Dear Methacton Families,

Welcome to the February 2023 edition of Community Conversations. In this issue I will be sharing a number of matters that have grown out of our strategic plan including a new Math Curriculum and resources for next school year (K-8), Food Services, and a facilities assessment update.

In November 2022, the Methacton School District began preparing for this renewal and enlisted help from students, staff, and parents. In a process that included gathering student and staff feedback, site visits, food sampling sessions and more, the engagement in this process was purposeful in our quest to move our food services ranking from C+ to an A+.

Research shows most of the top school districts in the Commonwealth that have an A+ rating for food services no longer have their high schools participate in the National School Lunch program. The National School Lunch program provides subsidies to schools for committing to strict nutritional standards. Districts commonly have all the lower grade schools participate in NSLP and go off the program for the high school. Schools that no longer participate in the NSLP must continue to comply with wellness policies, but have greater access to foods more commonly available outside of schools. The RFP submitted to PDE included a request for all schools in Methacton to be on the NSLP program and another for the high school off of the program.

As part of the review process, several students and staff at Methacton visited other local districts who no longer participate in the NSLP at their high school and observed, tasted and experienced the difference. We received an overwhelmingly positive response from the HS student and staff representatives to leave the NSLP program. One noteworthy comment is that all these locations had a coffee bar with products similar to that which are found at Wawa or Dunkin. More important, students recognized the value of having access to higher quality foods such as a chicken sandwich made with chicken breast versus a meat patty and having pizza that tastes like a traditional pizza instead of the whole wheat low sodium kind served under the NSLP. One key element added is that Methacton will employ a chef along with cooks and line workers through the third-party provider. The addition of the chef will provide an opportunity to increase the quality and variety of foods served across all levels.

A committee of students, staff, and Home and School representatives will meet in early April to complete the review of the RFP and to select a winning vendor to service all schools in Methacton for the next 5 years. – Imagine for a moment – the high school getting a Windy Hill Coffee Shop…

FACILITIES

Over the next several months, the Board of School Directors and the Administration will be reviewing the assessment reports for each of the 7 schools and the other auxiliary facilities. The assessments were completed by Bureau Veritas as part of our need to update our Master Facilities Plan developed in 2016. The update of this plan will help guide our renovation, repairs and replacements over the next 10 years. The board will hear a summary presentation from Bureau Veritas on Tuesday evening at the regularly scheduled Board of School Directors meeting.

Sincerely,

Dr. David Zerbe

Superintendent of Schools

Way to go Worcester!

Fifth grade researchers created “lanterns” that will be hung in the hall! Each side of the lantern discusses facts about an enslaved person in US History. The sides of the lantern discuss the early life, enslaved life, facts about the individual and a picture with their name. This was a great project that incorporated researching an enslaved individual, writing about what they researched and creating a finished product using construction paper and art supplies.

Skyview students came together to celebrate the Philadelphia Eagles at their Super Bowl Pep Rally!

During the pep rally, students took the time to discuss the qualities the Philadelphia Eagles display that helped lead the team to the Super Bowl. Students heard from their principal, Ms. Nicole Berical, as well as Lower Providence Police Officer, Sgt. Stead, on how they can demonstrate the qualities of teamwork, perseverance, respect and responsibility.

We would like to thank the members of the Skyview Band, MHS' Cheerleaders, and Skyview Student Council for their participation in the pep rally.