating amazing reproductions. When walking through the halls of Kulp, one is transported to the halls of the Louvre or the Philadelphia Museum of Art because of the beautiful student renditions of Starry Night or the Mona Lisa.

Cindy Danko has worked for North Penn School District since November of 1981. During this time, she changed the appearance of our classrooms, offices and hallways through her masterful painting while always being a hard worker who gets the job done, regardless of its size. She has been described as the unsung hero of the Maintenance Department. One of her co-workers said that Cindy sticks with a job until it is perfect. Her mentality and work ethic makes the finish product pure perfection. From the time she takes to prep a new job site to the detail she puts into a job, her work shows that Cindy is not one for short cuts. Her department appreciates Cindy's suggestions on future projects and problem solving.

Barb Sturgeon started working in the district in March of 1971. After a few years off to raise a family, she returned to Penndale Middle School in 1980 and has worked in the math department ever since. She currently serves as the math department chair at Penndale and is active in nearly every math related committee and activity at the school and district level. Some of her commitments include the Course Advancement Committee, Academic Challenge, Math Night, NPAGE, curriculum development, course scheduling, Math Team and PLC committees. These additional responsibilities and volunteer roles do not keep Barb away from the main reason she is an educator- to make a positive impact in the lives of our students. One of Barb's nominators said, "It would be difficult to find someone who has given more of themselves to the children of this community and the North Penn School District." Barb comes in early, gives up her lunch time or stays after school to work with a student, even if she does not have them in class.

Congratulations to this year's award winners. To view the presentation of each of the awards, please click here. 

The North Penn School District and NPSD Superintendent Dr. Curt Dietrich are excited to once again offer its families and community members the opportunity to speak one-on-one about important issues involving NPSD schools. Community Conversations, a series of informal meetings, gives attendees the chance to talk freely with Dr. Dietrich and share their suggestions for the North Penn School District.

In addition to addressing participant questions, Dr. Dietrich will give summarized updates on school district news and ask for feedback and input on important district issues while allowing time for open questions from parents/guardians and community members. NPSD is working on multi-year solutions that focus on student success, staff development, financial security and a safe, healthy and orderly environment.

Save the date for the next Community Conversation scheduled for Thursday, March 20, 2014 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the Montgomery Township Building, located at 1001 Stump Road in Montgomeryville. To view the dates, locations and times of the remaining Community Conversations of the 2013-2014 school year, please click here. For more information and to register, please contact 215-853-1020 or [email protected].

All North Penn community members, whether they have children in North Penn schools or not, are invited to attend these informative Community Conversations with Dr. Dietrich.

Lit-Fest had several components including a dramatic reading contest, artwork presentations and a knowledge bowl. Students signed up individually to read selections of literature to the audience as part of the reading contest. The 11, 6.0 teachers kicked off Lit-Fest with each one delivering their own selected passage from an American author. Students created artistically inspired book covers and visual renderings for any of the works in the curriculum. Congratulations to Melissa Fuhr for winning the dramatic reading contest and Christian Aristizabal, Victoria Finley and Abi Natesh for performing an original song based on The Scarlet Letter.  

At the end of Lit-Fest, each section of the 11, 6.0 classes competed as a team to answer questions in the Knowledge Bowl, with Mr. Manero's fourth period class being crowned the Lit-Fest Champions for 2014.

"Lit Fest requires kids to really dive into the text and choose a favorite passage, and when you prepare a reading, you really get your head around what that quote means and own that quote. To hear it spoken by a classmate or to prepare it yourself really makes that very powerful for kids," said Ellen McKee, NPHS English teacher. "I also think that it's powerful to have the teachers read their favorite quotes, as well. Sometimes we get caught up in testing, and we forget that we just love this literature. So to see your teachers do it as well, I think, adds to the atmosphere of academic excitement."

The Lit-Fest is made possible in part by a grant from the North Penn Educational Foundation. To see pictures of the event, please click here.