Pennsbury Back to School Profile

From the BCCT

Going high tech, going green
By MANASEE WAGH

Pennsbury is using its $1.17 million Classrooms for the Future state grant to enhance education at the high school. Students and teachers already have started using integrated technology such as microscope analysis systems hooked up to an interactive whiteboard at the front of the classroom.

The district’s Makefield Elementary School will go green. Both the school and the environment will benefit from sustainable practices like a green roof covered with plants that help insulate the building and reduce storm water runoff, rooftop solar panels that gather energy and a variety of energy conservation designs.

Abby Brazina, a social studies teacher at William Penn Middle School, was selected from a national pool of more than 1,700 applicants to be an honored guest of the Japanese government as part of the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program.

As part of a group of 160 American educators, she will travel to Japan for three weeks in October to promote greater intercultural understanding. Brazina hopes to learn how the Japanese incorporate cultural values and customs into schools to promote character education and civic responsibility.

Pennsbury serves more than 12,500 students in Falls, Tullytown, Lower Makefield and Yardley.

It employs more than 1,531, including 809 teachers, with a $167.5 million budget. For information, visit www.pennsbury.k12.pa.us WHO’S WHO IN THE SCHOOLS?

Chief Executive Officer:
Paul Long, 215-428-4100, ext. 10001
Assistant superintendents:
Kevin McHugh, (interim director of curriculum and instruction, K-12), 215-428-4100, ext. 10014
Donald Harm (administration), 215-428-4100, ext. 10012

Principals:
Pennsbury High East: W. David Bowman, 215-949-6700 Pennsbury High West: Lisa Becker, 215-949-6780 Charles Boehm Middle: Theresa Ricci, 215-428-4220 William Penn Middle: Larry Ricci, 215-428-4280 Pennwood Middle: Patricia Steckroat (acting principal), 215-428-4237 Afton Elementary: Norman Gross, 215-321-8540 Walt Disney Elementary: Fay Manicke, 215-949-6868 Edgewood Elementary: Michele Spack, 215-321-2410 Fallsington Elementary: David Hughes, 215-428-4170 Makefield Elementary: Donna McCormick-Miller, 215-321-2420 Manor Elementary: Richard Houseknecht, 215-949-6770 Oxford Valley Elementary: Fran Nitkin, 215-949-6808 Penn Valley Elementary: Peggy Schiavone, 215-949-6800 Quarry Hill Elementary: Karen Laarkamp, 215-321-2400 Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary: Robert Wurst, 215-428-4256 Village Park Elementary: Joe Masgai, 215-949-6740

SCHOOL BOARD
Members: President Gregory Lucidi Jr., Gene Dolnick, Michielle Deis, Howard Goldberg, Arlene Gordon, Adele Governatore, Richard Johnson, Linda Palsky and Gabriele Smyth. The board meets at 8 p.m. on the second and third Thursdays of the month, except in July and August, in the auditorium of the Fallsington Elementary School on Yardley Avenue. The first meeting of the 2007-2008 school year will be on Aug. 23. To contact the board, visit www.pennsbury.k12.pa.us.

SCHOOL CALENDAR
Sept 2, First day of school Sept 30-Oct 1, Rosh Hashana – no school Oct 9, Yom Kippur – no school Nov 11, Veterans Day – no school Nov 12-14, Parent-teacher conferences, half-day grades 1-5 Nov 27, 28, Thanksgiving holiday – no school Dec 24-Jan 2, Christmas holidays – no school Jan 19, Martin Luther King Day no school Feb 16, Presidents Day – no school April 9, 10, Passover/Easter/spring recess – no school
April 15-17, Parent-teacher conferences, half-day grades 1-5 May 25, Memorial Day, no school June 17, Last day of school

FAST FACTS ABOUT PENNSBURY

Average SAT scores
(Unofficial scores for 2007-2008):

Critical reading: 530 Math: 545 Writing: 516

Total number of AP courses: 20

Student – teacher average ratios: Elementary: 23 – 1 Middle: 25 – 1 High School: 25 – 1

Average Teacher’s Salary: $77,524.41
Percentage of 2008 class that planned to go on to higher education: 93.34

Median household income in Pennsbury: $72,029.52

Cost per student: Elementary: $9,647.27 Secondary: $12,010.64

Partnerships with businesses: More than 1,000 through the Pennsbury Partners Program, including Yardley Jewelers, Yardley Flower Company, VFW Post 6393, Exelon Generation, International Culinary Schools of the Arts Institute, Transcend Sports Training Systems and Newtown Chamber Orchestra. AYP Status: All but two individual Pennsbury schools are meeting AYP. Penn Valley and Fallsington Elementary Schools each have one subgroup that did not achieve the required benchmark in reading.