Dear Community,


I am excited to announce the inaugural class of Knights of Honor has been selected.  NPSD instituted the program this year in celebration of the school district's 50th anniversary. The purpose is to recognize individuals who have made a significant contribution to the school district, community and/or their chosen career, and therefore bring great honor to NPSD. Our hope is that the recipients and their contributions will serve as inspiration to our students through their school years and beyond.
 



The 2016 recipients are:
  • June Browne, community member and former NPSD reading specialist
  • James Finnemeyer, class of 1964, community member, former NPSD teacher and director of student activities
  • Stephen Frederick, former NPSD community member, teacher, principal and Marching Knights Director
  • Davis Giersch, community member, former NPSD teacher and choral director
  • J. Michael Haynie, class of 1988,  Vice Chancellor of Syracuse University
 
A ceremony honoring the recipients is planned for Wednesday, November 23 at 6 p.m. at North Penn High School to coincide with our 2nd annual Thanksgiving Day Alumni Flag Football game the following day. On Wednesday evening, we will unveil the Knights of Honor Concourse that will serve as an interactive tribute to our honorees today and for years to come.
 
In the coming months you will learn more about our five Knights of Honor and I hope you will join me as we  pay tribute them in November. 


 
Sincerely,
        
Curtis R. Dietrich, Ed.D.  
Superintendent, NPSD
[email protected]  

Table of Contents

Congratulations to the following NPHS students for being inducted into the the National Technical Honor Society:



Serena Bergeron, Krysta Butterworth, Katelyn Cashley, Sienna Christ, Jey Davis, Edward Devlin, Golyana Farouk, Jeyshali Figueroa Echevarria, Bryan Fluck, Jessica Goetzinger, Nykolus Kelly, Jacob Kemper, Krista Knerr, Marissa Longcoy, Tyler Matyszczak, Zachary McCusker, Kelly Mealey, Justin Mellet Smith, Shakayla Miller, Kiara Newkirk, Teresa Palacios, Mackenzie Quinn, Kara Raksin, Vivian Resendiz, Maynor Santos-Duarte, Mrudang Savsani, Sheridan Schempp, Jared Spackman, Joseph Tolkacz and Jordan Williams.

Thank you...


The North Penn School District Educational Foundation would like to thank all of those who participated in this year's 3rd Annual Online Auction. With the help of generous item donors and avid bidders, the Foundation raised nearly $8,000 to use towards providing innovative classroom projects to students of all ages in the district.

For more information about the Foundation, click here or contact Christine Liberaski at [email protected].
   
April NPSD Board of School Directors Meetings
 


 
To view agenda attachments and minutes from past meetings, please click here.  


The school store is now online!

Stock up on all your NPHS apparel by ordering online. To visit the School Store's website, please click here.

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US News and World Report Recognizes NPHS as One of the Best High Schools in the Nation

The North Penn School District is thrilled to announce that North Penn High School was named one of the top public high schools in the nation by US News and World Report. The high school ranked number 1,526 nationally and number 46 in the state of Pennsylvania.
 
US News and World Report evaluated more than 21,000 public high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia on overall student performance on state-mandated assessments, as well as how effectively schools educated their black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students.

North Penn High School received a silver medal and was one of the 6,673 schools who earned a medal as part of their ranking. In the national rankings, 525 schools earned gold medals; 2,289 were awarded silver and 3,738 took home bronze.


Pennbrook Hosts 3K Walk/Run during PSSAs

The NPSD is proud to recognize students and staff at Pennbrook Middle School for pioneering a new program to help encourage and promote healthy living and higher academic achievement in connection with the Pennsylvania System of School Assessments (PSSAs).
 
Studies show that students who engage in physical activity prior to assessments perform better than those who do not. According to Principal Jim Galante, staff members at Pennbrook have been hard at work planning ways in which students can participate in physical activity throughout the PSSA testing period to get their cognitive juices flowing.
 
Each day, teachers arranged for students to participate in daily exercises prior to their PSSAs. Additionally, once testing finished, Pennbrook hosted a 3K walk/run for students in 7th and 8th grade on Wednesday, April 13th.
 
The North Penn School District would like to recognize the staff and students at Pennbrook Middle School for their innovative effort to incorporate physical education with academic achievement during this year's PSSA testing.


Oak Park Hosts "Honoring Our Veterans Celebration" 

Oak Park Elementary School proudly hosted the first annual Honoring Our Veterans Celebration on Thursday, April 28th where they invited military veterans from the North Penn community along with their families and friends to join them in the gym at Oak Park for a very special morning.

The event featured the North Penn High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) Air Force Drill Team and included several moving ceremonies and songs. Veterans who have served and are currently serving were honored at two presentations at 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Refreshments were also served following each assembly program.

The NPSD would like to thank the staff and students at Oak Park Elementary School as well as the NPHS JROTC students and advisors for producing such a meaningful ceremony for our local veterans.

 
Knapp Elementary Named
"Reward - High Progress" School
The NPSD is proud to announce that Knapp Elementary School has been named as a "Reward - High Progress School" for its achievement as a Title I School under the state's School Performance Profile.
 
This prestigious level of recognition is determined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education based on student achievement on the PSSAs in the areas of math and reading. "Reward - High Progress" schools are named by scoring as one of the highest five percent Title I schools based on aggregate progress in closing the achievement gap in Reading and Mathematics for PSSA and/or Algebra I/Literature for Keystone Exams combined for the All Student group and the Historically Underperforming Student group.

NPSD Hosts "Bus to the Past"

In honor of the district's 50th Anniversary, NPSD rumbled through the 50 years of history on a big yellow school bus on Friday, April 22 at the first ever "Bus to the Past" event. Visiting each of our current 18 schools as well as those which no longer exist, community members and alumni joined current and retired staff, who acted as our tour guides for the afternoon sharing stories and interesting facts about the district and the North Penn area. Special thanks to the Lansdale Historical Society for amazing wealth of knowledge!

NPSD Named one of 2016's Best Communities for Music Education
The NPSD is proud to announce that it has been honored with the "Best Communities for Music Education" designation from the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education. North Penn joins 476 districts across the country in receiving the prestigious award in 2016.
 
The Best Communities Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students.
 
Districts that have been recognized by the NAMM Foundation are often held up as models for other educators looking to boost their own music education programs.

NPHS Hosts 1st Annual Mini-THON

From the Dab to the Whip to the Quan, North Penn students pulled out all of their best dance moves as they danced the night away for the kids at North Penn's first ever mini-THON.

Since October, the North Penn Student Government Association (SGA), headed by president Katie Solomon, has been working tirelessly in cooperation with the Four Diamonds association to properly plan and execute mini-THON. The group split into event chairs and six different committees - entertainment, PR an social media, morale and spirit, finance, sponsors and hospitality, and special events - in order to spread out the duties and get everything accomplished as efficiently as possible.

The students were overseen by SGA advisers and North Penn teachers Kyle Berger and Amy Young, but ultimately the students organized everything on their own.

Article courtesy of NPHS student Madison Wiernusz, Editor-in-Chief of The Knight Crier
North Wales Elementary Celebrates Earth Day
On Monday, April 25, students and staff at North Wales Elementary School participated in their annual, school-wide Earth Day Celebration.

Throughout the day, each class and student helped clean up the school grounds, pull weeds and plant and mulch the flower beds. Students also had the opportunity to decorate brown shopping bags, generously donated by the Montgomeryville Giant Grocery Store, with Earth Day words and pictures. Once the bags were finished, they were returned to the store for shoppers to use and be reminded of the importance of our Earth.

Support from the North Wales Home and School Association along with teachers and community members that signed up to volunteer made this a great day for the kids to complete a service project and learn about the importance of cleaning up Earth. Way to go North Wales!

NPHS STARS Excel at Local Competitions
The North Penn School District is proud to recognize the NPHS Science, Technology and Research Students (STARS) students for their recent, excellent performance at two local competitions.
 
NPHS STARS is a group of students who develop, research and run experiments on topics in various science disciplines. Students work independently of the student curriculum. Research projects are presented at local, regional and international competitions.

NPHS Students Take 1st Place at PA State Odyssey of the Mind Competition

The North Penn School District is proud to recognize the NPHS Odyssey of the Mind (OotM) team for its recent impressive accomplishments.
 
OoTm is a creative problem-solving program. Teams of seven students select a problem, create a solution and present their solution in a regional tournament. Teams that place in the regional competition advance to States and those who place at States advance to World Finals. At this ultimate competition, over 800 teams from across the United States and around the globe compete to be crowned World Champions. Twenty teams will be awarded this honor.

NPHS Future Business Leaders of America Chapter Earns Several Awards at State Conference
The NPHS Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Chapter represented North Penn at the FBLA State Leadership Conference in Hershey, PA from April 11-13.  There were over 4,000 students from across the State of Pennsylvania in attendance to compete.  Twenty-one North Penn students placed in the top ten in their events.

Nine of these students now advance to represent North Penn and compete at the National Conference in Atlanta this summer. NPHS student Kaitlyn Carrelli was elected at the conference to serve as the Pennsylvania State FBLA Secretary for the 2016-2017 school year.
 
The NPHS FBLA chapter also received chapter awards.  They were recognized for having the 6th largest chapter membership in the state.   The chapter also placed 10th in the state in the Outstanding Chapter category. 

NPHS Hosts Annual Simulated DUI Reenactment
In honor of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April, NPHS has hosted a series of events for students to better understand the impact of driving while distracted or impaired. NPHS wrapped up Distracted Driving Awareness Month with its annual DUI Reenactment Program on Wednesday, April 20th from 9:15 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at the high school.

Read more... 
& see photos!
NPHS SGA Receives National Student Council Award
The NPSD is proud to announce that NPHS has been awarded a 2016 National Gold Council of Excellence Award by the National Association of Student Councils (NASC) for its exemplary record of leadership, service and activities that serve to improve the school and community.
 
"Receiving an NASC National Gold Council of Excellence Award reflects the highest dedication on the part of the school to providing a strong, well-rounded student council program," said Ann Postlewaite, National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) student programs director. "NASC applauds the work of the National Gold Councils of Excellence and challenges them to continue their leadership and service to their schools and communities."

NPHS Hosts 15th Annual Reading Riot
In honor of National Library Week, North Penn High School hosted its 15th Annual Reading Riot on Friday, April 15th throughout the school day in the library.
 
Led by NPHS librarian Joseph Ramsey, Reading Riot is structured like a read-a-thon where students and some staff members take brief, five-minute shifts reading aloud to an assembled audience of students and staff. 

& see photos!

NPHS Students Receive Awards for American Association of University Women Writing Contest
The North Penn School District is proud to recognize 24 NPHS students for their performance in the 2016 American Association of University Women (AAUW) Creative Writing Contest this past February. 

Each year, the organizers of the AAUW Creative Writing Contest review anonymous pieces of both poetry and prose selections submitted by students in grades 10 through 12 attending local area high schools.
 
Students from Souderton Area High School, Germantown Academy, Lansdale Catholic High School and North Penn High School submitted 258 fiction entries and of those, 24 were deemed winners. Of those 24 student winners, 17 were NPHS students.

April North Penn News Update from NPTV
North Penn Television (NPTV) students produced updates on what was happening around the NPSD during the month of April. This month's video update includes the NPSD Community Forum, "Learning and Working in a Digital Age," held on April 27, the 25th Anniversary of the International Spring Festival held on April 16, and NPHS junior Tom Schmidts' inspirational video for the incoming sophomore class.

NPSD Community Forum - Learning and Working in a Digital Age
NPSD Community Forum
"Learning and Working in a Digital Age"
25th Annual International Spring Festival
25th Annual International Spring Festival

Begin Your Journey at NPHS
Begin Your Journey at NPHS

To see more from NPTV, check out our