It’s hard to believe that we have already reached the halfway point in the 2019-2020 school year. In our continuing effort to keep our school and Township community informed about the many wonderful events taking place, I invite you to bookmark our district webpage https://www.lmtsd.org/Page/1 that houses our “Upcoming Events” calendar. Throughout the winter and early spring season, a number of musical, theatrical, athletic, school safety and security, and many other wonderful events are scheduled to take place. Please join us for a number of these informative and entertaining future events happening in our schools.

The ability to respond in any natural or man-made emergencies or disasters is an essential component of an Emergency Operations Plan. For school districts, the process begins with comprehensive planning and collaboration between district employees and emergency responders. Every quarter, administrative and counseling personnel from Lower Moreland Township School District and Bryn Athyn College/Academy of the New Church, along with police, fire, and Township personnel assemble as a Safe Schools meeting group to review plans and engage in discussions centering on school safety and security concerns, initiatives, and training requirements. At its most recent quarterly meeting, the Safe Schools meeting group discussed requirements and initiated preparations as it focuses on Model K-12 Threat Assessment Team Procedures and Guidelines required for the start of the 2020-2021 school year.

Lastly, please be reminded that on Friday, February 28, 2020, the Foundation for Lower Moreland Schools and student members of the high school’s Future Business Leaders of America organization will be hosting "A Night at the Boardwalk" event at Philmont Country Club. Throughout the evening, FBLA students will be highlighting business plans and goals of the newly branded Foundation. In addition, many "Boardwalk" themed games and food will be available in order to satisfy all of our mid-winter summer thoughts. The evening will also include a silent auction. Most importantly, you'll have an opportunity to hear from Lower Moreland High School students involved with the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) organization about their rebranding experiences, roles, and established goals related to reinvigorating the Foundation. Please click on the link below to view the invitation and instructions on purchasing tickets for the event.

Scott Davidheiser, Ed.D.

Superintendent

The State of Pennsylvania requires all school districts to prepare budgets for their General Fund which accounts for the day-to-day operations of the school district. Budgets must be approved by June 30 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, and ending June 30 the subsequent year. For the Lower Moreland Township School District, the budget process begins in September of the preceding year when the Act 1 index is announced. This index is set by the State and denotes a limit a district can raise local real estate taxes. For the 2020/21 budget year, this index is 2.6%. In keeping with the practice of staying at or below the Act 1 index, and in accordance with a resolution passed by the Board of School Directors, the District cannot raise taxes beyond the 2.6% Act 1 index. To view the actual resolution, please visit https://www.lmtsd.org/Page/13641 and click on the 2020/2021 Act 1 resolution. Over the next 4-5 months the District will work to present a final budget in June that will be within its limits for the 2021/21 school year.

The Board of School Directors recently approved the High School Program of Studies for the 2020-2021 school year. New courses for the upcoming school year include: Introduction to Cybersecurity, Smartphone Photography, Digital Arts, 2D Art and Design, Fashion/Architecture/Interior Design and Music Performance/Production. Additionally, the course description for the Art, Music and Culture course, which is a graduation requirement, has been rewritten and renamed. Moving forward, the course title will be Creativity and Collaboration in the Arts. The shift symbolizes the move from student as a consumer to student as a creator in the classroom. Creativity and Collaboration in the Arts remains a graduation requirement and is most often taken during the Sophomore year. A final addition to the Program of Studies is for students who attend the Eastern Center for Arts and Technology, where a brand new program, Robotics and Automated Technology, is launching this fall.

We are happy to announce that the district is a recipient of a PAsmart Targeted Computer Science & STEM Education Grant in the amount of $35,000. The grant, which is offered by the commonwealth to support the Governor's PAsmart Initiative, will be used to fund increased access to computer science and STEM programming in grades K-8, through the acquisition of new materials, curriculum and professional development. You can find additional information on the PAsmart Grant here.

The Technology Department supports information technology systems and instructional technology programs and practices in the district. This month, we are highlighting how our students have been engaged in 21st Century learning activities focused on the 4Cs: Critical Thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, and Communication.

Critical Thinking

• Fourth grade engineers successfully designed a working wind turbine powered by electricity. Earlier in the year, students practiced measuring wind speed with an anemometer, learned about electrical circuits, and coding with Micro Bits. In this project, students applied all of their learning to make a functioning wind turbine. They worked to write code with the Micro Bits to make the turbines spin as fast as they could. Here is a link to Mrs. Krupa’s Twitter post about the project: https://twitter.com/i/status/1220079110401265664

Creativity

• Murray Avenue's art club created 50 dog toys for Marty's Place Senior Dog Sanctuary, as part of #givingtuesday. GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past seven years, it has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. The club upcycled used t-shirt donations and braided them into functional toys for shelter pups in need.

Collaboration

• Kindergarten and first-grade students are learning about coding in the STEM lab. Students practiced mapping out their program with arrows to sequence the parts of a story after a read aloud. Then using the Beebots, students applied their code to show the sequence of the story events, moving the Beebots to each location from the story. Soon K students will also use these kits in their classrooms during centers, working together to code their Beebots to successfully move to a new location.

Communication

• Students in John Haldeman and Tom Church’s 9th Grade World Studies class put Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart on trial before midterms. Students had to get into the mindset of a juror, prosecutor, defense lawyer or witness and through the use of questions and answers convey their character’s opinion about Okonkwo’s guilt or innocence for the murder of a messenger. Students prepared materials beforehand by using G Suite tools to prepare witness and preempt cross-examination questions and getting into the heads of their assigned role. Finally, students had to present themselves clearly in the moment to convey their opinions and win their case all while following trial procedures and protocols.

• The District maintains an online database of digital resources used by staff and students in grades K-12. The database includes links to the resources so that families can review the technology tools and install specific applications on home devices. The database is available on the District webpage and can be found here: https://datastudio.google.com/s/vKBHikIHz3o

The Montgomery County Intermediate Unit frequently sponsors a Resource Expo for students with disabilities, their families and educators. The next Expo will be held on March 26th at Perkiomen Valley High School from 6:30-8:30 PM and will offer information on topics ranging from summer camp information to transition to adult life. Please see the attached flyer for more information.