district logo

The DLink

Bringing you the latest in DASD news and information

Downingtown Area School District

02/20/2015

In This Issue

Loss of a student

Home Access Center Changes

District News and Information

Congratulations!

District Wide Upcoming Events

Around the District

In the News

Warfel nets 1,000th point

STEM and West Compete in Governor's JOBS1st PA STEM Competition

Cheerleaders Compete in Nationals

A Message from The Superintendent

@lmussoline

Originally created as a one-day event to celebrate the joy of reading, March 2nd's Read Across America Day has grown into the nation's largest reading celebration. This year marks Dr. Seuss's 110th birthday and the seventeenth annual celebration of reading in the Downingtown Area District!

Hundreds of activities take place each year throughout the district to honor Dr. Seuss and to celebrate reading. Brandywine Wallace will hold a building-wide "Drop Everything and Read" time on March 2nd. Staff and students will wear Dr. Seuss items or red, white and blue clothing to celebrate the day. Marsh Creek students have been challenged to read 100 pages by March 30th. The school has made it into a challenge between the Blue and Gold houses.

Springton Manor has a unique idea. The 4th grade will be writing stories using only the 50 words that Dr. Seuss used to write Green Eggs and Ham. He only used 50 words because a friend bet that he couldn't do write an entire book with so few words. At Pickering Valley, students will be voting on their favorite Dr. Seuss book and will create a school wide graph to show the results.

At Shamona Creek, guest readers have been invited to come into the classrooms to read. Another example is an annual get-together between middle school and kindergarten students. For several years, Downingtown Middle School teachers have taken seventh grade language arts classes to the West Bradford Elementary School. The middle school students spend their visit reading favorite stories to the school's kindergarten classes. At Beaver Creek, a bulletin board has been reserved for a "Once Upon a Time Before We Were Teachers" showcase that will include a childhood photo of each teacher and the name of a book that they loved to read.

Dr. Seuss's use of rhyme makes his books an effective tool for teaching young children the basic skills they need to be successful in reading and regularly appear on most recommended reading lists by educators, parents and students alike. Two of his books, Green Eggs and Ham and Oh, the Places You'll Go, were rated number 4 and number 8 respectively on a recent survey of teachers by the National Education Association.

The Read Across America program helps provide children with the motivation to read for their own enjoyment. The program also delivers an important message to parents as well: Children who read, and are read to, do better in school and in life.

Dr. Larry Mussoline
Superintendent

West Student Killed in Car Accident

Charlotte Hannagan, a DHS West junior, and her brother Miles, were killed in a car accident on February 14th. The Hannagans were traveling home from a Pipe and Drum competition when they were rear-ended by another vehicle. Although they were wearing seat belts, the impact of the crash ejected the two from the vehicle.

Charlotte participated in the district's blended cyber program, taking some of her courses online and others in the DHS West building. She played drums in the Washington Memorial Drum and Bagpipe Band.

Additional information regarding memorials to Charlotte and her brother will be posted on the DHS West website. Words cannot express the sadness that our school community is feeling at this time. Our sincere condolences, thoughts and prayers go out to the Hannagan friends and family who are dealing with this horrific tragedy.

Students Invited to Write Essays: 'It Can Wait'.

The Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, the Daily Local News and AT&T are joining together to host and ""It Can Wait" editorial contest to raise awareness about the dangers of texting and driving.

The contest is open to all students in grades 9 - 12 across Pennsylvania, and provides the opportunity to win a $500 prize for a column or editorial that best answers the question, "Why is it important to take the 'It Can Wait' pledge to never text and drive?"

The Daily Local News will first judge entries from area schools. That winner will have their winning essay printed as a column or editorial and will award a $50 gift card. The winning essay will then go on to the state competition.

To enter the contest, submit an editorial or column by email to itcanwaitpay@gmail.com. Send questions about the local contest to Andrew Hachadorian at Andyh@dailylocal.com. Don't forget to mention what school you attend when you submit your entry. Good luck!

A Look at our New Website

Each month we hope to highlight something on our new website that we think is unique, interesting and of great benefit to our stakeholders. This week we want to introduce you to "Spreaker". Spreaker is a software program that allows us to tape programs, events and podcasts and post them to our website.

The district website is using Spreaker right now to playback the Board's Curriculum committee meetings. We intend to use Spreaker to introduce you to some of our administrators and guests in the weeks to come.

The STEM Academy is using Spreaker to record their morning announcements. All you need to create Spreaker content is a smartphone that records audio and the Spreaker app. We'll be expanding the use of Spreaker to other schools in the near future. For now, get to know Spreaker by clicking here.

District News and Information

District's Health and Wellness Initiative Earns National Attention - To better understand the steps and strategies that schools and school districts have used to implement their wellness policies, staff from the Food and Nutrition Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the US Department of Education collaborated with Danya International, Inc. to identify stories from schools and districts. These stories were chosen using input from school health professional organizations and by consulting the list of schools that received the USDA's Healthier US School Challenge Gold Award of Distinction.

The goal was to highlight schools that had taken action in key areas, such as improving school meals and increasing physical activity levels among students. To ensure a diverse collection of stories, the workgroup looked at the setting of each school or district (urban, suburban, or rural) and the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. DASD was included in the group's collection of 11 stories that provide examples of steps schools have taken to implement various aspects of the wellness policy.

Business Office Earns Meritorious Budget Award

For the 10th consecutive year, the Downingtown Area School District was awarded the Association of School Business Officials Meritorious Budget Award. To earn the award, the school district submitted its 2014-15 budget for review based on stringent criteria. The criteria assist school business officials in building a solid foundation in the skills needed to develop, analyze, and present a school district budget to the public.

The award is given to school systems that have met or exceeded program criteria. It is an award program designed to enhance school budgeting. The association has a mission to help schools to in growth and to effectively use educational resources.

Thank you to our Corporate Sponsors.

The Downingtown Community Education Foundation has received two generous donations to assist us with innovative programs and services. Bentley Systems, Inc. donated over $12,000 to help with STEM related educational programs. Receiving a portion of this donations will be:

Pickering Valley for Grade 4 science and technology books

Springton Manor for STEM books in the Library

LMS for Grade 7 Science Class

STEM Computer Lab Support

Downingtown Middle School Academic Team

Penn Liberty Bank donated $1500 in EITC funds. EITC funds support the "Experience", the after-school program for DASD students in grades 3 - 6.

Congratulations

DHS East Wins Battle of the Brains In an exciting three period game, the DHS East Academic Team walked away with the 1st place trophy and bragging rights on February 12, 2015. DHS West came in second place with the STEM Academy close behind. This is the fourth year for this competition that pits our three Academic teams against each other.

Paige Warfel, DHS East, scored her 1000th point in a win against West Chester Rustin on February 18, 2015. She lead the Cougars basketball team with 21 points, helping to send the Cougars into the PIAA Class AAAA Tournament for the first time since 2011.

National Merit Finalists - DHS West

John Byrne
Jackson Betz
Mark Tremoglie

National Merit Finalists - STEM Academy

Ryan Hassing
Yash Palkhiwala
Amulya Ponna
Saday Shaik
Dan XU

National Merit Finalists - DHS East

Helen F Butler
Angela Y. Cai
Justin D. Chan
Nikita Choudhary
Alexandra V. Cipriano
Vaurn Giridhar
Megan L. Harley
Megha P. Reddy

DHS West Cheerleaders - placed second in their National Competition

The DHS West Indoor Drumline's completed their first Mid Atlantic Percussion Society competition of the season on February 14th at Old Bridge High School. They placed first out of ten schools in their division.

The DHS West Indoor Color Guard came in 2nd place at the Tournament Indoor competition also on Saturday held at Gateway Regional High School. There were over 27 groups in attendance.

DHS West teacher Chris Meyer's painting, "Greek Sunset," won Best of Show at the Abstraction Juried Art Show at Bluseed Studios in Saranac Lake, NY.

DHS West Boys basketball team are the 2015 ChesMont Champs!

DHS East grad Tyler Kroft has been invited to NFL draft. The Rutgers football star attended Shamona Creek Elementary school and LMS. Click here for more information.

District Wide Upcoming Events

February 2015

Looking for some fun entertainment tonight?

The Cougar Cabaret Show will begin at 7pm in the Downingtown East Auditorium. There will be an "American Idol" style singing competition featuring Downingtown East choir students along with a special presentation by a collegiate cappella group from Kutztown University.

Tickets are $10 and will be sold at the door tonight. Beverages and light snacks will be available for purchase in the lobby during the show.

All proceeds will benefit the music program.

DASD Preschool Parent/Child Outreach Event - Monday, Feb, 23, 2015 from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. West Bradford Elementary Library, 1475 Broad Run Road, Downingtown. Come learn about current technology trends in education from DASD technology expert Jonathan Blow. Learn some new ways you can use technology at home to help your child learn. Child care is provided. Email sfisher@dasd.org for more information or to reserve your spot.

DASD Honors Band Concert - February 24, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.

Gifted Support Services Question and Answer Session - 2/24/15 at 6:00 p.m. Central Admin Building, DowningtownTarget Audience: Parents of grade 5 students moving to the Marsh Creek Sixth Grade Center. Central Administration Building, 540 Trestle Place, Downingtown.

March 2015

Downingtown Area Gifted Education Network Meeting - March 10, 2015 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.Open to all. Nurturing a "Growth Mindset" in High Ability Learners. Presented by Cindy Kruse, Delaware County Intermediate Unit. Click here for the flyer.

LMS will present Beauty and the Beast on March 13 at 7:00 p.m., March 14th at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m. and March 15th at 2:00 p.m. Tickets may be purchased by clicking here.

George Bernard Shaw's

"Pygmalion"

Downingtown STEM Academy Players

Co-directed by: Beth Gledhill and Vivian Ferris

March 14 and March 15 at 7 p.m.

Around the District

East Ward

East Ward's fifth grade participated in the SOUPer Bowl. Each fifth grade class throughout the district collected can goods to be donated to the Lord's Pantry in Downingtown. East Ward collected a total of 423 cans. The fifth grade teachers are so proud of the class' kindness and generosity. Last week third grade welcomed parents as they came in to the classroom to read books they "love" to celebrate Valentine's Day together. They were also taught a short poetry unit including lessons on similes and metaphors. Students are excited to write poems for their loved ones.

Shamona Creek

Congratulations to Sarah Crawford who represented SC at the Chester County Spelling Bee. She took 5^th place! Way to go....

Last week, the H&S Association sponsored a visit with local author Jen Bryant. Jen is an award winning author who has written some fascinating children's books. Miss Carroll shared many of her works with students and made an awesome welcome banner to celebrate Mrs. Bryant's recent accomplishments.

Springton Manor
Jump Rope for Heart has become an annual event for the students at SM. Mr. Peterson organized every detail for the event. This year, our school has raised over $20,000.00 for the Heart Association. The students participated in a variety of "jumping type" of activities during their scheduled Encore time. Thank you to all of the Encore teachers for participating and helping to supervise the activities.

DHS East

The Downingtown East Varsity Academic Team of Neel Alex, Varun Giridar, Megan Harley, Vis Lanka, Zack Weber, Justin Lavish and led by a dominant performance by Nicholas "Tiger" Wu destroyed Conestoga and Coatesville to advance to the Chester County Academic Competition finals on March 17.

DHS West

The Latin students have created artistic and literary projects, as well as taken academic exams, as part of the tri-state Latin competition sponsored by the Philadelphia Classical Society. The judging occurs this coming Saturday. Among the projects are mosaics, needlework, costumes, drawings, and paintings. The literary works include original poems and prose in English and Latin, taking on the persona of a character in mythology or Roman history.

STEM Academy

The Downingtown STEM has successfully launched its RecStu Radio morning show! The show is live every Thursday morning from 6:30-7:30AM. Students from Music Teacher Brian Lloyd's Recording Studio class are taking to the air to share original music compositions of Downingtown students. We are happy to feature music from all of our Downingtown schools. The show also has live-streamed events such as the Open Mic Night from the STEM Academy. More information about the RecStu morning show can be obtained by contacting Mr. Brian Lloyd. Brianlloyd@dasd.org @RecStuRadio

We are also proud to announce that the STEM Academy Choir is performing in Disney World on April 1st!

"Like" us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/downingtownschools