| NPSD Board Members |
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President
Tina Stoll
Vice President
Christian D. Fusco
Members
Edward Diasio
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
_npschoolboard@npenn.org.
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 Property Tax and Rent Rebate Program |
At the March 2019 action meeting, the NPSD Board of School Directors unanimously approved a revised property tax rebate program that will see a discount of up to $195 for certain homeowners and renters.
To qualify for this discount, applicants must
have a household income of no more than $35,000 annually, and:
- be 65 years of age or older; or
- be a widow and widower aged 50 years of age or older; or
- be permanently disabled and 18 years of age or older.
The property tax and rent rebate program is based on the existing Pennsylvania Property Tax and Rent Rebate program which has been in effect since 1971 and is funded by state lottery and slot machine proceeds. North Penn homeowners and renters must qualify for the state rebate program to qualify for the district rebate program. NPSD is granting a 30 percent rebate as follows:
- 30 percent (maximum $195) annual rebate for North Penn homeowners and renters with a yearly household income between $0 to $8,000;
- 30 percent (maximum $150) annual rebate for North Penn homeowners and renters with a yearly household income between $8,001 to $15,000;
- 30 percent (maximum $90) annual rebate for North Penn homeowners with a yearly household income between $15,001 to $18,000; and
- 30 percent (maximum $75) annual rebate for North Penn homeowners with a yearly household income between $18,001 to $35,000.
For those who qualify for the Tax Rebate Program, forms can be found here or by visiting/calling your local legislator.
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Upcoming Meetings
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WORKSESSION MEETING CANCELLED
April 29, 6:00 pm, ESC
Facilities and Operations Committee Meeting
May 7, 6:00 pm, ESC
Finance Committee Meeting
May 16, 7:30 pm, ESC
Action Meeting
May 28, 6:00 pm, ESC
Safe Schools Committee Meeting
May 28, 6:30 pm, ESC
ECP Committee Meeting
To access the list of
meeting dates scheduled for 2019, please click here.
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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
To view agenda attachments and minutes from past meetings, please click here.
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Dear Community,
I hope you all had a nice, relaxing spring break and have returned recharged and ready to finish out the school year! Although the 2018-2019 school year may be coming to a close, there's still much to be done by the North Penn School District (NPSD) Board of School Directors and administration to prepare for the future of North Penn.
I hope that you are keeping up to date on the discussions regarding important topics that we have recently been discussing as a district including decisions about our buildings, our grade structure and programs, and our financial liabilities and resources.
Much of this was discussed at a second community forum about building and renovations needs held this past month. For those of you who missed the forum, I encourage you to watch the NPTV coverage found here. The evening's presentation included an overview of our needs and current projects including renovations to Knapp Elementary School, renovations at Crawford Stadium including a turf field and ADA improvements, significant renovations needed at North Penn High School (NPHS), the concept of a 9th grade center attached to NPHS, and the challenges we face at the middle school level with aging modulars and facilities, and limited air conditioned spaces. An overview of finances was reviewed and then we opened up the floor to take questions from the audience. The presentation shown to the audience can be found here.
I am pleased with the outcome of the forum as it proved to be a transparent, informative session and an opportunity to receive feedback from staff and the community. With so many potential projects in the pipeline, there was a great deal of information discussed at the meeting. As recently summarized by NPSD Superintendent Dr. Curt Dietrich, here is a brief breakdown of what was covered, below:
- All the changes we are discussing take time to develop, finalize, approve and complete.
- At Knapp, we have already borrowed $20 million of the $25 million needed to renovate and work should be done by August of 2022.
- The approximate $6 million worth of work at Crawford Stadium, which is being funded through the capital reserve, will begin in the fall and is scheduled to be completed by commencement 2020.
- Any work at the high school would tentatively begin in 2021 when construction of the 9th grade center would begin. When completed in 2023 it would then house 10th, 11th and 12th graders through 2027 as original parts of NPHS are renovated.
- Ninth graders would not officially move to NPHS until the fall of 2028 under this plan.
- Finances are a vital consideration as we move ahead. We must remember that unless there is a ballot referendum, taxes may not be approved over the ACT 1 index, except for retirement and special education purposes, so we must try to keep debt service and all other districts costs such as salaries, healthcare, transportation, curriculum, etc. within the ACT 1 index annually.
- Only so much can be done at one time. So, as we would get closer to 2028 and the opening of a 9th grade center is on the horizon, we would then begin talks and plans for the middle schools and possible movement of 6th grade to these three buildings. Conversations around air conditioning of these schools, possible consolidation of middle schools into two, and renovating or closing of Penndale would take place at this time.
It's true - the list is long and it will require a lot of patience, hard work and flexibility to accomplish. Some may wonder why we are considering such huge undertakings. To those, I invite you to reflect on one of our favorite taglines here at North Penn - "Dream Big. Achieve Greatness." As we tackle these facilities concerns, we have broadened our scope to also broaden our successes in the end. We believe that this is the best option for our students moving forward to help them continue to dream big and achieve greatness.
But to be sure that we are headed in the right direction, superintendent Dr. Curt Dietrich along with assistant superintendents Dr. Jenna Rufo and Dr. Todd Bauer spent much time over the last few months talking with staff and students about their opinions on moving 9th grade to the high school. They were met with overwhelming support. A community survey yielded the same results. As expected, there were some concerns ranging from traffic, to size of the high school, to increased competition for spots on athletic teams. We look forward to facing these challenges head on and creating a learning environment that surpasses our current level, a level which we know is already one of the best in the state.
Many of the changes we are proposing are also necessary because of the age and condition of the facilities we are improving. For example, much of the HVAC systems at North Penn High School (NPHS) are original to the 1971 building. While we know we need to spend a great deal of money on these renovations and improvements, we believe it is imperative that we address our school district infrastructure issues in a holistic and financially responsible way - that we fix things properly. Along with that we can develop a 10-year maintenance plan for all of our buildings, so that our buildings are places where our students can thrive and excel in achieving a 21st century education.
I speak for the entire NPSD Board of School Directors in thanking you for your continued feedback and participation in these vital conversations. We plan to keep you informed every step of the way and look forward to reporting back with more information and updates in the coming months.
Sincerely,
Elisha K. Gee
Member, NPSD Board of School Directors
Term Expiration: 2019
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At the recent action meeting, the NPSD Board of School Directors recognized students in the district for their outstanding achievements by awarding them proclamations of excellence.
The NPHS Academic Decathlon Team, led by Mr. Dan Mullarkey and Ms. Alexandra Haeusser, was recognized for placing 1st at the Regional Academic Decathlon Competition and 5th at the Pennsylvania All State Tournament.
Introduced by NPHS Japanese teacher Mrs. Noriko Coyle and NPHS German teacher Mr. Andrew Baker, students from NPHS were honored for their accomplishments in the 2019 Montgomery County Association of Teachers of Foreign Languages James J. Doyle Oral Proficiency Contest in Japanese and German.
Finally, the NPHS Boys' and Girls' Swimming and Diving Teams and their coaches Jeff Faikish, Brian Faikish, Jason Grubb, Selma Robinson and Kyle Goldbacher were recognized for their performances at the 2019 PIAA District 1 and State Swimming and Diving Championships.
Congratulations to these remarkable students and their advisors on these outstanding achievements!
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The NPSD Educational Foundation last met on March 6 at the Educational Services Center (ESC).
The Foundation was proud to welcome Heide Pickens, retired NPSD teacher, parent and community member, as the newest trustee. A former grant recipient herself, the Foundation looks forward to her input and experience in the upcoming grant approval process.
Meeting at Penndale, the Foundation had the opportunity to tour the new Independent Living Center which was funded through the Foundation and a generous donation from the Burke Family. All school board members are encouraged to visit this apartment-like classroom where NPSD special education students learn everyday life skills from washing and folding laundry, to making beds, to cooking dinner and eating together at a family table. The Foundation thanks not only to the Burke Family, but also the administrators, facilities crew and teachers who have done an incredible job in getting the center up and running. Great things are happening there.
A long discussion took place regarding what is next for the Foundation in terms of how it may want to grow to support more substantial needs of the school district. Trustees reviewed a proposal from Match Nonprofit Consulting to help with building a pathway for any expansion of the Foundation and the planning and changes that would need to be made to do so. The Foundation is inviting a representative from Match to their next meeting to further discuss this possibility.
The grant proposal window for the 2019-2020 school year is now open, and the Foundation is accepting requests through May 3. Staff are encouraged to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.
Finally, the annual online auction is open from now until May 1. The Foundation thanks all the businesses and organizations who have given to this cause.
The NPSD Educational Foundation's next meeting will be held on April 3. For more information about the Foundation, please contact the Executive Director, Christine Liberaski at liberacd@npenn.org.
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The Safe Schools Committee met on March 26 at 6:00 pm at the ESC.
The committee discussed several informational items including a proposed security patrol initiative, recent behavioral threat assessment training and progress on the district-wide mass notification system.
Chris Doerr, NPSD Coordinator of Emergency Management and Safe Schools, shared details of three community meetings planned for April during which he will highlight information about school safety, answer questions and hear feedback from parents and families. The results of these conversations will be shared at the next safe schools committee meeting.
The committee discussed timing of the annual Safe Schools report to the school board by Doerr, which is required prior to June 30 each year. It was agreed that Doerr would coordinate with the administration to deliver this report in May.
Finally, Doerr and NPSD Coordinator of Transportation Nick Kraynak discussed security of school vehicles and buildings in light of a recent occurrence in a neighboring school district.
The next Safe Schools Committee meeting will be held on May 28 at 6:00 pm at the ESC. Updates from the April 23 meeting will be reported in next month's newsletter.
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The Finance Committee met on April 1 for a special meeting at 6:00 pm at the ESC. The monthly financial reports were reviewed with additional discussion on the following items.
2019-2020 School Nutrition Services Budget
Melissa Harding, NPSD School Nutrition Services Coordinator, presented the 2019-2020 school nutrition services budget which includes no meal price increases for next year. Harding also reviewed the summer feeding programs, meal participation levels, the new purchasing cooperative and negative student balances.
Benefits Presentation
Jenny Schmidt, NPSD Benefits Coordinator, reviewed the district's fringe benefits coverage and budget history. Medical and prescription rates are remaining the same for the next fiscal year. The concept of an on-site health care clinic was reviewed and a feasibility study was recommended. A new Delta Dental administrative contract is also being recommended with no fee increase for 2019-2020.
Act 1 Exceptions
Steve Skrocki, NPSD Chief Financial Officer, informed the committee that Act 1 exceptions for special education and retirement expenses totaling $1,453,237 were approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Budget Update and Financial Projections
Skrocki reviewed the current status of the 2019-2020 general fund budget and various financial forecasting scenarios and the impact on the projected fund balance.
The next Finance Committee meeting will be held on May 7 at 6:00 pm at the ESC.
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The ECP Committee met on March 26 at 6:30 pm at the ESC.
Adoptions of textbooks and resources in the areas of elementary social studies, science for grade seven, English Language Development (ELD) for grades seven through nine, and Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish were proposed. The materials were identified through the curriculum review process.
Student overnight travel requests were presented to and reviewed by the Committee.
As a result of the increased amount time that kindergarten students will spend in school, there will be more opportunities incorporated into the daily schedule to focus on social and emotional learning. This will include the implementation of the "Responsive Classroom" to promote a warm, safe and joyful learning environment.
The next ECP Committee meeting will be held on May 28 at 6:30 pm at the ESC. Updates from the April 23 meeting will be reported in next month's newsletter.
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The Facilities and Operations Committee met on February 25 at 6:00 pm at the ESC.
Scott Kennedy, NPSD Director of Facilities and Operations, reviewed the options for Construction Management Services for the NPHS Crawford Stadium, Knapp Elementary School and NPHS projects. The committee agreed that a Request for Proposals should be written.
Kennedy reviewed the progress of the roofing project at Nash Elementary School. Bids were received on Tuesday April 9, 2019.
The committee discussed the progress on the NPHS Crawford Stadium project. The proposed schedule includes design, permitting and bidding to occur by October 2019. Construction is tentatively scheduled to start in November 2019.
The committee discussed the progress on the Knapp Elementary School project. The proposed schedule includes design, permitting and bidding to occur by early 2020. Construction is tentatively scheduled to start in May 2020.
Kennedy reviewed the results for the drinking water testing along with an action plan to replace certain plumbing fixtures.
Kennedy shared a work order report detailing which systems and buildings were requiring the most repairs. NPHS and Knapp Elementary School had the highest incidence of required repairs.
The next Facilities and Operations Committee meeting will be held on April 29 at 6:00 pm at the ESC.
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