| NPSD Board Members |
|
President
Tina Stoll
Vice President
Edward Diasio
Members
Christian D. Fusco
Jonathan M. Kassa
Jenna A. Ott
Theresa Prykowski
Juliane Ramić
John T. Schilling
Mark W. Warren
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.
|
| Attending Action and Work Session Meetings |
|
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.
|
Newly Appointed Member
|
Congratulations to newly appointed NPSD Board of School Director Juliane Ramić who was sworn in at the January 8 Work Session Meeting.
|
| Meetings in Review |
NPSD Board of School Directors Meeting
|
January is School Director Recognition Month!
|
A quality public education is a key that can open doors of opportunity for many students. Providing that education takes a team of committed people from educators and staff to parents and administrators. The nine members of the NPSD Board of School Directors are an important part of this team, making informed decisions that direct the course of our public schools.
Every January, we take time to celebrate and recognize the challenging and vital work they do on behalf of our students, families and community.
School directors volunteer an average of 20 hours each month to board work, which includes adopting policy, voting on budgets, approving curriculum changes, choosing textbooks and reviewing hiring decisions to name a few. They take time to learn about the issues affecting public education and to seek innovative solutions.
As unpaid, locally elected officials, school directors are invested in their communities. They are our neighbors, friends, local leaders, parents and engaged senior citizens.
During this month of recognition, please take a moment and show your gratitude for school directors' time, dedication and effort year-round. The job they do is necessary to ensure our schools remain a pathway to a promising future. Thank them for advocating on behalf of our collective interest, and most importantly, for making the success of our children their priority.
|
|
Upcoming Meetings
|
January 29, 6:00 pm, ESC
Support Services Committee Meeting
January 29, 6:30 pm, ESC
Finance Committee Meeting
February 1, 6:00 pm, ESC
Finance Committee Special Meeting
February 6, 7:30 pm, ESC
Board Worksession Meeting
February 12, 6:00 pm, ESC
Safe Schools Committee Meeting
February 12, 6:30 pm, ESC
ECP Committee Meeting
February 15, 7:30 pm, ESC
Board Action Meeting
To access the list of
meeting dates scheduled for 2018, please click here
.
|
|
|
Dear Community,
I'd like to start by introducing myself. My name is Theresa Prykowski and I am one of the nine members of the North Penn School District (NPSD) Board of School Directors. Those of you who are familiar with this publication are probably used to reading an opening letter from the board president. As we begin a new year with many new board members, each of the board of school directors would like to take this opportunity to address the community personally and introduce ourselves. That in mind, this letter will alternate authors from month to month, giving the community a chance to hear from each of our nine board members.
As a member of the second graduating class of North Penn High School (NPHS) a good 45 years ago; a resident since 1966; a tax-paying resident since 1977 when we purchased our home in Hatfield, I am very committed to our community. Along with my husband John (NPHS class of 1972), and our five children who all graduated from Hatfield Elementary, Pennfield Middle School and NPHS; we are very proud of our schools, our teachers and our administrators. I initially became involved with the school board in 1991 to help improve the reputation of this great school system. Through the years it has been a deeply satisfying volunteer position.
Over the past several years, our district has significantly moved the needle in the right direction - up! Our scores have gone up, and I might add, a lot faster and higher than our taxes have gone up. I've worked with many different administrations over the years and our current team is by far the best we have had working for this community. Our superintendent, Dr. Curt Dietrich, and his team are committed to helping every child succeed, maintaining your property values and confining our tax burden. When administrators bring forth the budget to the NPSD Board of School Directors for approval, you can be sure they have already done their due diligence and scrubbed any fluff out of the budget. That being said, they are also more than willing to take another look at each of those facets that comprise the budget when asked by a majority of the members of the board.
We, the board, represent not only the students, but also the North Penn community's residents, parents, retirees and property owners. And, for the board and the administrators to know what you desire and how earnest you are in achieving something in particular, it is very important for community members to attend board meetings and speak freely. To learn more about these meetings, when they are held and what occurs, please see the sidebar article below.
In addition to these two monthly meetings are the Committee Meetings. Committee meetings are held in the evening and each has three appointed board members in attendance. It is important to remember that committee meetings are where the details are discussed and where action and items are recommended to forward to the full board for consideration. The committees that meet regularly are: Educational, Community and Policy (ECP), Finance, Support Services and Safe Schools. It is very important to attend these meetings in addition to the action and worksessions and to give us your opinion on topics. Committee meetings are where much of the work gets done. To learn more about these committees, what they discuss and when they meet, click here.
As your elected official, I, and the rest of the school board, are authorized by the State of Pennsylvania with the responsibility to vote the best solution for the children, the residents, the taxpayers, the retirees and you! Please join us in this endeavor.
Theresa Prykowski
Member, NPSD Board of School Directors
1991-1995, 1998-2010, 2015-Term Exp. 2019
|
|
|
At the recent action meeting, the NPSD Board of School Directors recognized students in the North Penn School District for their outstanding achievements by awarding them proclamations of excellence.
Four student representatives of the NPHS Marching Knights and director Mr. Ted Heller were honored for placing as Group 4 Open Champions at the US Bands, PA competition, Group 4 Open Champions at the US Bands NJ Regionals competition and Grand Champions in the US Bands NJ Regional Competition.
Members of the NPHS Girls' Cross Country Team and coach Jim Crawford were recognized for placing 3rd at the District I AAA Meet and 14th at the Pennsylvania State Championship Meet.
Congratulations to these remarkable student athletes and their coaches for an outstanding season!
|
There was no Finance Committee Meeting held in December. However, the monthly financial reports were posted online and Steve Skrocki, NPSD Director of Business Administration, provided an email summary of the reports.
The Finance Committee will hold a special meeting on February 1 at 6:00 pm at the ESC.
|
Due to the ECP Committee meeting being cancelled as a result of weather conditions on Monday, January 8, the meeting was rescheduled and held on Wednesday, January 17. The following topics were discussed.
At the meeting the Committee reviewed two amended board policies. Board Policy #5143 - Family Fiscal Responsibility has been revised to reflect changes in the Pennsylvania Anti-Lunch Shaming Act of 2017. The statute mandates that students be permitted to charge a meal when they do not have funds in their account or money with them to pay for the meal. Also, negative account balances must be communicated to the parents or guardians and not the student. Board Policy #5113 - English Language Development was revised to include the English Language Development verbiage changes and to reference a parent or guardian's ability to decline services and programming for their child. These proposed changes bring the policy into compliance with state and federal requirements. Both policies will be moved to the full board for a first reading in February.
Also, a presentation concerning class size guidelines was shared with the committee. The presentation and discussion included factors such as class sizes for inclusion classes, long-range enrollment projections of the Montgomery County Planning Commission study and space availability for full-size classrooms in elementary buildings.
A few student overnight travel requests were also reviewed.
The next ECP Committee meeting will be held on February 12 at 6:30 pm at the ESC.
|
|
The Foundation last met on December 12 at the ESC.
At this meeting, they discussed 29 mid-year grants, totaling $22,739 of funding for NPSD schools, that the grant committee approved. This is in addition to more than $40,000 of projects already being supported by the Foundation this school year alone. The projects range from a bocce ball court at NPHS to starting a jazz band at the elementary level. They touch every grade level and curriculum area throughout the North Penn School District.
One grant not supported was a request to fund a Speakers Series at NPHS. Although the Foundation did not approve the grant, it does plan to support the project at a later date when more specifics are known. The Foundation is very excited about an opportunity to partner with NPSD to create a series of talks about important topics of interest to the entire community. Two Foundation trustees regularly attend planning meetings at for the speakers series and the Foundation will keep the school board updated on the progress.
The Foundation is currently gearing up for two big annual events. The first is Foundation February in which all NPSD schools work to raise money for innovative grants throughout the district. Each building decides on a fun way to raise awareness and money from penny drives to spirit days. Last year, $5,237 was raised during the month and the Foundation hopes to top that number this year.
Also, the fifth annual online auction is being planned for May. More than $6,000 was raised through the event in 2017. The auction features one of a kind NPSD experiences like front row seats at graduation, plus other items such as theater tickets, museum passes and more. There will be more information to follow on this next month.
For more information about the NPSD Educational Foundation, please contact Executive Director, Christine Liberaski at liberacd@npenn.org.
|
The Safe Schools Committee Meeting previously scheduled for Monday, January 8 has been rescheduled for Monday, February 12 at 6:00 pm at the ESC.
|
|
