Throughout the school year, Superintendent Curt Dietrich meets with North Penn students to discuss issues facing them and receive their feedback on how the school district can improve.  Each month, Dr. Dietrich visits a different school and sits down with approximately 12 students representing various grades and backgrounds. 

Dr. Dietrich presents various topics of interest to the students for their input. Subject matters often include instructional practices, budget input, use of technology, testing, etc. Students then bring up topics of interest to them. Student-initiated discussion items have included lunch selections, building scheduling, after school activities and more.

Students are selected by school principals. Input gathered at the meetings is discussed with various administrators and departments throughout the school district.  

 In 2003, Steve Hladik was elected to serve on the North Penn School District Board of School Directors. He is currently serving his second four-year term. Hladik resides in Towamencin Township with his wife and children. A graduate of Penn State University and Widener School of Law, Hladik is an attorney in a local law firm specializing in real estate, tax sale laws, mortgage foreclosure and bankruptcy.

Before your appointment to the school board what was your involvement with NPSD? I'm a firm believer in service and giving back to one's community. My first experience with NPSD was serving on the school district's Tax Study Committee which reviewed the impact of enacting the Earned Income Tax. This time allowed me to get to know some members of the school board, and it led to better understanding of school district operations. All of this led to an interest in serving on the school board. I wanted to be more involved and I wanted to help ensure fiscal responsibility and the best education in the area.

Tell us a little bit about the board committees upon which you serve and what your role is on these committees. I serve on Finance, Negotiations, and Hearings, and also serve as a liaison to the North Montco Technical Career Center. Obviously, Finance in these economic times is extremely important. As a committee, we examine the cash flow, tax receipts, expenditures, and more. Act 1 is so strict that it is very difficult to raise taxes above the state index - and that is a good thing.  However, it is critical that we find every possible place to save money, from bidding for more items or services, carefully measuring the costs of benefits and even to what we are charging for the price of lunch. The budget is over 200 million dollars, and we need to look at everything we do and consider new ways of doing them. In a lot of cases, this means bidding or refinancing.

My role on the Negotiations Committee heated up with the teacher's contract and will gear up again when we look at the support services contract. It's important to remember that we have nine individual board members with different opinions, and it takes a lot to get consensus for a direction in negotiating a contract. We work with district administrators, examining numbers to determine what the school district and taxpayers can afford. I practice in the area of mortgage law, and every day I see North Penn residents facing foreclosure or tremendous financial difficulties. I see real estate transfer taxes and assessments in decline. When involved in negotiations, you have to be very aware of these factors in the local community. We as a board certainly aim to be fair and respectful to our employees in reaching an agreement, but we need to be mindful of the costs to our local families as well.

My work with the North Montco Technical Career Center is a very enjoyable part of being a school board member. That school does an outstanding job educating students and I'm thrilled to be part of the renovations taking place at NMTCC. Major parts of the school have basically been untouched in 40 years and needed substantial improvements.

The Hearings Committee basically deals mainly with employee grievances or terminations. Our Board Solicitor conducts the hearing at which time we listen to cases involving our employees. The results are then voted upon at a public meeting.

Besides the committees, being a board member involves a great deal of reading and learning about the issues facing North Penn. I receive and respond to a lot of emails and telephone calls from community members. All this plus meetings generally adds up to about 12 hours a week.  There's not a baseball or soccer game I go to where I'm not asked about anything from bussing to school menus. But I enjoy my role and welcome people's questions, complaints and accolades.

For a video feature on the NPSD Board of School Directors Finance Committee meeting produced by North Penn Television, please click here.

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The North Penn School District is proud to announce that five of its buildings recently earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) prestigious ENERGY STAR award, the national symbol for superior energy efficiency and environmental protection. This signifies that the building's energy performance rates in the top 25 percent of facilities nationwide.

"In past years, Bridle Path, Gwynedd Square and York Avenue elementary schools and Northbridge School have been recognized as ENERGY STAR buildings. Thus far this school year, Bridle Path, Gwynedd Square, Walton Farm and York Avenue elementary schools, Pennfield Middle School, Northbridge School and the Educational Services Center have been awarded this achievement.

"Receiving the EPA's ENERGY STAR recognition is an example of just one of the many efforts the North Penn School District has in place to lower energy costs," said John Strobel, NPSD Manager of Support Services. "Improving overall energy efficiency is good for the environment and good for the NPSD budget." These schools will receive an ENERGY STAR plaque, certificate of achievement and original Statement of Energy Performance.

Please click on the picture above to view a slideshow of building representatives being honored at the December board meeting.

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Every day in the North Penn School District, talented staff members are using creative and innovative strategies to enhance the academic curriculum for students.

Recently, eighth grade Earth and Space Science classes at Pennbrook Middle School began their investigation of volcanoes. During one class, students used Google Earth to investigate several different volcanoes on Earth and made observations of what they witnessed. Later in the week, students then conducted a lab in which they investigated the viscosity of different substances to understand why volcanoes appear the way they do.

Both parts of the lesson on volcanoes demonstrate some of the techniques acquired through NPSD staff trainings with the Academy of Leadership in Science Education and Merck Institute for Science Education (MISE). 

Please click on the picture below to view the entire slideshow.

At Penndale Middle School, more than 400 ninth grade students were learning Newton's three laws of motion in their ninth grade science curriculum. To aide in this learning process, the students used technology to build power rockets that provide a practical application in learning the three laws of motion. The students were extremely excited to test the rockets they have been working so diligently on in recent weeks.

Please click on the picture below to view the entire slideshow.

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In keeping with tradition, NPSD Superintendent Curt Dietrich invited students in all NPSD schools to design an image for his holiday card that is distributed to all NPSD staff members.

Hundreds of cards were made during student art classes in grades kindergarten through twelve, with more than 100 of these cards being sent to Superintendent Dietrich to determine the selected four that would be showcased in his card. It was an extremely difficult decision for Dr. Dietrich. After much thought, NPSD was pleased to feature four student designs in the holiday card.

Congratulations to Hyun Lim, twelfth grade student from North Penn High School, Katherine Lee, first grade student at Gwynedd Square Elementary School, Sara McConnell, ninth grade student from Penndale Middle School and Kristina Yerk, twelfth grade student from Northbridge School whose designs were chosen for this year's card. 

The selected designs were sent to the students of the North Penn High School Digital Art Club, who took the artwork and created an exceptional electronic holiday card for the first time in the district's history of this project. Special acknowledgement goes to Spencer Hill, twelfth grade student at North Penn High School, for the time and creativity in producing this e-card.

This year's e-card is not only a beautiful representation of the student talent in North Penn School District, but also reflects the district's commitment to using less paper and financial resources.

Please click here to view the 2010 NPSD Superintendent Holiday Card.

North Penn High School athletes continued the school's athletic reputation of excellence this past Fall.

In cross country, NPHS junior Megan McGovern placed fifth in the PIAA State Cross Country Championship and was named First Team All-State.

Just a New Year's reminder that there is still time to sign up for one of the 30 Winter Blues courses offered by the North Penn School District Community Education Department. Winter Blues offers some of the most popular classes in the program and is a great way to help get over the holiday slump, start the 2011 year off right and deal with the blistering cold winter months still ahead.

Click here to view details on the classes available for all individuals in the North Penn community as well as those in neighboring communities. Individuals do not need to be a North Penn resident in order to enroll in a NPSD Community Education course.

An additional class not included in the link above is another session of Strong Women (Course # W27). This class will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays (January 4 through 27) from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at York Avenue Elementary School, located at 700 York Avenue in Lansdale. The cost is just $30.

For information or questions regarding this program, please contact Gail Beigel at beigelg@npenn.org or Paula Malley at malleypa@npenn.org or call 215-853-1028/1029.

Click here to read more.

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