School Board Snapshots- December
Covering the monthly news of the Pennridge School Board
An Overview of "Snapshots" and its goal
The Snapshot page is intended for a “one-stop shop” approach to the happenings of our monthly school board meetings.
The School Board welcomes you at the meetings and invites you to participate in the meetings' public comment sections.
If you have comments or concerns about Pennridge School Board matters, please e-mail psdschoolboard@pennridge.org.
- Please visit our “Board Docs” page by clicking here for more detailed information, agendas, and policies.
- You can also watch the entire meeting from December 5th by clicking the YouTube video link below. This link takes you to our 'Ridge Channel' on YouTube where you can subscribe and watch this and all of the Pennridge School Board meetings as well as all kinds of videos made for the Pennridge School District.
Top Stories of December
- Policy 217
- Annual School Board Re-Organization
- The Superintendent's Report
- A New HR Director at Pennridge
- Stipends for Certifications incentives
Notes about Pennridge Policy 217
At the 12/5/22 Pennridge School Board meeting, by a 5-4 majority vote, approved Policy 217 which updates the graduation requirements for all students. The total number of graduation requirements is unchanged and remains at 24 total.
The number of required Social Studies credits has been reduced from 4.0 to 3.0.
The number of required Health and Physical Education courses has been reduced from 2.0 to 1.5 for students who do not attend the Upper Bucks County Technical School (UBCTS) and from 2.0 to 1.0 for students who do attend UBCTS.
Students who attend the technical school currently get 18 hrs total of HPE, and earn 2 credits for that course work. 270 hours equals 2 credits at Pennridge. Pennridge High School has fields, two gyms, and proper equipment for PE. Policy 217 will utilize Pennridge HPE teachers teaching a credit of HPE to all the students from the technical school who haven’t previously taken HPE at Pennridge. Under this change, these students will receive an extra 135 hours of HPE.
Policy 217 adds the requirement of 7 STEAM credits; (3) required Science credits, (3) required Mathematics credits, (1) required choice from Creative Arts, Technology at PHS, UBCTS course, or an additional Math or Science course.
Policy 217 changes the categories of those 7 credits listed above into a new category called STEAM. Formerly, before Monday evening’s vote, the Graduation requirements in these subjects were; Science 3 credits, Mathematics 3 credits, Arts and Humanities 2 credits, and General Electives 7 credits
Policy 217 adds the requirement of at least .5 credit in Personal Finance for all PHS students
The majority of these changes will become effective with the class of 2026 (current Freshman)
The reduction of required Social Studies credits from 4.0 to 3.0 takes effect next school year and a Curriculum review process will begin with the collaboration of Administrative leadership and Social Studies teachers.
The administration and staff remain committed to providing a world-class education to all of our students and will develop a strong curriculum to meet the new requirements.
For the sake of comparison, the previous graduation requirements can be seen here:
The Policy 217 Graduation requirements are shown above.
Annual School Board Reorganization
The Public School Code requires that during the first week of December, each school board reorganizes and elects its president and vice president.
At the December 5th meeting, Mr. David Reiss was elected as the new School Board President, and Ms. Megan Banis-Clemens was elected as the new School Board Vice-President.
The All-New “Share Your PSD Great” Initiative.
We are very excited to announce one of two new Communication Department initiatives!
The first is a “great” way for all of us to share our Pennridge stories.
The Pennridge School District welcomes you to "Share Your PSD Great" with us. We have been hearing about these stories for years and now we have a simple and centralized way for anyone to submit their story.
We have remodeled all of our school’s web pages and made a simple spot for you to click and fill out the “Share Your PSD Great” form. Each school webpage has a button as you can on this slide. Whether you have been inspired by someone in our schools, want to share how your school is doing something wonderful, a teacher who has made a difference in your life or the life of your child, or anything else, we are encouraging you to share your story with us, so we can share it with our followers, our teachers and staff, our students, and the community.
- You can tell your Pennridge Positive stories by clicking this link and going directly to the form.
- On the top of each school and department webpage, there is now a button and the button on the webpages also takes you to the form
- You can email Dave Thomas at dthomas@pennridge.org.
Now playing…. The “Ridge Channel” on Comcast Cable, Channel 968
Our next communication news is our all-new Comcast Cable Channel. It’s up and running on Channel 968 for Comcast Subscribers.
We are still working through the process for Verizon FIOS to also broadcast our programming and expect them to come on board in Spring of 2023.
Now, in addition to our Ridge Channel on YouTube, you can also see many of the videos produced in our schools and a rotating news slideshow so you can tune in a stay informed all day and night.
The Thanksgiving tradition continues at Pennridge!
Thanksgiving at Pennridge is special.
For 93 years, we have faced Quakertown in Football, but it's much more than that. This year, we continued our traditional bonfire as a way for students and the community to rally, there was a final performance by our State Champion Marching Band, and a football game in front of thousands…another great Pennridge Thanksgiving— and let’s hope for a win next year and get that trophy back here!
Pennridge Pride for our Fall Sports and Activitities!
We’ll be hosting many of these awesome students and coaches here next month, but wanted to say another congratulations to:
Our State Champion Marching Band
Our State Runner-Up, Girls Soccer Team
Our Boy's Soccer team for success in the State Playoffs and All-American, Shane Velez.
Girls Water Polo, 3rd in the State!
Water Polo Coach, Jacob Grant, Co-Coach of the Year
Girls Cross Country stand-outs Ashley Landis and Nora Ritting for their finished in the State Championship meet….
Veteran's Day Observance
They joined a packed auditorium at Palisades Middle School to celebrate our country's veterans. The hour-long program was filled with patriotic feelings, songs, and celebrations for our Nations's military heroes. The video from this patriotic event is now playing on our Ridge Channel both on Comcast cable and YouTube.
Pennridge hires a new Human Resources Director
Ms. Mossman joins the Pennridge family later this month and brings an impressive and award-winning career path. She has worked in the Reading School District, Pottsgrove, and most recently Salisbury Township School District.
Pennridge provides professional certifications and stipends
In December, the School Board approved $6,464 in stipends as a benefit to members of the PESPA support staff union after earning certifications. Pictured to the right are the certifications that the Pennridge School District offers to its employees.
Operations Director, Kelly Harper says, "The PESPA contract specifies an annual lump sum to be divided between the total number of employees that maintained one of these certifications for the previous 12 months."
Harper also continued to explain that "these certifications typically provide value to PSD due to our employees having an enhanced skillset and without most of these certifications, we would likely need to hire contractors to do the related work."
Recent Pennridge School Board committee meetings
About Pennridge School District
Email: PSDSchoolboard@pennridge.org
Website: www.pennridge.org
Location: 1200 North 5th Street, Perkasie, PA, USA
Phone: 215-257-5011
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PennridgeSchoolDistrict/
Twitter: @PennridgeSD