Dear Community,

On behalf of the North Penn School Board (NPSB) of Directors, I’d like to welcome everyone back to school! September is always a hectic time getting back into the swing of things, but I am grateful that this September we’ve been able to have a more “normal” start to the school year. It has been heartwarming to see our students back in the classrooms with their teachers and their friends, and it has been a joy to watch our teams back on the athletic fields and our marching band perform on Friday nights. 

Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic continues. Despite the progress that we made in the spring and early summer in keeping cases low, we returned to a “substantial” phase of transmission in our community in late August. Because of this, we will continue to have a multi-layered mitigation strategy in place to keep transmission in our schools as low as possible. This includes mask requirements for anyone that enters our buildings, whether at the elementary or secondary level. It also includes mandatory assurance testing of our staff, unless they show proof of vaccination. While there is some disagreement in our community as to the efficacy of the state’s mask policy, the entire community is in agreement that we want to keep schools open for in-person instruction. Having these measures in place helps us to achieve this goal. 

On behalf of the board and community, I would like to give a huge shout out to two integral teams that are backbones of our community: our nursing staff and School Nutrition Services Department. As you can imagine, school nurses have been on the front lines of this pandemic since the beginning. They continue to do the herculean job of tracking all things COVID-related -- from confirmed cases to quaratines to those requiring testing -- all while fulfilling their regular nursing responsibilities. Thank you to all of our nurses for the hard work that you do!

Our School Nutrition Services Department (SNS) is another example of a group that set the bar when it comes to supporting our NPSD community during this pandemic. The beginning of September marked the remarkable milestone of 2 million free meals served to our students. They continue to come up with innovative menu options that are both healthy and delicious. Thanks to all of our SNS staff members for your hard work as well!

Special thanks to our own NPSB Director, Al Roesch, Air Force veteran, for organizing a Veterans Day Graduation ceremony that will be held this upcoming Veterans Day, November 11. We will be conferring diplomas on those veterans who left high school before graduating to serve in the armed forces. Veterans, or family members of veterans, interested in participating should contact the NPSD Office of School and Community Engagement at 215-853-1020 by Monday, November 1 to arrange for a diploma and participation in the ceremony. For verification purposes, copies of discharge papers will be requested for all of those participating. It is open to the veterans who currently live in the North Penn School District or who did so during high school.

I would like to clarify our stance regarding the recommendations/requirements of our Health & Safety Plan. Two weeks ago, the transmission rate in our district was designated as “high”. Many people were asking if that meant that we would be going to virtual instruction mode, because in our Health & Safety Plan, we have live-streaming listed under the high transmission category. Live streaming is an option for our students during a high transmission phase, but in-person learning will continue to be offered during such a time. There are two important points to remember regarding this option. 

First, we are officially in a phase of transmission only once we have been in that mode for two straight weeks. For example, we were in “substantial” transmission, but then we were in “high” transmission for just one week; thus, we did not officially switch to the “high” transmission category. The converse is true as well – we would have to be in a category for two straight weeks to officially drop down a level of transmission category. 

Second, if a student chooses to utilize the live-streaming option in “high” transmission, then they commit to doing so until the level of transmission drops down. That means it would be a minimum of two weeks, possibly more, depending on how long we would be in “high” transmission. It was simply too chaotic to keep track last year of which students were virtual vs. in-person on any given day. Additionally, students will be required to have their video cameras on during class and instructed how to use a background if they prefer.

I am hopeful that we can continue to make progress towards lower community transmission rates, especially as we head into the winter months. We encourage those who have been hesitant to please reach out to trusted medical professionals to discuss their concerns in order to be confident enough to get vaccinated. 

On behalf of the NPSB of Directors, we wish all of our students a successful school year.