| NPSD Board Members |
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President
Tina Stoll
Vice President
Edward Diasio
Members
Christian D. Fusco
Elisha K. Gee
Jonathan M. Kassa
Timothy MacBain
Jenna A. Ott
Theresa Prykowski
Juliane Ramić
The NPSD Board of School Directors welcomes questions and comments from the community. To that end, community members may email the entire school board at
[email protected].
If you would like to contact a specific board member via email or phone, please
click here for a list of contact information.
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NPSD to Hold Community Forum: Building and Renovation Needs
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Providing safe, efficient and modern learning environments has always been a priority of NPSD and the community it serves.
With several building and renovation needs in the school district's immediate future, NPSD is hosting a community forum to review the condition of current buildings, renovations and repairs needed and the costs associated with this work.
The forum will be held in place of the November work session meeting of the school board on Tuesday, November 13, at 7:00 pm in the Pennbrook Middle School Auditorium, located at 1201 North Wales Road, North Wales, PA 19454.
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| Attending Action and Work Session Meetings |
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The NPSD Board of School Directors Action Meetings are held on the third Thursday of every month. These meetings give students, parents and community members an opportunity to address the board and speak on any topic for five minutes. The Work Session, another monthly meeting is held one week preceding the Action Meeting on Tuesday. Here, attendees are also given five minutes to express their views, but are limited to speak on the topics of the evening's agenda.
Both the Action Meeting and the Work Session meeting begin at 7:30 pm and are held in the NPSD Educational Services Center (ESC) located at 401 E. Hancock St., Lansdale, PA 19446. However, if you are unable to attend in person, intimidated by the televised setting or by the requirements, community members should feel free to call or email the members of the board, either individually or as a whole. For a list of contact information, click here. The televised board meetings are available for private viewing on local Comcast Cable Channel 28
and Verizon Cable Channel 29 as well as www.youtube.com/nptv within several days of the original meeting.
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| Meetings in Review |
NPSD Board of School Directors Meeting
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Upcoming Meetings
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Support Services Committee Meeting
October 29, 6:30 pm, ESC
Finance Committee Meeting
November 13, 7:30 pm, ESC
Facilities Community Forum
November 15, 7:30 pm, ESC
Action Meeting
November 27, 6:00 pm, ESC
Safe Schools Committee Meeting
November 27, 6:30 pm, ESC
ECP Committee Meeting
To access the list of
meeting dates scheduled for 2018, please click here
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Dear Community,
On behalf of the North Penn School District (NPSD) Board of School Directors, we hope that everyone has settled in to the new school year and is doing well. We have also had a busy start to the new year and I'd like to take this time to provide you with an update on our activities.
Our Educational/Community/ Policy (ECP) Committee is proceeding with the work of implementing our recently approved Full-Day Kindergarten curriculum for the 2019/2020 school year. The committee has also reviewed the NPSD's Comprehensive Plan for 2019-2022. It has been posted for public comment (click here to view) and will need to be approved by the November Action Meeting. One of the specific goals of the plan is to "develop district practices supporting an inclusive, culturally responsive environment that guarantees equity and access to all students and their families." To that end, the ECP committee is working to coordinate holding a diversity forum for the North Penn community in the very near future.
Our Safe Schools Committee was very excited to report that NPSD will receive a $20,000 grant from the state, which will be used for behavioral threat assessment training (click here to read more). North Penn was one of only 60 districts out of 500 to receive this grant and was one of 31 that was awarded the maximum amount.
Our Finance Committee gave an update on the NP Property Tax Rebate Program that was implemented last year. To date, we have had 246 applicants with $19,647 returned to some of our low-income senior citizens. Several school board directors have personally gone out into the community to promote this program and we are thrilled that those that are most vulnerable have been able to take advantage of this opportunity. We have received very positive feedback and hope to expand upon the program's success in the future.
Another topic the Finance Committee has addressed is the commitment we made to ensure that taxpayers are getting the highest value return on investment. To that end, we're in the process of updating our board policy on Professional Services and are instituting a mandatory review of professional services every five years. Those services would include but are not limited to Solicitor, Architect, Auditor, Financial Advisor and Insurance Broker.
Our North Montco Technical Center Committee informed us that we have a "hidden gem" in our midst - there is now a restaurant and a bakery that is open to the public. The restaurant and bakery are open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8:45 to 10:00 am for breakfast and 12:15 to 1:45 pm for lunch. You can also place an order with the bakery by calling 215-368-1177. Both the restaurant and the bakery have received outstanding reviews from the board directors that have visited there. We highly encourage you to support our Vo-Tech students as they prepare for their careers in the food service industry.
And finally, our Support Services Committee is pleased to announce that we will be holding a Facilities Forum on Tuesday, November 13 at Pennbrook Middle School at 7:00 pm. There is a multitude of building and renovation needs in our district and it is our hope that with this forum, we can bring awareness to these issues, present a 10-year Capital Improvement Plan, discuss the financing of these projects and be transparent with our community as we initiate the discussion on how best to provide 21
st
century facilities for a 21
st
century education. You can read more about this community forum in an article below.
On behalf of the North Penn School Board, I would like to express our appreciation to Superintendent Dr. Curt Dietrich and his administration for all their hard work in making these initiatives possible.
Sincerely,
Tina Stoll
President, NPSD Board of Schools
Term Expiration: 2021
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The NPSD Educational Foundation last met on October 3 at the Educational Services Center (ESC).
The successful 17th annual Golf Outing, which was held October 1, was discussed.
October 1 also kicked off the Foundation's first-ever staff giving opportunity. The month-long fundraising campaign titled "U-Knight to Inspire" is geared toward North Penn staff and is off to an exciting start. In just the first week, $10,000 was pledged by North Penn employees including teachers, administrators and support staff. It's exciting to think what NPSD staff can do between now and the campaign's end on November 1.
The window for accepting mid-year grant requests will also open this month. The Foundation expects to be reviewing proposals in November for implementation beginning in January 2019.
The Foundation also presented its annual report. It was their best year ever as they raised more than $160,000 for the North Penn School District.
The NPSD Educational Foundation's next meeting will be held on November 7. For more information about the Foundation, please contact Executive Director, Christine Liberaski at [email protected].
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The Safe Schools Committee met on September 25 at 6:00 pm at the ESC.
Chris Doerr, NPSD Coordinator of Safe Schools and Emergency Management, provided an update on the North Wales Safe Routes to School program.
Doerr provided an update on the PA Safe Schools grant along with PA Senate Bill 1098. Following the safe schools meeting, NPSD was notified that the district did receive a $20,000 grant which will be used for behavioral threat assessment training.
Click here to learn more about the grant.
Scott Kennedy, NPSD Director of Facilities and Operations, and Doerr updated the committee on the progress with the mass notification system. Two site visits to observe functioning mass notification systems have been completed with two remaining to be scheduled.
Reports from the Safe Schools Committee meeting held on October 23 will be published in next month's newsletter.
The next Safe Schools Committee meeting will be held on November 27 at 6:00 pm at the ESC.
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The Finance Committee met on September 26 at 6:30 pm at the ESC.
The monthly financial reports were reviewed with additional discussion on the following items.
Draft Professional Services Request for Proposal (RFP) Policy
Steve Skrocki, NPSD Chief Financial Officer, presented a draft policy which requires an RFP for certain professional services according to a schedule and others based on the dollar value of the service.
Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) Request
Skrocki reviewed a request from a developer for the LERTA program. The properties are located in Towamencin Township. The developer will be making a presentation at the October 29 Finance Committee meeting to provide additional details.
The next Finance Committee meeting will be held on October 29 at 6:30 pm at the ESC.
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The ECP Committee met on September 25 at 6:30 pm at the ESC.
Student overnight travel requests were presented to and reviewed by the committee.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) requires school districts to develop a district level three-year plan that has a Vision, Mission, Shared Values and Action Plan for Continuous Improvement. The purpose of a Comprehensive Plan is to establish goals and provide direction for a period of three years. Incorporated in the proposed plan for NPSD for 2019-22: Greater focus on diversity and how to meet the needs of diverse learners; A more holistic focus on students; Multiple approaches to data.
Click here to view comprehensive plan.
Updates concerning the Cultural Proficiency work included planning and conducting a Diversity Forum, scheduling professional development for administrators at the monthly administrators' meeting in October.
Full-Day Kindergarten Committee of the Whole met to address topics of scheduling, curriculum, facilities, transportation, possible boundary realignment and other aspects of planning for the implementation of full-day kindergarten.
Reports from the ECP Committee meeting held on October 23 will be published in next month's newsletter.
The next ECP Committee meeting will be held on November 27 at 6:30 pm at the ESC.
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The Support Services Committee met on September 26 at 6:00 pm at the ESC.
Scott Kennedy reviewed change orders for general construction and roofing at Montgomery Elementary School along with general construction at Gwyn-Nor and Oak Park elementary schools.
Steve Skrocki and Scott Kennedy reviewed the progress with the variance for Crawford Stadium at North Penn High School. A hearing with the Towamencin Township Zoning Hearing Board is scheduled for November 1, 2018.
The committee discussed options for the Community Forum for Capital Projects.
Click here to learn more.
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