North Penn Home and School Coordinating Council, Inc. Minutes
April 17th, 2013
The main objective of CC is to provide a forum for parents of the North Penn School District to exchange ideas and to
promote an ongoing relationship between the schools, administration, board and community.
Location: ESC
Member Organizations: A.M. Kulp; Bridle Path; General Nash; Gwynedd Square; Gwyn-Nor; Hatfield; Inglewood; Knapp;
Montgomery; North Wales; Oak Park; Walton Farm; York Avenue; Pennbrook; Penndale; Pennfield; North Penn HS; NP
Assoc. for Gifted Education; NP Athletic Alumni Assoc.; NP Booster Club; NPHS JROTC Squires; NP Music Aides; NP Special
Education Council; Students With Aspiring and Achievable Goals; Wrestling Parents.
Member Organizations represented: A.M. Kulp; General Nash; Hatfield; Knapp; Montgomery; North Wales; Oak Park;
Walton Farm; Penndale; Pennfield; NP Assoc. for Gifted Education.
Welcome –President Kathy Stella
Guest Speaker – Dr. Elizabeth Santoro, Director of Special Education and Student Services
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Summary: Dr. Santoro outlined the various areas for which she has responsibility.
Please see specific speaker notes attached below as an addendum following the Business Meeting minutes.
Coordinating Council Business Meeting
Meeting items
1. Old Business
 Young Authors
o Cheryl McCue will organize a meeting in June to review week-long held in each school as
replacement for Young Authors’ conference.
o Ms. McCue admitted that communication about changed program was poor.
o Not all schools have week-long events scheduled in May.
 Policy on holiday celebrations has been approved
o Kulp is considering holding only a Halloween parade.
o December holiday shops cannot be held during instructional time.
 Volunteers needed to replace outgoing Coordinating Council Board. Please contact Kathy Stella if
interested.
2. Concerns
 Extensive discussion of purpose and future of Coordinating Council
3. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned.
Next meeting of Coordinating Council will be held on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, at the Educational Services Center. Ray
Wilson, NPSD Safe Schools Coordinator, will be the guest speaker.
Respectfully submitted,
Donald Mackowiak, Recording Secretary
NPCC minutes 04-17-2013 final.doc
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Addendum:
Dr. Elizabeth Santoro, Director of Special Education and Student Services (santorea@npenn.org)
 Background
o Current position since July 2012
o 10 years at North Penn – served as Principal at Nor-Gwyn Elementary
o Principal for 6 years in Philadelphia
o Taught for Archdiocese of Philadelphia
 Responsibilities
o Special Education and Student Services budget and federal and state grant coordination
o Gifted Services – Special Education supervisors oversee gifted programs in buildings
o All nurses and psychologists
o Homebound instruction
o Homeless support
o Related Services – hearing, vision and behavior specialists
o Staffing for all Special Education teachers and assistants
o Professional development for the Special Education Department
o Early Intervention
 Coordination with Montgomery County Intermediate Unit to prepare pre-school
students for Kindergarten (outreach begins in February)
o Extended School Year
 IEP-eligible students receive instruction at Kulp or NPHS to prevent loss of progress
o Non-public services
 District must provide requested services to students who live within the district
boundaries.
 This includes Gifted Services.
o Transition services for students with IEPs
 Co-Teaching Program for Special Education Teachers
o NPHS – English, World Cultures, Biology, Applied Chemistry, Geometry and Algebra
o Middle Schools – English, Math and Science
o Bruce Campbell is the Instructional Coach for the program.
o Safe Schools Coordinator Ray Wilson is conducting a current audit of safety in each building and
will report his findings to the NPSB Safe Schools Committee on January 31, at 6 pm in the ESC.
 Response to Instruction and Intervention (RtII)
o A comprehensive, multi-tiered regular education intervention strategy to enable early
identification and intervention for students at academic or behavioral risk. The goal of RtII is to
improve student achievement using research-based intervention matched to the instructional
need and level of the student.
o All students participate in Strategic Teaching And Reinforcing (STAR) time 30-minutes a day, 4
days per week
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Keystone to Opportunity Grant
o $1.4 million grant to improve literacy for all students
o Increased literacy training for staff
o Preschool outreach efforts increased to provide parents of incoming kindergarten students with
tools to help their children prepare.
Gifted Services
o Covered by NPSD Board Policy 6169
o Guidelines for acceleration are driven on the school level.
o Each Gifted instructor is restricted to a total of 65 students. Instructors may be assigned to
more than one school.
o Middle schools
 7th grade reading seminar
 8th and 9th grade program – Donna Mower, Department Chair for Gifted
o High school
 AP courses
 Gifted IEPs remain
Autistic Support Program
o Students participate in full or partial immersion programs.
o Immersion team decides on each student’s placement for the following year.
o Should the students in an immersion classroom remain together the following year or should
the immersed students be moved to different classrooms each year?
 Each case is considered individually depending on available resources and the student’s
needs.
 School should make more effort educating students and parents on autism.
Emotional Support Program
o Federal law requires that a special education classroom must remain in same school for at least
3 years.
o Not aware of any plan to rotate classrooms among the different elementary schools.
Charter Schools
o Unknown makes it very difficult to plan for next year.
o No idea on number of students who would move from district instruction.
o Any charter must provide special education programs.
o One of the proposed charter schools had a solid special education program outlined.
“Louse Buster”
o School nurses have information on the program and its availability
o Machine is located at NPHS and is actively used.
o Better communication is needed with parents.
 Why is this information not included on the lice information sheet distributed by school
nurses?
 Why is this information not available on the district website?
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