Community Connection

Please view the video below to see a brief recap from IUP's Education Day!

Dear Families,

We feel it is important to regularly communicate with and remind our families of the various emergency operation plans we have in place, which have been designed with the assistance of local law enforcement, emergency management, and public health officials. The plans, which are regularly reviewed and updated, include procedures to respond to a variety of crisis incidents. School district personnel and students practice drills associated with specific emergencies on a regular basis.

As a reminder, parents and guardians can and should review our emergency preparedness plans, which are located on the school district’s website under the “Students & Parents” link under “School Safety.” You may also access this information directly by going to www.iasd.cc/apps/pages/emergency.

While we hope that a natural disaster or other serious incidents never occur, our goal is to be as prepared as possible for any potential emergency. Our priority at all times is to protect all students and staff from harm. That means incident-specific communication with families in an emergency may be delayed until safety is ensured, but families being aware of the action steps that will be taken is the first step in that critical communication pipeline.

As soon as possible following an emergency, once it is safe to do so, we will use all means necessary and appropriate to communicate with our families. These could include phone calls, emails, text messages and social media.

We remain committed to taking proactive measures to protect our students and staff and hope you will, likewise, take the time to review our emergency operation plans.

Indiana Jr. High STUCO made their final count and with the help of Eisenhower Elementary School, they raised a total of $4,144.25 for Turkeython! Winning homerooms enjoyed donuts from Boyer Chiropractic and Portia's Donuts!

Indiana Area Jr High Life Skills and the students of IHS who were able to donate 43 turkeys to the United Way Turkeython! To track donations, Commons Cafe students kept a turkey tally running total on the front counter at the coffee shop in the upper commons so students could keep an eye on the turkey tally and bring in money in to donate and get the turkey its feathers!

IHS Commons Cafe students and IHS's Mrs. Lori Dadson are very thankful for the generosity and kindness of all of our IHS school community and so are we!

The United Way and all of Indiana County's community appreciate the hard work that Indiana High School students have put into this fundraiser. You are changing lives in your neighborhoods and building bridges to brighter futures!

Indiana County District Attorney - Bob Manzi, Indiana Borough Police Chief - Justin Schawl, Indiana County Children and Youth Services Director - James Yaworski, and Indiana Area School District Superintendent - Mr. Michael Vuckovich are pleased to announce a new partnership between all entities to implement a program called Handle With Care (HWC).

Handle With Care is designed to promote partnerships between community agencies that include law enforcement, first responders, mental health professionals, and schools to help provide a safe and supportive academic environment for children exposed to traumatic events known as “adverse childhood experiences,” or ACEs. ACEs, if unaddressed, can lead to challenges such as substance use disorders and mental health concerns and can have a lasting impact on a child’s health, well-being, and academic success.

HWC was developed in 2011 by the West Virginia Children’s Justice Task Force, in collaboration with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the South District of West Virginia, when a subcommittee was formed to explore the problem of children’s exposure to trauma and violence and programming to mitigate the negative effects of trauma. They developed Handle With Care, and in 2013 piloted the program in one elementary school. Since then, more than 65 cities across the country have implemented the program.

The way this program will work is rather simple and efficient. After the police and/or CYS have had contact with a child, the ‘Handle with Care’ notice is sent to the child’s school. The goal is then to notify the child’s teacher before school starts. While the notification is given to the student’s teacher, it is not part of the child’s permanent record. Teachers have received trauma-informed training and resources, and the alert does not mean that the child will be approached by the teacher. Instead, the alert is meant to give the teacher an understanding of why the student may not have completed homework, may be tired, or may be acting out.

The Indiana Area School District is pleased to participate in this partnership with local agencies. Our students’ safety is a top priority, and this program is one way to support their well-being. We view HWC as another tool to help build stronger relationships between home, school, and community. I am grateful for the leadership and support displayed by the Indiana Borough Police Department, District Attorney Bob Manzi, the IASD Board of Directors, and Indiana County Children and Youth Services to work collaboratively to implement additional support for our students.”

Brighter Financial Futures (dba PennCFL) is proud to announce that Noah Kellar was a winner in our state competition. Noah is a student at Indiana Area School District and worked under the leadership of Janice Brocious. The competitions are held in the classroom, both county-wide and state-wide. Noah finished in 1st place for Indiana County and 1st place in the Statewide Middle School Division.

The program is generously sponsored by S&T Bank. S&T Bancorp, Inc. is a $9.4 billion bank holding company that is headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol STBA.

Website: www.iasd.cc
Location: 501 East Pike Road, Indiana, PA, USA
Phone: (724) 463-8713
Facebook: facebook.com/IndianaAreaSchoolDistrict
Twitter: @IndianaAreaSD