Your monthly district update

December 14, 2021

It's hard to believe that 2021 is coming to an end! While we look back with gratitude for a year where we have seen some normalcy return to our classrooms and community, we look forward with hope for continued efforts to support one another with generosity, compassion and care. We wish you and yours a winter break filled with family and friends and a new year filled with health and success.

Penn-Delco School Board of Directors Reorganization Meeting

Colleen Powell is sworn in on December 6.

Kate Denney is sworn in as well.

The December Board of School Directors Reorganization Meeting occurred on December 6 followed by a special board meeting to address some regular business. Mr. Leon Armour was reconfirmed as President of the Board while Mr, Kevin Tinsley was reconfirmed as Vice President. Four board members were reelected by the Penn-Delco Community. Mrs. Kate Denney and Mrs. Colleen Powell were sworn in at the meeting by former Board Member Honorable Georgia Stone, Esquire. Mrs. Dawn Jones and Mrs. Catherine Hilferty were sworn in by a magisterial judge at a separate time. Congratulations to our elected board members.

Winter concerts continue

Our student musicians continue to enjoy the opportunity to perform live and in person for their winter concerts. The 2020 Winter Concerts were virtual last year.

Coebourn, Pennell and Northley have already completed their special nights Aston will perform this evening and Sun Valley on December 21. While these are ticketed events, all concerts can be viewed the next day on our YouTube Channel. Check out the current films of concerts noted here.:

WATCH NOW

Coebourn Elementary Concert

Pennell Elementary Concert

Parkside Elementary School

Northley 6th Grade Concert

Northley 7th-8th Grade Concert

Test-2-Stay

A test-to-stay program allows students and staff, who are identified as close contacts in school during COVID-19 contact tracing and are asymptomatic to continue to remain at school or work. The program permits staff or students to avoid the onerous long-term quarantine from school by taking multiple, routine COVID-BinaxNOW Rapid Antigen tests over a period of time in which a student would otherwise be kept home from school. For more information about the Penn-Delco Test-To-Stay Program, go to our COVID-19 website and fill out the necessary permissions to join the program.

Penn-Delco Masking Policy

In light of the most recent change to the Governor's statewide K-12 mask mandate, the Penn-Delco School District reiterates its existing Board approved Health and Safety plan language on masks that states:

"The CDC and the PA Department of Health “recommends universal indoor masking for all staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status”. Accordingly, the district will recommend universal masking of all persons in our schools."

To ensure that we are in accord with the statewide changes to K-12 mask requirements, the District will continue to recommend that all persons in our schools wear masks, without the expectation of enforcing a mask requirement that is no longer in effect in Pennsylvania.

As a reminder, federal regulations still require that students riding our school busses continue to wear masks. Additionally, all students and staff who elect to utilize the Test-to-Stay protocol for close contacts (as a means to avoid a lengthy quarantine) must continue to wear a mask as a condition of the program.

Construction at Sun Valley

The window project at Sun Valley is complete while the auditorium construction is underway. The construction team began the demolition of the auditorium on November 17, 2021. The new state-of-the-art auditorium is expected to be completed (tentatively) by April 1, 2022.

Crews are making excellent progress with the locker rooms and weight room. That construction should be completed (tentatively) this month. Lockers and classroom will not be ready until after the new year. Stay tuned for official opening dates of these new facilities.

A reminder: Snow Day Flexible Instruction

Penn-Delco has been approved to offer up to five virtual flexible instruction days to limit the number of potential make-up days at the end of the school year due to frequent school closures. Here is how that will work:

Once the school district has exhausted normal inclement weather "snow days", we will begin to utilize virtual, remote-learning days.
The virtual remote learning days will generally follow the virtual Wednesday schedules used successfully last year.
Sun Valley High School and Northley Middle School will begin live-streaming at 8 am while our Elementary Schools will begin at 9am.
Afternoon hours will be asynchronous assignments.
Schedules and procedures will be shared in the next few weeks.

The district will continue to utilized delayed opening schedules when possible to preserve in-person instruction, to the extent that in can.

Work for Penn-Delco

The District is currently hiring for support and professional staff positions. We welcome you to explore opportunities at our hiring site and share those opportunities with qualified individuals who would like to work with us. We appreciate the outpouring of support during our campaign to fill bus drivers and coaches early this year. We continue to search for other qualified individuals to work with our excellent team at Penn-Delco.

Your next board meeting

Your Penn-Delco Board of School Directors will hold their monthly Study Session early next month on Wednesday, January 19 at 7:30pm in the Service Center. The monthly Board meeting is on Wednesday, January 26 at 7:30pm. These are in-person meetings that are filmed and posted within one week on the Penn-Delco YouTube channel. Go to pdsd.org/board for all the information you need on your Board of School Directors.