SB Title

 

January 2016 Issue
January Update
NPSD Board Members
Meetings in Review
Upcoming Meetings

February 8, 6:30 p.m.

ECP Committee Meeting

February 9, 7:30 p.m.
School Board Worksession Meeting

February 18, 7:30 p.m.
School Board Action Meeting

February 29, 6:00 p.m.
Support Services Committee Meeting

February 29, 6:30 p.m.
Finance Committee Meeting

March 14, 5:45 p.m.
Safe Schools Committee Meeting

North Penn School District Introduces Knights of Honor Program
  Do you know a Knight of Honor?

In conjunction with its 50th anniversary, NPSD is excited to announce the launch of the Knights of Honor Program .

The Knights of Honor program recognizes notable North Penn community members, former staff members and alumni who have brought honor and outstanding service to NPSD. The goal of the program is to pay tribute to these important people and their contributions, and to also inspire others to follow in their footsteps.

"The North Penn School District has benefited and will continue to benefit from the generosity, dedication and accomplishments of those that it serves," said Christine Liberaski, NPSD director of school and community engagement. "The Knights of Honor Program is one way of honoring those individuals and their work in a lasting way."

Annually, selected Knights of Honor will be recognized at a reception held at North Penn High School. An individual plaque will be placed for all honorees in The Knights of Honor Wall located at the school.

Nominations for the inaugural class of Knights are due by March 1, 2016. For further information including criteria and application, click here.

 

 

 

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 President's Letter to the Community                     
SherpinskyNPSB
 Dear Community,
 
It's hard to believe that it is already time to put together a budget for the 2016-2017 school year. This is true especially in light of the fact that the state still does not have a budget. Nonetheless, at this month's Board of School Director's meeting, the first draft of the 2016-2017 budget was approved at an amount of $250,123,639 million. Even if we as a school board approve an Act 1 tax increase of 2.4%, we are still left with an $8.3 million deficit. A 2.4 percent increase would mean a $84 increase for the average Montgomery County homestead property owner and a $14 increase for the average homestead property owner in Bucks County. 
 
As always, there are certain expenses we cannot control (pension costs and salaries tied to existing contracts) and there are needs that must be met in conjunction with the day-to-day costs of running a school district. That being said, the majority of the $250 million is spent on instruction, the primary focus of the NPSD. 
 
Over the next several months, the Board and district administration will take a hard look at the preliminary budget, looking for areas where cuts can be made without jeopardizing the quality education for which NPSD is known. We will also factor in revenue projections and the current fund balance as we prepare a final budget that is fair to this community and continues the excellence that is widespread throughout the North Penn School District. 
 
In an effort to work together on this very important matter, I hope to see you at finance committee meetings and board meetings over the next several months.

 
Sincerely,
 
Vincent Sherpinsky
President
NPSD Board of School Directors
 
NPSD January Update
The NPSD Board of School Directors approved the first stage of borrowing for the planned renovations to Montgomery Elementary School. The good news is that the interest rate on the borrowing was 1.9%, which is the lowest rate received by NPSD in the last 10 years. Consequently, the Board approved issuing a bond in the amount of $9,840,000 toward the costs of planning, designing, acquiring, constructing, furnishing and equipping additions and improvements to Montgomery Elementary.  The borrowing for the total project will be done in two phases. 
 
The renovations at Montgomery Elementary, estimated at $24.9 million, will include the construction of a two-floor addition with classrooms (replacing existing modulars), a roof replacement, accessibility upgrades, renovations to the lavatories, HVAC system, kitchen, main office/health suite and existing classrooms, and other work involving lighting, fire, security and emergency systems.

Outside of the school, there are planned modifications to the student and bus drop off, parking capacity and drainage and lighting systems. The work will begin after school is out in June 2016 and should be finished by August 2017. 

Student Proclamation Awards

At the recent action meeting on January 21, the School Board recognized students at North Penn High School for their outstanding achievements with proclamation awards.

Members of the NPHS Girls' Water Polo team, coached by Katie Grunmeier and Molly Robinson, were honored for their placing first at the PA Eastern Water Polo Conference Championships as well as the Pennsylvania Girls' Water Polo PA State Championship.


Members of the NPHS Boys' Water Polo, coached by Jason Grubb and Jeff Faikish, were honored for placing first at the PA Eastern Water Polo Conference and second in the Pennsylvania Boys' Water Polo League.

 
NPHS Golf Team member Ron Robinson, coached by Dave DiValentino, was also honored for qualifying to compete at the Regional Golf Competition.

Congratulations to these excellent students for their impressive accomplishments!

Education/Community/Policy (ECP) Committee Report
The ECP Committee met on January 11th. On the agenda were two recommendations for extra duty changes.

The Robotics Club is a district-wide organization that was re-established in October 2014. At that time, two advisor positions were established, but each was classified differently. One position was an extra duty position and the other was an independent contractor position. After a recent review by the Business Office, Extra Duty Committee and ECP Committee, it is recommended to reclassify the independent contractor position to an official extra duty advisor position.

The other activity recommended for a change is Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) due to the increased responsibilities of the FBLA and its advisor. For the last two and a half years, FBLA has been responsible for supervising Knights Nutrition which sells healthy snacks and drinks everyday after school. This has become a very popular and valuable service to students. It is recommended that the Group level of FBLA be increased from a Group 2 to a Group 3 and become effective for the 2015-2016 school year.
 
The committee also reviewed plans to utilize the Montgomery Virtual Program (MVP) for summer school and for course advancement. This resource will offer a cyber opportunity for both programs. All course advancement work will be through the completion of MVP courses with the exception of Japanese, which will follow the previous guidelines. Summer school will offer both a traditional, face-to-face and a cyber options for course completion to provide flexibility for students needing to complete coursework during summer school.
 
The committee also received an a
dvertising update. Ads have been added to the E-Matters newsletter. Also, EDgeclick has sold 30% of the spaces available on the North Penn website resulting in proceeds of $10,000. 
 
The next ECP Committee meeting will be held on February 8th at 6:30 p.m. at the Educational Services Center. 

Safe Schools Committee Report
The Safe Schools and Support Services Committee met on January 11th and discussed the following.
 
Joel Wilson updated the Safe Schools Committee on recent safe schools activities that were completed in the fall. One of the activities included a presentation to the Administration by Mr. Steve Beck who is the Montgomery County's Safe Schools Coordinator. Beck explained the purpose and how to setup an Emergency Operations Center in case of an emergency. This activity will be followed by a table top exercise in February with the Administration led by Steve Beck.
 
The Safe Schools Committee discussed security upgrades to North Penn High School and Educational Services Center proposed by the Administration. These security upgrades would include developing secured entrances and enhanced security features to both buildings. The committee requested that the Administration formalize the proposed security upgrades and provide estimates to the Steve Skrocki, Director of Business Administration, to discuss the projects with the Finance and Support Services Committees. The proposed upgrades would be in place prior to the start of the 2016-2017 school year.
 
In addition to the security upgrades, the replacement and purchase of new surveillance camera servers was discussed. The existing server that hosts a number of the elementary schools' surveillance cameras is no longer supported and has had problems recently. The committee requested that the Administration review additional cameras at some locations, formalize the proposal for the servers and provide estimates to the Steve Skrocki, Director of Business Administration, to discuss the upgrade with the Finance and Support Services Committees. The proposed upgrades would be in place prior to the end of the 2015-2016 school year.
 
The next meeting of the Safe Schools Committee is scheduled for March 14, 2016 at 5:45 p.m. at the Educational Services Center.

North Penn School District Educational Foundation Report
The Foundation did not meet in December, but they are looking forward to a busy February, which is deemed "Foundation February."

As part of the celebration, the Foundation is currently seeking staff from each building to coordinate small fundraisers to support the Foundation. This is the second annual Foundation February. Last year's efforts raised more than $5,600. The Foundation is hoping for more schools to get involved this year, resulting in more funds raised for students in the NPSD.
 
The Foundation will also begin planning for its annual online auction to be held in May. Soon they will be reaching out to local businesses, restaurants, museums, spas and more to donate their services and products for this popular event.
 
And as usual, the Foundation has been busy supporting programs in our schools. Two recent events the Foundation helped to fund were the 2016 Simulated  Presidential Nominating Convention and the Vocab Bowl at North Penn High School. The Foundation would like to thank everyone for making both events a great success.
 
For questions or more information about the NPSD Educational Foundation, please contact Christine Liberaski at the Educational Services Center.
 
The next NPSD Educational Foundation meeting will be held on February 3, 2016 at 7:30 a.m. at the Educational Services Center.