School Board Accepts RFP for a Long Range Facilities Master Plan

On Wednesday, March 14, 2012 the Board of Directors accepted a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a Long Range Facilities Master Plan (LRFMP).    The LRFMP will be a five-year facilities planning model that has the capability of being expandable, adaptable and flexible to meet the needs of a growing school district. The project will start in Spring 2012 and conclude in the Spring of 2013. The purpose of the plan will be to allow the District to adjust the existing zone boundaries and feeder patterns to optimize the utilization of the facilities. The goal is to adopt a plan before the opening of the 6th grade center in 2014.

The project will include demographic analysis and reports, school zone boundary scenarios and reports, maps and written descriptions, meetings and community engagement, the presentation of boundary plan options to the Board at three meetings throughout the length of the project, and community outreach.

This RFP will be advertised once the recommendations made by the Board at Wednesday's meeting are included.  The Board hopes to approve the winning proposal in May, 2012.  Progress, timelines, and other important information will be posted on the district's website with updates included in each issue of The D-Link.

Curriculum Council Videos Available

The Board's Curriculum Committee now meets with the District's Curriculum Council.   These meetings give board members and staff the opportunity to meet and discuss some of the new initiatives and educational improvements in the K-12 curriculum.    These meetings are also being videotaped for those who cannot make the meeting but wish to stay current on these important changes.   

To access the Curriculum Council Video Page, click here.

DASD Curriculum Meeting March 2012

By 4th grade student reporter, Kayla

On the day of Jump Rope for Heart there were stations for students to participate in. Parents counted the money each grade donated, while students jumped. When I arrived in the morning I gave my slip with all my donated money in it to my teacher,  Mrs. Dankanich,  which later got collected by another teacher to bring down to the gym . When our special time came, I couldn't wait! All of the stations had to do with jump roping. At the end I was tired, but I will never regret doing all that work. Our school raised over $26,000! My good friend Caroline said, "Jump Rope for Heart is one of my favorite school activities." She also said, "Every penny counts toward saving a life." I know I had fun doing this fundraiser!

West Bradford

PSSA Testing.  PSSA testing is well under way and WB students are working hard to ROCK the test (ROCK...an acronym for doing their best:  Re-take the test, Only do your best, Check your work and Keep calm).  Looks, sounds and even smells like hard work at WB! (a good smell!) 

Phillie Phanatic

Robots in First Grade

Dr. Seuss Night.  Last Friday night, over 600 students, families, and staff took part in a night to celebrate the fun of Dr. Seuss.  There were over 20 rooms filled with over 40 activities for kids and their families to participate in!  Crafts, board games, movement and music activities, obstacle courses, photo ops, and even therapy dogs to read to!  Dr. Mussoline manned a game of athletic skill, Mr. Ost-Prisco oversaw the activities in the cafe, Mrs. Fenn was assigned to a plethora of gym activities and Ms Mehler was an engaging guest reader!  A wonderful opportunity for our WB families and friends!

The Distinguished Honors breakfast was held on February 29th. Sixty-three freshmen and sophomores were honored, 31 of which received this award for both 1st and 2nd marking periods.

Our student spotlight winner for the week is Marissa Tremoglie. She is on the varsity volleyball team as well as participating in Indoor and spring track. She takes 3 AP and 1 Honors course. Marissa started and administers a tutoring program that involves students from East, West, STEM and 3 elementary schools. She is also a member of FBLA, the Mock Trial Team and is the student school board representative from West. Congratulations on all of your achievements!

ACTIVITIES

As part of the Whippet Wellness initiatives, West is sponsoring a mini boot camp with Matt Sgro from Elite Fitness. The boot camp is from Tuesday, March 6th from 3-4PM in the Dance Studio and it is FREE.

The Muzzy 5K Walk/Run will take place on Sunday morning, April 15, 2012 along the Struble Trail. T-Shirts were designed by Social Studies teacher, Dan Soler. Student organizations LINK, NHS, Student Council, GAA, FBLA (from STEM), and GSA are involved with the event. Registration is through the Chester County Running Store: www.runccrs.com . Proceeds benefit Downingtown School District parents and students.

Two teams of 5 students each competed in Moody's Mega Math Challenge on March 3rd. The students spent one full day working on an applied math problem. The members of the teams were Dan Andrus, Alex Jenkins, Elyse Mark, Catie McEntee, Ken Leidal, Dalton Greer, Prasad Kanuparthi, Benji Helbein, Jeff Fiorentino, and Doug Moyer. They will find out soon if they made it to the next round of judging.

Titanic! The Musical

April 12-15, 2012 - Final performance on THE 100th anniversary of the sinking.

Tickets available online at westmusical.org Students are busy working on stage and off to produce a wonderful tribute to this legendary ship and those who sailed aboard her on the maiden voyage.

On February 18th the Indoor Drumline competed for the first time this season. The Downingtown Indoor Drumline is the only DASD group which consists of membership from ALL 3 high schools. They compete in the circuit of the Mid-Atlantic Indoor Percussion Society. The Downingtown Indoor Drumline has been in existence since 1987.

Downingtown West has 2 teams competing in the Reading Olympics on March 26th at the Chester County Intermediate Unit. The senior team, The Pagemasters, consists of William Barrett-Strake, Devin DiFranks, Sky Miller, Dan Andrus, Nicole Sharp, Benji Helbein, Maddie Gazzerro, and Lauren Carrasquillo. The underclass team, The West Nerd Herd, consists of Lauren Lummus, Senora Uptmor, Rhiannon Miller, Arielle Lentz, Sean Clements, Sarah Foster, and Mike Byrd

On Monday March 5th fourteen Downingtown West students travelled to Cabrini College to participate in the annual Science Olympiad Competition. Students built their own musical instrument for the "Sounds of Music" event, an insulated box for the thermodynamics competition and a gravity vehicle. They competed in other events such as protein modeling and forestry. West placed 20th overall against 37 other teams. Our best place was 6th in anatomy and physiology. In other events we achieved 9th place in both optics and technical problem solving, 10th in the gravity vehicle event, 11th in chemistry lab, 12th in water quality and 13th in dynamic planet. This was our first time at the Science Olympiad so we were quite happy with the results.

Guest presenter, Mr. Ron Hengst, former Math teacher in Downingtown recently demonstrated the technique of wood carving to the National Art Honor Society members. His specialty is bird carving. He showed the members the very first bird he carved as well as more recent pieces that reflect many years of experience. He explained how bird carving can be a life's calling or just a relaxing hobby. The one necessary element is patience.

SPORTS

Downingtown Junior, Shannon Rauth, earned 2 Gold Medals at the District 1 Class AAA Girls Swimming Championships on March 1st. She placed 1st in the 50 yard freestyle and the 100 yard butterfly. At the same event, Marisa Cassidy, won her heat of the 100 yard fly and achieved a personal best.

Lunch and Learn

In March we will start a new program in the school called Lunch and Learn Local business people will talk about different professions to help you select a major for college. Every week, we will post a list of who's visiting that week. Sign up beforehand in the career center, then pack a lunch and come down during your lunch period.

We are also looking for more parent volunteers to come in and talk about their jobs, if your parent is interested have them fill out a parent volunteer form. The form is on the Guidance page of the Downingtown West website, scroll down the page to important documents and click on Lunch and Learn. Click here!   If you have any questions please contact Mrs.Wick at the career center or Sarah Elrod.