School Board Snapshots- March
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 March 27th 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.
Some of the Top Stories of March
- The Superintendent's Report with several #PSDGreat stories
- Exciting Bus Safety Technology coming to PSD
- PHS Proms approved through 2025
- Curriculum updates in Science courses
- Policies 119 & 903
PHS Senior, Robin Reid Nationally Recognized
UBCTS- Skills USA 1st Place in Local Competition
All 1st Place Skills USA Winners at UBCTS
Girls Indoor Track Winners
- 4x8 relay team Nora Ritting, Kagan Smith, Natalie Pappas, Ashley Landis came in 3rd place at the State Championships and is Honorable Mention All-State
- Ashley Landis was 7th place in the 800 open
Boys Indoor Track Winners
Jared Hess- 2nd in PA- Triple Jump
Boys 4x2 State meet and Nationals Qualifier
Boys 4x8 Team is also a Nationals Qualifier
- Logan Lamaina – State Qualifier in the 400
Nick Linder & Dan Lera-Lozano – National Meet Qualifiers in the Freshman 400 and Mile
Girls Bowling Champs
- American Conference Champions & American Conference Sportsmanship Award, SOL Champions- Overall
- Maribeth Baker- 4th Consecutive Suburban One High School League Singles Championship
- Also was a PA Eastern Regionals Qualifier for her 4th year in a row
- And finished 4th in the State
The Unified Bocce Team takes 4th in the State!
The “Share Your PSD Great” Initiative.
The "ShareYourPSDGreat" program continues to share our Pennridge stories.
- 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.
Two Overnight Trips for PHS Students approved in March
Exciting Changes to PHS Science Courses are coming.
Additionally, there were curriculum changes to the Environmental Science course and the course can be seen by clicking this link.
Click below to watch the entire Activities & Curriculum Committee's meeting
Approval of the Upper Bucks County Technical School 2023-2024 Budget
Notables:
- Pennridge School District contribution in 2023-2024 is $4,217,552
- That amount is an increase of $787,232 from 2022-23 contribution (22.95%)
- The main drivers for the increase are increased enrollment causing the need for more staff, equipment, and supplies; coupled with the creation of a balanced budget that does not rely on fund balance.
The A-I Powered Bus Patrol is coming to Pennridge.
You can check out their system by clicking here and heading to the Bus Patrol website.
The Junior and Senior Proms are locked in for 2024 & 2025!
- Lehigh University- Junior Prom, 4/27/24, $2400 facility fee and $3000 services deposit
- ArtsQuest- Class of 2024 Senior Prom, 6/1/24, $5000 deposit, student paid
- ArtsQuest- Class of 2025 Senior Prom, 5/30/25, $5000 deposit, student paid
Approval of 1st Read- Policy 119- Surveys/Controversial Issues
In March, the School Board continued discussions about the use of surveys in the District and by a majority vote, gained approval for a 1st read. A "first read" means the policy, as written currently, is now an official draft and unless significant changes are made, will likely receive final approval next month- making it an official policy.
Surveys fall under Policy 119, generated by the PSBA (Pennsylvania School Board Association), and that policy is officially called "controversial issues."
In this case, "controversial issues" refers to surveys with questions surrounding what could be controversial issues or topics used in our schools and district offices.
A policy name change from "controversial issues" to "surveys" is also being discussed.
For more information and to read the current version of Policy 119, please click here.
As always, Pennridge students, staff, and residents are encouraged and welcome to attend all School Board meetings to stay informed and employ the public comment section to have your voices heard on any School Board issues and discussions.
Final Approval- Policy 903- Public Comment at School Board Meetings
The majority of the current policy was not changed, but some of the points that were changed for the final version include:
- The public comment session shall generally be limited to 60 minutes and shall take place prior to the voting portion of the Board meeting.
- The comments by any individual shall be limited to 3 minutes unless otherwise specified by the Board.
- The speaker’s 3 minutes will be uninterrupted by the School Board of School Board officials;
- Speakers may not cede their time to other persons
- No speaker will be permitted to speak more than once during each public comment session.
- Comments may be terminated by the Presiding Officer if they incite an immediate breach of the peace, make comments which are considered, as a whole, to prominently appear to prurient interests or are otherwise obscene or constitute threats of bodily harm.
- Comments that go beyond the 3 minutes or violate other portions of this policy will be asked to stop speaking and may be requested to leave the meeting.
For more information and to read the current version of Policy 903, please click here.
As always, Pennridge students, staff, and residents are encouraged and welcome to attend all School Board meetings to stay informed and employ the public comment section of the meetings to have your voices heard on any School Board issues and discussions.
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