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New School Year
Showcases Changes
When the Peters
Township School District welcomed back 4,326 students this fall,
the returning students noticed many changes around the
district.
The school
introduced a new information system, plus changes in the high
school physical education and elementary world language
curriculums. And there’s ongoing construction at the middle
school.
PowerSchool -
Student Information System
Currently, students
and parents in grades 7-12 have been accessing their grades
on-line. Because the district is in the process of implementing
the new PowerSchool system, the district cautions parents to
expect some delays in the implementation of the online access to
grades and attendance.
“We will keep our
parents informed as to our progress in the installation of our
new system,” says Tony J. Sulkowski, Director of Technology.
“Parents of elementary students will notice a change in the
format of the report cards this year. Since teachers will use
the new Power House grade book application, adjustments to the
look and content of the current elementary report cards will
need to be made.”
PowerSchool is a
new, centralized, and more powerful integrated student
information system that replaces three different applications
that the district formerly used to manage student
information.
Previously, the
district had a separate student information system for each
school, two different electronic grade book programs, and the
Edline application used to publish online grades and attendance
in grades 7-12. In addition, the transportation and special
education departments maintained their own student databases.
PowerSchool will combine all of these elements into one,
providing the district with a more secure, accurate and
comprehensive student management system.
“Eventually,
operations should be streamlined and redundancy in information
processing across the district will be eliminated,” says
Sulkowski. “It is our intent to launch PowerSchool within the
school district in the fall of 2007.”
Sulkowski encourages
parents to watch the district’s web site at www.ptsd.k12.pa.us
and to also sign up for e-mail news bulletins to stay informed
about progress in the transition to PowerSchool. A link is on
the main web page.
Capital Improvements
Nearly $3 million
worth of construction was completed prior to the beginning of
the 2007-08 school year. Another $11.3 million in construction
will continue through the summer of 2008. The PTHS stadium track
surface was replaced over the summer at a cost of $232,000. This
will complement the stadium turf replacement that took place
several years ago, and it will result in a state-of-the-art
facility that will meet the growing athletic and recreational
programs of both the district and community well into the
future.
During the past
winter, it became apparent that the upper Pleasant Valley
Elementary School parking lot had suffered severe damage due to
underground water infiltration and freezing. This required major
remedial action to return the parking lot to an acceptable
condition. The district completely replaced the parking lot at a
cost of approximately $230,000 to address safety and daily use
requirements for Pleasant Valley and after-school programs. The
project was completed in August of 2007.
After nearly a year
of construction, the Bower Hill Elementary School will be well
positioned for future growth with the completion of the
eight-classroom addition in July. The district does not
anticipate an immediate need to utilize all of the new rooms
during the 2007-08 school year; rather, Peters Township can
adequately plan for district-wide K-3 enrollment increases. This
project finished within the budgeted amount of $2.6 million and
provides needed flexibility for the district’s K-3 program.
The $11.3 million
Peters Township Middle School renovation/addition project should
be the only major active project during the 2007-08 school year,
with completion expected by the summer of 2008. The 11 newly
constructed classrooms are expected to be ready for occupancy
during the fall of 2007, with the existing building renovation
continuing throughout the school year. The administration is
working closely with all parties to assure a safe and productive
student experience during the final phase of this project.
Middle School students and parents should be aware that daily
activities at this location will be adjusted to meet the
construction schedule.
Curriculum Changes
When it came to
revising PTHS’ physical fitness program, a committee of high
school students voiced their opinions and suggestions on what a
quality physical education program should include.
The high school
physical education teachers accepted their suggestions and
developed a state-of-the-art program that keeps students active,
develops the skills necessary for life-long physical activities,
and offers choice and fun. The new school year includes
classes on: Adventure Sports, Lifetime Sports, Team Sports and
Relaxation/Expressive Movement.
Visitors to the High
School may see students scaling a climbing wall, canoeing in
Canonsburg Lake, rollerblading in the parking lot or trout
fishing in a nearby stream.
As a result of
in-depth research on the effects of early second language
learning, the Peters Township School District will be offering
Spanish to students in grades one and two next year and will add
Spanish to the next grade level each successive year. In
addition, the Foreign Language Exploratory program currently
offered in the Peters Township Middle School will move to the
6th grade beginning in the 2007-08 school year. These students
will have a “taste of world languages” to make an informed
language selection for their 7th grade year. The first level of
traditional second language instruction will be spread over two
years, beginning in 7th grade.
Other curricular
changes include putting support systems in place at the high
school for students who have not demonstrated proficiency on the
PSSAs. These students will be required to take a semester of
skill building in reading, math and/or writing to demonstrate
proficiency. High school students desiring preparation for the
SAT will have an opportunity to take after- school classes
offered by Peters Township teachers. This course will help
students approach the test with confidence as they acquire
better test-taking skills. Course-offering dates will be posted
on the district’s website.
Under the guidance
of Assistant Superintendent Dr. Nina Zetty, the Peters Township
Language Arts program will be evaluated and revised during the
2007-08 school year. Volunteers from the community will be
solicited to serve on this curriculum committee in the fall.
Interested community members should email Dr. Zetty at zettyn@pt-sd.org
expressing their desire to serve.
Volunteers are also
needed to serve on this year’s language arts committee.
Interested individuals should contact Dr. Zetty through email.
K9 Program
The Peters Township
School District will be the first district in Southwestern
Pennsylvania to introduce a K9 Detection Program in grades K-12.
The district has partnered with K9 Resources, LLC, located in
Kings Mills, Ohio, to introduce the K9 units into its schools to
perform random searches of lockers, hallways, and parking lots
as well as to provide lessons in character education on the
benefits of not using drugs or alcohol.
As part of a
comprehensive district-wide program, K9 Resources will make a
minimum of 20 random visits throughout the school year. The
searches will be unannounced -- even to District administrators.
Using mainly Labradors and
Golden Retrievers, K9 Resources’ “detection
specialists” will search for weapons, explosives, drugs,
medications, and alcohol, along with presenting educational
programs. At the beginning of the school year, K9 will visit
each school and make presentations to inform the students about
how the program works and what to expect when the searches
occur.
The cost of Peters
Township’s personalized program is $14,512. Dr. Lyn Logelin,
Assistant Superintendent, is credited with securing several
grants that will cover more than 80 percent of the cost of K9
services. Logelin also took control of getting the faculty
prepared for the new program, and she worked with the School
District’s Policy Committee to revise policies that will be
directly affected by the use of K9.
“Our educational
efforts are provided to all students, while covering numerous
topics from basic dog safety to actual affects that drug use can
have in their life, are all built on solid, character-based
education,” says Gene Papet, president of K9 Resources. “Each
individual component of our total program is provided with the
sole intention of preventing a problem before it becomes a
problem,” he says. “In other words, we focus on education,
thereby creating a deterrent effect.”
In the past, PTHS
has conducted yearly searches for illegal substances and weapons
with the Pennsylvania State Police. The new K9 Resources program
is slated to begin throughout the district as soon as the school
year begins.
New Principals
Margaret “Maggie”
Zimmer has joined PTHS as the new Assistant Principal. She
replaces Nick Milkovich, Dean of Students, who returned to the
classroom at the end of last year. Zimmer earned her B.S. in
Special Education from Ohio University, her M.S. in Education
from the University of Houston -- University Park in Houston,
Texas, her Principal’s Certification from Prairie View A&M
University in Texas, and her School Psychologists Certification
from the University of Houston -- Clearlake in Texas.
With 30 years
experience in the educational field, Zimmer started her career
as a Special Education teacher for Alief Independent School
District in Texas. While employed at Alief, Zimmer also held
positions as an Educational Diagnostician, Special Education
Supervisor, and Special Education Instructional Coordinator.
Prior to joining Peters Township, Zimmer was an Assistant
Principal for Carrington Middle School in the Durham Public
Schools in North Carolina.
Michael Henaghan,
former Assistant High School Principal, will join Bower Hill and
Pleasant Valley Elementary Schools as Assistant Principal. He
replaces Charles Kreinbucher, who left last year to take another
job in Butler County as building principal. The High School has
found a new Assistant Principal to replace Mr. Henaghan. His
name is Paul Galloway.
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