Dear Community,

I believe we are all breathing a collective sigh of relief that the 2020-2021 school year has come to an end. It has been said nauseam, but this year was unprecedented. We are so grateful to all the administration, the support staff and of course, the teachers who did a herculean job providing our students as robust an education as they could under the challenging circumstances. Thank you to the North Penn School District (NPSD) Class of 2021 retirees in particular, for staying to help get us through this year. And thank you to all the families who had to juggle schedules, rearrange child care and helped guide their children through a tough year. I am grateful to live in a community that was able to come together in a time of crisis.

This school year did thankfully end on a positive note, however. First, we were able to hold an in-person graduation ceremony for our North Penn High School (NPHS) Class of 2021! Split into three ceremonies, we enjoyed a perfect day celebrating our graduates in the newly renovated Crawford Stadium. It was a pleasure to see families have the ability to mark this milestone with their loved ones.

Second, our NPHS Baseball team made it to the state semifinals and our NPHS Softball team made it all the way to the State Championship, with a resounding win over Haverford High School, 11-0! Congratulations to both teams on an exciting season this year.

Third, before our North Penn School Board (NPSB) Action meeting on June 17, we held a Pride Flag raising ceremony at the NPSD Educational Services Center (ESC), in support of our LGBTQ+ students and community. Over 100 students and community members attended this special event.

Fourth, the daily positivity rate for COVID-19 in Montgomery County has dropped below one percent. The Montgomery County Board of Health has issued guidance that has allowed us to rescind the mask wearing requirement, not only for our summer programs but for the fall as well – assuming the rates of COVID infections remain low. 

As we return to a “more normal” school year for 2021-2022, our work as a school board also returns to “more normal” projects. Since being elected in 2017 and 2019, it has been our goal to address issues in our district in a comprehensive way. Every child that comes through NPSD doors should feel safe and welcomed and be afforded every opportunity to succeed.

In alignment with the NPSD 2019-2022 Comprehensive Plan to provide modern, safe and efficient schools, we must continue our work to provide our students with the infrastructure to facilitate this. At this time, our building in most critical need is North Penn High School - a school that has been operating on the same HVAC and lighting systems since 1971 and hasn’t seen any significant infrastructure improvements since the addition of K-Pod and the pool in 1999.

By now I hope that you are familiar with our discussions about the desperately needed renovations at NPHS. One potential component in this project is building a ninth-grade center on the high school campus. On any given day, more than 100 middle school students travel to NPHS for advanced courses, supplemental reading support or remediation, and access to North Montco Technical Career Center. Even more than that number travel to NPHS for extra curricular activities. A ninth grade center would enable us to provide these same opportunities to all ninth graders at North Penn, opening up doors that many of our students may not currently have access to, including an enhanced media/library center and North Penn’s renown performing arts, visual arts and STEM spaces.

Conversations regarding the renovation of NPHS and a ninth grade center have resumed and while there is much uncertainty regarding the project, one thing is clear: we need more information. We need a plan. And we need help getting there.

So I am pleased to share that at last week’s action meeting, we approved a contract with Schrader Group Architects to perform programing and campus master planning for this project. The contract identifies two specific goals: the feasibility of adding a ninth grade center to the current high school campus, and a well-developed phasing plan for renovations to NPHS. Simply put, Schrader Group will use their expertise and knowledge to help us determine the scope of the project and any additional recommendations to bring our facilities up to modern educational standards.

The Schrader Group’s research will be inclusive and thorough, including input from students, staff and community to identify areas in which the infrastructure at NPHS could best support curriculum and extracurricular activities, as well as safety, innovation and community.

We look forward to working together with the Schrader Group to develop a plan for our future that will provide students with the necessary and equitable tools, infrastructure and opportunity to continue to achieve excellence and ingenuity every day at North Penn. I can’t wait to see what we come up with and share it with our community later this year.