Innovation in the School District

 

I want to share with you some innovative programs that teachers are going to implement during the next school year.  This list keeps on growing as teachers come forward with more ideas.  I have a firm belief that our teachers will design a world-class instructional experience for our children if given the opportunity.  The ideas that I am sharing with you all come from teachers.  I am excited to share them with you.

1.     Harrison Park’s “Pod”: The Pod is a group of 70 students in grades 3-5 who will be mixed together for math instruction.  Students will be grouped during every math topic regardless of grade level.  The students will learn at their own level and complete a process for every topic that closely resembles the Mass Customized Learning Model that is set forth in the book Inevitable. 

2.     Harrison Park’s “Warrior Workshop”: The workshop is a dedicated room that all teachers and students can utilize to enhance math instruction.  The room will be staffed by a Student Learning Assistant who will organize activities and learning experiences centered on math instruction for students and teachers.  Cutting edge programs such as “Hands on Equations” are available to all students in the school in the Warrior Workshop.

3.     Sunrise 4^th Grade Mass Customized Learning: Two 4^th grade teachers split their group for math instruction and allow students to determine their best learning modality.  The students are given a choice of instruction for every topic after they take a topical pre-test.  The students can choose instruction on a continuum from traditional teacher-based instruction to independent learning with very little teacher input.  The early reports are that the students enjoy the freedom of choosing how they learn and the students are choosing appropriate placement for their instruction. 

4.     The Penn-Trafford Virtual Academy: This initiative started with two high school teachers receiving some training in February because they were interested in placing their classroom instruction and curriculum in a virtual format.  It has grown in that short amount of time to almost 15 teachers from every level (high school, middle school and elementary school).  These teachers are building their classes online to help enhance the learning experience for their students in their classroom.  The goal of the Penn-Trafford Virtual Academy is to give teachers another tool in their toolbox to help their instruction with their students in their classroom.  The PT Virtual Academy is about helping our teachers, in their classroom, with their students, using our curriculum.  As a result of a lot of hard work, the school district will offer a “Blended” (half online, half face to face) English credit recovery class this summer. 

5.     High School English Class Using Kindles (or Nooks):  One of our AP English classes will have students use an e-reader instead of purchasing novels.  The students have to read 25 novels for the class and it is actually cheaper to purchase a $79.00 e-reader then all of the books.  Most of the books that they have to read are offered for free or for .99 cents on the e-reader which is where we can save money.  We want to see whether the e-reader option will work with our students. 

6.     Middle School Social Studies w/out Student Textbooks: The Social Studies teachers in both Middle Schools have chosen to purchase classroom textbooks instead of a textbook for every student.  This is a huge step toward fulfilling the School Board goal of replacing textbooks.  In lieu of textbooks for every student, the money budgeted for textbooks will be spent on an IPad cart for the classrooms.  I feel confident that instruction will be enhanced in our Social Studies program in the Middle Schools as a result of this pilot program.

7.     High School Inquiry Based, Customized Learning:  The high school teachers that traveled to the Downingtown magnet school (about 12 of them) have come back from that experience determined to restructure their instruction and how students experience their class.  The focus will be more on student learning (not just “covering” material) and increasing customizable learning experiences.  The group is exploring the option of being trained in inquiry-based learning and discussing how that type of instruction can be embedded into their classrooms.

8.     Level Green and Harrison Park Inquiry-Based Science Project:  A group of teachers traveled with Mr. DiNapoli to a STEM conference this winter.  A result of that trip will be a pilot program exploring how to incorporate inquiry-based, “hands-on” science instruction in the classroom.  This is a small group because of the cost of the program, but if the teachers find that it significantly enhances our Science program then we will expand it next year.  The inquiry model of instruction will lead toward more critical thinking skills for our students.

9.     McCullough Mass Customized Pilot Program: McCullough has three grade levels where teachers are collaborating to provide instruction that meets the students at their need and ability level.  Students will have a pre-test that determines their current level of proficiency on a specific topic and then the students are broken into groups where instruction will occur that meets their needs.

These pilot programs will move the district closer to meeting the School Board goals and vision.  All of the programs will be evaluated based on student outcomes, financial sustainability and how well they move the district toward meeting the School Board goals.  I am very excited by every one of these initiatives.  They are all teacher created with the administration serving as a resource to build them.  I am proud of the hard work of the teachers in coming up with the ideas and the administrators in putting these programs in place and encouraging innovation within our schools.

Outstanding First Grade Student

I apologize for not blogging in awhile.  I want to share with you our first grade "Student of the Month" from the May Board meeting.  I know that all of us who attend Board meetings enjoy hearing about the students of the month.  It helps all of us keep our perspective and remember the reason we chose education as a job...because of the students.  We have great kids in this district!  

Below you will find the statement read by Mr. Swartz the principal at Harrison Park Elementary School.

It is my honor to introduce Lilyana Willis as Harrison Park’s student of the month for May. Daughter of Paul and Shari Willis, Lilyana is an outstanding first grade student at Harrison Park. Mrs. Smyda, Lilyana’s teacher, describes her as an enthusiastic learner, hard working, and takes pride in everything she does in the classroom. Lilyana has been recently honored as the Zaner-Bloser state handwriting champion for first grade.  Her writing was selected from thousands of entries to represent Pennsylvania in the National Handwriting Contest.  Her writing was judged on the legibility, size, shape, spacing, and slant of the writing.  We are honored to have her work represent Penn-Trafford and all public schools across the state.

Outside of school Lilyana is active in gymnastics, likes to play with her friends, and enjoys playing basketball and reading books such as the Rainbow Magic series. In school her favorite subject is science because she enjoys learning about animals and learning new things. When Lilyana grows up she would like to be an art teacher. On behalf of the students and staff of Harrison Park Elementary I would like to congratulate Lilyana for being the May elementary student of the month.

Congratulations to our First Grade State Handwriting Champion!  Great job!!

Tentative 2012-2013 School Budget

The School Board tentatively adopted the budget for the 2012-2013 school year.  State law requires that the budget be voted on in public twice.  After the tentative passing of the budget, it must be made available to the public for 30 days before it is voted on for a final time and officially adopted. The budget must be adopted before July 1st.  Currently the tentative budget can be reviewed at the district offices or here.  The tentative budget can also be found on the district web site under "school board".  The School Board can decide to make adjustments to the budget between the tentative adoption and the final adoption.

The budget was built around three principles:

1.     How can the school district provide the best instructional and curricular experience for our students?  Students always come first.

2.     How can the budget reflect the movement toward reaching the non-negotiable goals set forth by the School Board?

3.     The financial sustainability of the school district and the obligation to be fiscally prudent.

The 2012-2013 budget presented many challenges for the school district.  Once again (like every year) the school district will have to adopt a budget before the State adopts their budget.  This is significant since the school district's budget must be built on a "best guess estimate" of the State budget.  Since 46% of the school district's budget comes from the State, the district must do our best to "read the tea leaves" for revenue from the State. For example, last year the school district adopted a budget that included $750,000 in deficit spending.  In other words, the district would have to take that amount of money from the fund balance to balance the budget.   After the School Board approved the budget last year, the State (through the hard work of our State representative George Dunbar among others) restored about $750,000 in funding for the school district.  The money was spent in the 2012-2013 school year but since it came to the district after the final adoption of the school district budget, the revenue is actually reflected in the 2012-2013 State revenue numbers.  I know it sounds a little bit convoluted, but I thought it would be important to know that when the district puts together a budget there are a lot of "moving parts".

The 2012-2013 budget includes a 2.71% increase in expenditures (the $750,000 that the State gave the district for the 2011-2012 budget is actually included in revenue for this budget year so that percentage does not reflect the real percentage for the 2012-2013 school year).  The budget also includes the elimination of 19 employees from the previous budget.  The breakdown of those positions is as follows:

1. Eliminated 6 Teaching Positions Through Attrition
2.  Eliminated 4 Custodial Positions Through Attrition
3.  Eliminated 1 Central Office Administrator Through Attrition
4.  Eliminated 1 Clerical Position Through Attrition
5.  Eliminated 4 Cafeteria Aid Positions (Furlough)
6.  Eliminated 2 Classes Purchased from the Intermediate Unit
7.  Eliminated 1 Teacher Aid (Furlough)

All of those positions are self explanatory except the classes purchased from the Intermediate Unit (IU).  The IU’s are a layer of bureaucracy between the State Department of Education (PDE) and the school districts.  There are 29 IU’s throughout the State.  In the past, IU’s provided special education services for school districts, but now their role has shifted to a role of helping the State institute initiatives.  In the past, the school district “purchased” some special education teachers through the Intermediate Unit #7.  As the administration researched areas to save money for the 2012-2013 budget, we realized that we could realize a savings by doing something different with those classes.  The district eliminated one of those positions altogether and is funding the other one through Federal money; thus taking the position out of our general operating budget resulting in one less teacher that the school district has to pay for.  

These cuts are in addition to the 24 teaching positions which have been eliminated since the 2007-2008 budget year.  The district has eliminated 11% of our staff in the last 5 years while the student population has decreased 7% over the same amount of time.

The budget also reflects smaller cuts in programs, but the Lion’s share of savings in this budget must come from eliminating salaries and benefits which is about 75% of the budget.  This budget does include a significant increase in technology spending (52%).  The school district has done a very good job in the past including “upfront” technology.  Items such as interactive SMART Boards, mobile computer labs, and Ipad carts are examples.  However, the technology infrastructure supporting these devices has not been upgraded in awhile.  For Penn-Trafford to meet the School Board goals of becoming a 21^st Century learning environment the technology infrastructure must work all of the time and it must be robust enough to handle future workloads.  The upgrade is an essential component of continuing PT’s excellence in educational opportunities for our students.  Finally, this budget reflects the start of the large increases in pension costs for the school district.  Over the next 4 years there will be large increases in pension costs that will require further adjustments in the budget.

The tentative budget includes a 1.6 mill tax increase.  This will equate to an increase of about $39.90 a year for the average assessed household in the school district.  One mill produces about $270,000 in revenue for the school district.  The budget presentation that the school district’s Business Manager (Mr. Lago) put together for the School Board can be found here. The presentation is very well done and provides a transparent look into the school budgeting process.