Rose Tree Media Reporter

At its annual Reorganization Meeting on December 5, the Rose Tree Media Board of School Directors elected a new president and vice president. Dr. Theresa Napson-Williams was elected board president and Mr. Ken Dinitz was elected board vice president.

Ms. Susan Henderson-Utis, who remains a board director and chairs the Human Resources Committee, completed three years of service as board president. Dr. Napson-Williams served as the Board’s vice president for the last three years and continues to serve on the Human Resources Committee. In addition to his new duties as vice president, Mr. Dinitz also serves as the Board’s communications liaison.

The Rose Tree Media Board of School Directors paid tribute to Dr. Eleanor DiMarino-Linnen at its Legislative Meeting on December 15, 2022. “Dr. D” officially retired on December 26, after 30 years in public education, including 20 years in the Rose Tree Media School District and the last five as district superintendent.

The Board presented Dr. D with flowers and a gift in recognition of her leadership and service to the district, as well as “for her commitment to always putting children in the district first.” Board President Theresa Napson-Williams described Dr. D as “a positive role model for people in the district, for the school board, and in particular to women and girls all over Delaware County.”

Dr. D thanked board members, staff, and the community for their support and engagement during her tenure as superintendent. “This amazing place that I’ve been so lucky to call home ... it has been a blessing and an honor. And I will always remain RTM proud,” she said.

Mr. William Dougherty, RTMSD Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, will serve as acting superintendent through June 30, 2023. The Board is now conducting a search process for the next permanent superintendent.

At its Legislative Meeting on January 26, the Rose Tree Media School District Board of Directors approved an increase in the daily pay rates for substitute teachers, effective February 1, 2023.

The new rates are:

• Day to Day Substitute $130/day

• Building Substitutes $150/day

• Short Term Substitutes (same assignment for more than five days) $180/day

• Paraprofessional Substitutes $18/hour

Prior to the board-approved increase, the District’s substitute teacher compensation was in the bottom third within Delaware County. With the increase, Rose Tree Media substitute teachers will be the top third highest-paid in the county. As a result of this action, the District anticipates that its pool of substitute teachers will improve.

Certified teachers who are interested in substitute positions with RTMSD should call Kelly Educational Staffing at 1-800-991-5157 to register or visit the district’s Office of Human Resources webpage.

For a second time, Springton Lake Middle School was designated as a Pennsylvania School to Watch! This is a tremendous honor, and one that has been received by only a small group of middle schools statewide.

The Schools to Watch designation is for a period of three years and recognizes excellence in middle-level education. SLMS will be honored at the Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education conference in February, and then again in June in Washington, D.C., at the National Schools to Watch Conference.

Academically Gifted Program robotics students participated in the First LEGO League Regional Qualifying Tournament on January 8.

Springton Lake students competed against 23 other teams using a robot they built and coded from scratch over the past three months in school. The robot was built and coded to specifically complete several tasks on a playing field that required various innovative solutions for success.

Students also stood before a panel of judges and presented an innovative solution to climate change and energy usage by researching and designing an apparatus that scrubs carbon from the air. While the team was not one of the six to advance to the next round, students were awarded a trophy for demonstrating excellent core values such as teamwork, enthusiasm, compassion, and ingenuity!

The SLMS winter athletics season kicked off right after Thanksgiving break! An impressive 100 seventh and eighth graders tried out for one of five offered winter sports. Student-athletes are showing great improvement and are exhibiting excellent teamwork and resiliency. Go Spartans!

The SLMS Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service took place on Friday, January 13. Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students participated in a service project during their science classes.

Sixth graders made breakfast bags, while eighth graders made hot meals that will benefit Caring for Friends, an organization that provides meals to shut-ins in our area. Some seventh graders made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that were delivered to a number of organizations that provide services to the homeless population, including St. Francis Inn, The Domestic Abuse Project of DelCo, City Team, Connect by Night, and the Salvation Army Warming Center. Some seventh graders also made snack bags that were delivered to the St. Agnes Dorothy Day Room, which provides services to families in need.

Thank you to our Springton Lake families for their generous donations! A special thank you also goes out to the RTMSD Maintenance Department, which delivered more than 1,300 sandwiches to locations in Philadelphia, Chester, Upper Darby, Media, and West Chester!

Additionally, seventh-grade Social Studies Teacher Brian Reilly picked up the trays for the eighth-grade meals and delivered all the hot meals, as well as the breakfast bags, to Caring for Friends in Philadelphia.

Collectively, Spartans made over 900 breakfast bags, over 700 hot meals, over 600 snack bags, and over 1300 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!

In Eureka Math, lessons engage students and promote fact fluency. Third graders have enjoyed playing "Ready, Set, Multiply," which is similar to Rock, Paper, Scissors, but involves multiplying fingers and using the communicative property to get the same product. It’s a great game to play with classmates to learn math skills!

Throughout January, students in Mrs. Gallagher's fourth-grade class have been putting their scientific skills to use! They’re working with partners to examine organisms through a microscope. Currently, they are looking at and observing non-living organisms on a slide, but are looking forward to observing living organisms.

They are also working through the scientific process, making hypotheses, and testing theories.

On January 6, Glenwood held its first World Festival, which included all students in grades K-5! Teachers Kathryn Coatsworth, Kristin Harkness, and Rachael Pinsley planned the event, which introduced students to countries around the globe through decorated hallways, games, and songs.

On the day of the festival, each class “traveled” to four different countries. They also “hosted” four other countries, teaching them games and songs.

Glenwood students participated in the annual MLK Day of Service on January 13. Each grade level had a different task to complete for our community. Some examples of projects included making goodie bags for bus drivers and custodians, counting monetary donations, making blankets for veterans, writing cards, coloring door decorations, and making door hangers for local assisted living homes.

Ms. Pinsley's class at GES competed in the Citizenship Challenge this year. This year’s question was: “What should be the 28th Amendment to the Constitution?” After much debate, students decided the next amendment should be "the right to a healthy, livable Earth."

Their essay earned them a top-10 spot and an appearance at the Constitution Center to present their ideas! They presented a skit with live background music, and then answered questions from former Governor Edward Rendell and Judge Marjorie Rendell. Way to go!

The Glenwood Junior Optimist Ambassadors are back up and serving our community! Ms. Bruno, Ms. Mazzella, and Ms. Constable sponsor the club of 25 fourth- and fifth-grade students. So far, the students have made calendars for local nursing homes and care packages for a local shelter. They plan on volunteering at the Media Food Bank and visiting a local care facility to play games and make crafts for the residents, as well!

Mrs. Michelle Britton began her new role in the district as Indian Lane's principal on January 3, 2023!

Mrs. Britton came to the Rose Tree Media School District from Wallingford Swarthmore, where she served as a special education teacher and guidance counselor. She joined the Springton Lake Middle School administrative team in 2015, and quickly established herself as an integral part of the day-to-day operations of the school.

Indian Lane families are invited to attend one Bobcat Pride Breakfast each school year. It's a great community building event, where families choose a month to take part in a light breakfast and photos with the Bobcat, Indian Lane's mascot. Students enjoy this extra time that they get to spend with their parents and siblings at school before they start the day!

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., all Indian Lane students participated in a school-wide service project. They created Comfort Bags for cancer patients and sent virtual messages of positivity to honor former teachers who fought cancer. Bags were then delivered to treatment facilities throughout our community!

On Friday, January 20, the PTG hosted BINGO for Books! The group invited families to play BINGO and win books. Students marked their BINGO cards, had fun with family and friends, and won lots of great books!

Students participated in an after-school STEAM program at Middletown Free Library on January 12. Mrs. Tracy Hatton, Indian Lane's teacher librarian, and Mr. Jason Fialkovich, Middletown's children's librarian, collaborated to provide an opportunity for students to build, create, code, design, problem solve, and work together at a variety of STEAM stations.

Students enjoyed exploring Gravity Maze, the Lego Stop Motion app, PlusPlus blocks, and more. Two more STEAM Nights for Indian Lane students are planned for March 14 and May 11 at Middletown Free Library.

Indian Lane is known for having large turnouts at the Chick-fil-A Spirit Nights! This year, to try to accommodate the crowds more easily, we scheduled two nights (December 5 and December 7) at the manager's request. Both nights were packed! The event raised $1,025, which the Student Council will use to support some worthwhile school and community projects in the near future. It was also a great opportunity to meet Mrs. Britton before she became the new principal in January!

Indian Lane's Holiday Concert was held January 12. It was rescheduled from the original date of December 23 due to inclement weather.

Students and families came together for a school-wide holiday sing-along for the first time since 2019! Under the direction of Joe Fisher, they celebrated the winter season through music. The laughter and happiness was contagious throughout the concert!

Families gathered at Indian Lane on the morning of Saturday, December 3, for gingerbread house decorating, kid shopping, hot chocolate and assorted snacks, and all kinds of holiday fun. It’s one of the school’s most festive events!

Gingerbread houses were available for purchase prior to the event. Families brought their candies and decorated their houses at the school—or brought them home to decorate. The Bobcat even made an appearance to add to the excitement!

As the Eagles made their run to the Super Bowl, Media Elementary students showed their support with a schoolwide spirit day!

Music Teacher Jeanette Verdeur added to the excitement by teaching students the Eagles fight song, “Fly Eagles, Fly!” Check out this special performance by our fifth graders!

On the MLK Day of Service, fourth graders helped organize a toiletry drive! They designed a flyer to advertise the community service and walked the donations to the Media Fellowship House.

First graders created cards for residents at a senior living facility. They wrote inspirational thoughts and well wishes to brighten the residents’ day!

In Ms. Bellamy's art class, second-grade students created winter landscapes inspired by Ted Harrison, an artist who featured the Canadian Northwest in his paintings. Second graders emphasized bold outlines of shapes and warm and cool colors in their art. Check out some of their work!

In December, as part of the first-grade unit on animal classification, students learned the characteristics of birds and focused specifically on owl facts. To celebrate what they had learned, first graders had Owl Day, where all activities throughout the day revolved around owls.

The highlight of the day was when first-grade scientists dissected owl pellets and discovered the fur and bones of the owls’ prey!

Winter Concerts are underway at Media Elementary! Our big night was December 8, when the fifth-grade chorus, Mustang Chorale, and Chime Choir all got to perform in the auditorium for the first time in three years. The musicians shined that evening!

We continue with performances at the Media Courthouse and Rose Tree Place, as well as for the Rose Tree Optimist Club and Nativity BVM seniors group.

The Scholastic Book Fair came to Media Elementary in December! The event took place in the library during children’s library time.

MES kindergartners have been working on geometry! They have been learning all about the attributes of 2D and 3D shapes. They have loved playing “guess my shape” and working as shape detectives as they find shapes in everyday objects.

Rose Tree Elementary students participated in a day of service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on January 20.

Service projects included making toys and treats for cats and dogs in local shelters, assembling activity bags for patients at CHOP, making knotted blankets for the Riddle Hospital Cancer Center, and packaging frozen meals and cutlery sets for a local food bank, and making bracelets for members of the armed forces. Students also collected donations for the Mother’s House.

Thank you to the PTG and school families for supporting these projects!

In January, RTES first graders enjoyed an “in-school” field trip presentation called “Soup’s On” by the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. Museum curators shared the history of Mr. Henry Francis Dupont’s unique collection of soup tureens. Students also took part in imaginative role playing through learning about the centuries-old folktale Stone Soup!

In recognition of the MLK Day of Service and upcoming Black History Month, Hip Hop Fundamentals visited Rose Tree Elementary. The group is an award-winning team of diverse professional breakdancers dedicated to Hip Hop Education. They combine academic and social content with their dynamic dance form.

Their interactive performance included the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and centered on a civil rights message of peace, love, and unity!

In December, RTES students participated in the Hour of Code, which introduces computer science concepts. Using their iPads, students were able to enjoy a variety of coding games. Kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students were assisted by a group of eighth graders students enrolled in a coding elective at SLMS.

A huge thank you to Springton Lake teacher Zach Winger and his group of coding students for collaborating with us!

Second graders celebrated Community Day in December, giving them an opportunity to share all they have learned during a unit about “maps and communities.” Families were invited to see a show featuring student performers, who sang, recited poems, and presented about a variety of careers. Students wore outfits that represented their chosen career.

After the show, families visited the classrooms to look at buildings that the students had made to be part of a community.

On December 5, the RTES fifth-grade Chorus, Select Choir, and Rose Tree Rumble performed in the Winter Choral Concert. Congratulations to Music Teacher Mari Wiliams for preparing students for this performance. A special thank you goes out to Art Teacher Angela Bucolo, who worked with students to create a wonderful stage backdrop for the concert!

The PHS cheerleading team won its second consecutive Game Day Division Championship during the Pocono Regionals on Saturday, December 3, at the PPL Center in Allentown. The team also punched its ticket by earning a bid to the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championships in Orlando in February. Congratulations to the cheer team and their back-to-back championships!

Chris Grouzes was one of 12 finalists for Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year! A highlight of the weekend in Hershey was when Penncrest Senior Caroline Flanagan gave a speech to highlight the impact Mr. Grouzes has had on her!

SYA Principal Dave Stango attended the Simon Youth Foundation’s national conference to be recognized as a finalist for Administrator of the Year. It is an honor to have one of our administrators recognized for excellence on a national level!

Congratulations to Jennifer Peralta and Yamu Xi for earning foreign language scholarships!

Peralta has been selected for the Keith Sendall Scholarship, while Xi received the Phyllis Kavanaugh Scholarship. These scholarships, available through the Penncrest World Language Department, will give these students an opportunity to study abroad this summer to gain real-world foreign language experience.

The Penncrest Emanon Players’ performance of “You Can’t Take it With You” was a big hit! The classic play is a madcap, idealistic comedy that reinforces the idea that you can only live life to the fullest by doing whatever makes you happy. The performance got rave reviews from audiences all three days!

Each year, the National Merit Scholarship Program recognizes the top students in the country. Penncrest is proud to announce that we have several Commended Scholars:

• Alisun Coldiron

• Mackay Greenlaw-Scully

• Josie Intham

• Colin McVoy

• Kennedy Quale

• Elsa Simon

• Ella Sleutaris

• Kevin Zhu

Furthermore, PHS has four National Merit Semifinalists who will go on to compete to be National Merit Scholars. These students are among the top scholars in the nation, with only 16,000 seniors nationwide named as semifinalists. Penncrest’s finalists are:

• Samuel Kleiman

• Neil Sen

• James Sparling

• Benjamin Werner

The Class of 2023 finally got their time to shine on stage when they put on their variety show on December 16. The show was a great mix of musical talent, sketch comedy, and artwork.

Students spend several months developing and practicing their acts to share with the community. The theme, “Seniors Got Talent,” was definitely appropriate, as the crowd was left laughing and clapping all night long. This is a time-honored tradition at Penncrest, and is one of the biggest fundraisers for the Senior class!

Penncrest held its 13th annual “Poetry Out Loud” recitation contest on December 15. The event is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and Penncrest's English Department.

Charlie Kratz, a ninth-grade student, won first place by reciting "Self Employed" by David Ignatow and "To the Oppressors" by Pauli Murray. Senior Zoe Mackenzie placed second and ninth-grade student Aurora Munro placed third in the contest. Charlie will represent Penncrest in the regional finals in January!

The Rose Tree Media School District community is able to watch Board of School Directors meetings on the district’s YouTube channel, RTMSD Media. These meetings are both aired live and archived for later viewing. In addition, board meetings are aired on the school district’s cable channel on Tuesdays and Fridays at 1:00 p.m.

Board meeting agendas, calendars, minutes, and summaries are available on the district website.

A large amount of information about the Rose Tree Media School District is available on our website at www.rtmsd.org.

District Overview: www.rtmsd.org/domain/61

Meet our Board of School Directors: www.rtmsd.org/domain/60

Finance and Budgetary Information: www.rtmsd.org/Domain/46

Employment: rtmsd.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx

District and School Calendars: www.rtmsd.org/Page/2

Archived Newsletters: www.rtmsd.org/Page/153