ROSE TREE MEDIA SCHOOL DISTRICT
308 N. Olive Street, Media, PA 19063- 2493
Phone: 610-627-6000 • FAX: 610-891-0959
Denise C. Kerr, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
To:
From:
Date:
Re:
Board of School Directors
Denise C. Kerr, Ed.D.
June 23, 2005
Superintendent’s Report
RTM Is Awarded PEP Grant
On June 15, 2005, the district received notification that it was awarded the Carol White
PEP Grant from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Safe and Drug-Free
Schools. The purpose of this program is to “award grants under this competition to local
educational agencies and community-based organizations to initiate, expand, or
improve physical education programs, including after-school programs, for students in
one or more grades from kindergarten through 12th grade in order to help students
make progress toward meeting state standards for physical education.” The PEP grant
supports the funding of equipment, technology, curriculum, and professional
development.
The district proposal, entitled “RTM Initiative: Ready To Move!”, set a goal to improve
the overall physical fitness and increase awareness of life long wellness for all students.
This goal will be achieved through developing a K-12 scope and sequence; providing
professional development opportunities focusing on best practices and technology
integration; acquiring and utilizing fitness technology so students receive immediate and
specific feedback enabling them to perform self-assessments; and provide fitness
opportunities for the residents of our community to increase public awareness of the
initiative and goal.
We would like to thank publicly the grant authors, physical education teachers Tonya
Melchior, Jackie Baker, and Supervisor Dr. Anthony Lombardo, for the many hours of
energy, initiative, and planning they invested to achieve this grant. They have gone
"above and beyond the call of duty" in working so diligently on this project and we will
be proud to honor these folks at our August legislative meeting.
The total amount of the grant awarded is $375,525.00 for 2 years. All schools within the
district including surrounding communities will be impacted.
Retirement Celebrations
As we have mentioned previously, it has been a bitter-sweet ending to this school year
since we had to bid farewell to quite a few long-time employees of Rose Tree Media.
As we attended the various retirement celebrations, it was very impressive to enjoy the
reflections by colleagues and family regarding the accomplishments of these
professionals. We have calculated that these employees gave a combined total of 750
years of service to the students and families of Rose Tree Media.
As we thank this employees for their many years of service, we would also like to note
that we will be following through on a new program to welcome interested employees
from this group to return as "Teachers Emeritus." The word emeritus is used to honor
anyone who has retired but is continuing to work in some capacity in an honorary
position as was held prior to retirement. Since these teachers have quite a bit of
expertise to share, and we often struggle to find qualified substitute teachers and
workshop consultants, welcoming Teachers Emeritus back to RTM is certainly the
proverbial win/win. We would like to thank Mr. Joseph Hooker, an RTM parent, for this
great idea and we are looking forward to establishing this new program in the fall.
RTM Participation in the DVMAC Summer Institute
You will recall that Rose Tree Media has joined with fifteen or so other school districts to
establish the Delaware Valley Minority Student Achievement Consortium. During the
first year of work of this consortium, districts have come together to study the issues
relative to closing the achievement gap for minority students.
Today and tomorrow, district administrators will be attending the Summer Institute held
at Welsh Valley Middle School. Entitled "Planning for the Possible: From Awareness
and Advocacy to Action," the Institute is providing attendees with many opportunities to
examine specific programs currently utilized to address this important need. The
keynote speaker today, Dr. Rossi Ray-Taylor, the Executive Director of the Minority
Student Achievement Network, is nationally recognized as an expert in this field.
Several administrators from RTM offered an excellent presentation showcasing RTM's
implementation of the REACH program as one that promotes dialogue on diversity at
district and school levels. Our district will continue its planning through the summer to
document specific strategies we will implement to monitor our progress on our goal of
closing the achievement gap in Rose Tree Media.
Welcome to New Administrators
I would like to congratulate our new administrators who are being formally appointed
this evening. Welcome to the Lion's Den! These individuals have endured a rigorous
hiring process and we are delighted to say that we will be "hitting the ground running"
this summer in preparation for an exciting 2005-2006 Academic Year. I want to thank
our Board of School Directors for their support of our restructuring plan since we believe
this is going to have a major positive impact on moving RTM from Very Good to Great
(to steal Jim Collins's business concept.) Congratulations to Mrs. Sharon Learn, now
Officially our Chief Operations Officer, Dr. Susan Golder, Elementary Director of
Teaching and Learning, Dr. Steve Taylor, Secondary Director of Teaching and
Learning, Mrs. Patti Linden, Director of Technology & Information Science, Mrs. Anne
Callahan, now Director of Human Resources and Mr. Ken Batchelor, Penncrest High
School Principal. Congratulations also to those administrators who are changing roles,
shifting to new responsibilities, as noted in the personnel agenda.