During the month of October each year, the PA Department of Education asks each school

district to submit their October 1 st enrollment data for reporting purposes. For the 2022/23 October 1 enrollment submission, Lower Moreland Township School District reported its’ enrollment as 2,616 total students, with 1,158 students at Pine Road Elementary, 603 students at Murray Avenue School, and 855 students at Lower Moreland High School. This represented a 4.68% increase (117 total students) from the 2021/22 October submission.

The School District develops its own enrollment projections from those numbers and that information can be found by clicking on this link. 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 (FutureThink) and here (Montgomery County Planning Commission). Both of these studies show that the actual enrollments have exceeded even the highest projections.

The District is examining options to address enrollment until the new high school is completed. The new high school construction is commencing and is projected to be ready for a partial move of only high school students early in the 2024 calendar year. Upon completion, Murray Avenue students along with the 5th grade at Pine Road Elementary School will move into the existing high school to help alleviate enrollment capacity issues. For further information or questions, please email Mark McGuinn, Business Manager at mmcguinn@lmtsd.org or Dr. Scott Davidheiser, Superintendent of Schools, at sdavidheiser@lmtsd.org.

The 2022-2023 school year is moving along quickly, with the end of the first marking period approaching on November 14, 2022. Teachers at Pine Road and Murray Avenue schools will be holding conferences in the afternoon of November 21 and 22. All schools will host conferences on the evening of November 22 and the morning of November 23. Please see the district calendar for information about the early dismissal schedule. Conferences are a great way to understand your student's strengths and struggles and gain insights into their progress. We encourage families to take part in meetings with teachers. Establishing a relationship with your student's teachers is an important step in building and maintaining a strong school and home partnership. Some areas of interest that can be discussed during a conference include: schoolwork, assessment, behavior, social and emotional growth, participation, motivation and work habits, peer relationships, and strategies to assist students with their learning. Parents and guardians are encouraged to share their perspectives and ask questions that will enhance understanding. The Child Mind Institute provides a number of resources on parent-teacher conferences that can be found here.

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.

Coding with Chromebooks

Ms. Zschunke and her students are exploring STEM concepts in exciting and innovative ways. This month, students in grades 4 and 5 at Pine Road have been coding Ozobots using the Ozoblockly web-based platform with their Dell Chromebooks. Students can wirelessly send a coding program they have created from start to finish to their bot. Students learned about sequences and loops while programming their Ozobots.

National STEM day is November 8th

It is important that students are prepared to solve problems, make sense of information, and know how to gather and evaluate information to make decisions. These are the kinds of skills that students develop in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). These subjects push society forward and educational programs help to find fun and engaging ways to teach them to students. The US Department of Education has launched the “YOU Belong in STEM” initiative to enhance STEM education for all young people. Learn more about the initiative here: https://www.ed.gov/stem. In addition, November 8th is National STEM day. You are invited to explore STEM concepts and celebrate STEM day with fun and interesting activities using these links: https://nationaltoday.com/stem-steam-day/ and https://thelearningcounsel.com/article/5-ways-celebrate-national-stemsteam-day

The Local Right to Education Task Force 23 of Montgomery County is an organization, sponsored by the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, that brings together parents, school district representatives, county mental health/developmental disabilities representatives, and local support agency offices to inform parents and to address individual and systemic issues affecting our students who receive special education services. Parent input is critical to providing services to our students and this task force is one way of obtaining that input on a larger scale. Please consider attending a meeting at your earliest convenience. Meetings are virtual and will remain so for the foreseeable future. The link to the Task Force’s website is here.