During the month of October each year, the PA Department of Education asks each school district to submit their October 1st enrollment data for reporting purposes. For the 2021/22 October 1st enrollment submission, Lower Moreland Township School District reported its’ enrollment as 2,499 total students, with 1,084 students at Pine Road Elementary, 586 students at Murray Avenue School, and 829 students at Lower Moreland High School. This represented a 3.69% increase (89 total students) from the 2020/21 October 1st submission. The School District develops its’ own enrollment projections from those numbers and that information can be found by clicking on this link: https://www.lmtsd.org/Page/13923.

As the two new housing developments have essentially been completed, the District is examining enrollment capacities as the new high school project moves along. There have been two enrollment projections that were completed within the last 5 years, one by the Montgomery County Planning Commission and the other by an enrollment firm FutureThink, and those studies are found here: https://www.lmtsd.org/Page/11444 (FutureThink) and https://www.lmtsd.org/Page/11444n (Montgomery County Planning Commission). Both of these studies show that the actual enrollments have exceeded even the highest projections.

Last school year, the federal government required states to give their annual academic assessments, but allowed for some flexibility for states who requested waivers. Pennsylvania applied for a waiver that extended the spring assessment window for both the PSSA and Keystone assessments until September 30, 2021. The extension of the testing schedule has delayed the official score reporting for students who participated in the exams. Student performance data files for the PSSA are expected in mid-November and files for Keystones are expected in early December. If score reports are available as anticipated, PSSA score reports will be distributed at parent/teacher conferences. Score reports will be mailed home for students who took the Keystone exam, or for whom there is no conference.

It is anticipated that PSSA and Keystone exams will be administered on time this year. The testing windows are as follows:

Winter Keystones: 12/1/21-1/14/22

Spring Keystones: 5/16/22-5/27/22

PSSA: 4/25/22-5/13/22

The Technology Department supports information technology systems and instructional technology programs and practices in the district. Each month, we highlight how our students and teachers engage in 21st Century learning activities. We also share updates on new initiatives and tips and tricks related to devices and technology tools used in the district.

Students at the high school are using a Square Reader and iPad that were obtained through a mini-grant to manage the point of sale transactions at their bi-monthly cafeteria snack stand called Coco Loco. Click the following link to view the November 2021 Tech Snapshot video featuring students using the Square Reader and iPad: https://youtu.be/dQX7iRvR2Lg

Students in Ms. Catalano’s 8th grade class at Murray Avenue School practiced public speaking while incorporating technology into their presentations. Students created “All About Me” pages using Google Slides on their Chromebooks. Each Google Slide was projected in class during the student presentations to add a visual dynamic to the ELA and public speaking activity. Below is an example of a student-created “All About Me” Google Slide that was presented in class.

Third grade students recently began their first Lego WeDO robotics project in STEM class. Lego WeDo kits include both hardware and software for elementary students to engage in both science and robotics based practices. In their initial project, third grade students built a model of a glowing caterpillar based on a story about two characters at the aquarium. Then the students programmed the caterpillar to light up. Check back later in the year for more updates on other Lego WeDo projects!

Pine Road School has registered to be a virtual host for Project BE-WEHL presented by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. This series of events are aimed at providing wellness strategies for resiliency and well-being in children ages 4 and up. The six, weekly one-hour sessions will begin in January. More information can be found in the attached flyer.