"The noblest question in the world is:
What good may I do in it?” — Ben Franklin
Welcome to 2019! Here are some district-wide updates as we embark upon a new calendar year. 

Facilities: A selective renovation project is planned for South Elementary that could potentially be completed during summer. Upgrades and enhancements will be made to our oldest school building and I am excited for our South community! There will most likely be other schools "touched" by some amount of construction or facility upgrades this summer. Stay tuned, much more to come on this topic. 

1:1 Initiative (Digital Transformation): We are planning to provide every secondary level student with a device (Chromebook) in the 2019-20 school year as part of our Digital Transformation. Students will be assigned a device, similar to the way they are assigned a textbook, to facilitate their learning anywhere, anytime.  Later this spring, we are planning a Phase I implementation in ninth grade. Implementing the 1:1 on a small scale, in ninth grade only to start, will help us to recognize any infrastructure needs, management protocol revisions, as well as teacher and/or student concerns before implementing fully at the high school in the fall of the 2019-20 school year (and quite possibly at the middle level too). A presentation to the School Board is planned for February 2019 to provide greater details.

School Safety: School safety is always on our minds and we continually evaluate our efforts to prevent and/or respond to situations related to student safety. This year, we have implemented the Run/Hide/Fight component to our protocols and are practicing what that means as part of an emergency response with our staff and students. In late winter, we will be implementing the Safe2Say Something (S2SS) Anonymous Reporting System, which is a state-mandated tipline every school district in Pennsylvania must adopt in early 2019. S2SS will allow anyone in the school community to report individuals at risk of hurting themselves or others through an app, website, or 24/7 Crisis Center Hotline. As we learn more about this system, we will share the information.

There is a lot happening district-wide, much more than what I have shared here.  I certainly hope your children are experiencing a positive school year! Do not hesitate to reach out to me with feedback.