North Penn Home and School Coordinating Council, Inc. Minutes
May 18th, 2011
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: Knapp Elementary School
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: Gwyn-Nor; Hatfield; Inglewood; Knapp; Montgomery; North Wales; York
Avenue; Pennbrook; Penndale; Pennfield; North Penn HS; NPHS JROTC Squires; NP Music Aides; NP Special
Education Council; Students With Aspiring and Achievable Goals.
Handouts: Agenda; Reporter article, “Lice, Internet and energy policies OK’d” (4/23/2011); npenn.org Innovation
Celebration webpage listing presentations.
Welcome – Vice-President Therese Mellman
Guest Speaker – Col. Todd Zachary, USAF, (ret.), Senior Aerospace Science Instructor, NPHS
North Penn Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
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Junior ROTC program established at NPHS in 2006.
Mission: Integrity, Service before Self, Excellence in All We Do
o Science mixed with citizenship.
o Different mission than college ROTC programs. Mission of college ROTC programs is to
produce commissioned officers for military services.
 Instructors
o Both instructors are school district employees of the high school science department
who see themselves as teachers that happen to have a military background.
o Todd Zachary has a vocational teaching certificate and is working on his social studies
certificate.
o Dee Sullivan (CMSgt., USAF, Ret.) has a mathematics teaching certificate.
 Program
o JROTC is part of the Science Curriculum, the studies are elective credits.
o Each school district chooses how to implement its Junior ROTC program within
guidelines.
o Cadets have no military obligation. Most Junior ROTC cadets do not enter military
service. If a cadet is interested in joining the military, he or she can join any branch.
o Junior ROTC functions on a cadet command structure. Cadets learn leadership by
leading under the mentorship of instructors.
o Program is based on Cadet Year (senior just joining Junior ROTC would be a first-year
cadet)
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o
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North Penn program currently has 79 cadets (103 projected for next year).
 Currently approximately one-third female. Expected to move closer to average
Junior ROTC 60-40 male-female ratio next year.
o Program was expanded this year to include 9th graders
 Students spend a half day attending two courses at high school.
 Eleven 9th graders participated this year and 27 8th graders have enrolled for
next year.
o Future plans may include expansion to Alternative School.
Curriculum
o Courses
 Science of Flight
 Frontiers of Aviation: History
 Aerospace Science: The Exploration of Space
 Cultural Studies: An Introduction to Global Awareness (will be added for
Academic Year 2013-2014)
o Summer leadership course lasts 1 week.
o Flexibility in courses allows extra support for students who need help.
o Courses are being aligned to Keystone Exam standards.
o Leadership education
 Citizenship/Patriotism
 Community Service
 Intercommunication skills
 Life skills
 Principles of Management (senior)
o Guest speakers are included throughout the year.
Benefits
o College credit is available from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
 $130 per credit
 2 credits per grade that is B or higher (up to a total of 10 credits)
o Military recognizes Junior ROTC experience.
 A 3-year Junior ROTC cadet who enters any military branch is elevated two
ranks and receives the associated pay grade after basic training is completed.
 A 2-year Junior ROTC cadet who enters any military branch is elevated one rank
and receives the associated pay grade after basic training is completed.
Community Service is a key component of Junior ROTC.
o 90-120 community activities per year.
o Color Guard at ceremonies and parades.
o Support for local shelters and nursing homes.
Voluntary After School Activities are held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at high
school
o Fitness, RC Aircraft Club, Color Guard practice, Drill Team (participates in 2 competitions
each year)
o Activities are open to interested 8th graders.
Parent support organization, North Penn High School Squires, is a member of Coordinating
Council.
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Questions
o How are students recruited?
 When program began at North Penn, instructors were allowed to enter middle
schools to talk to students. This was stopped for various reasons (if Junior ROTC
gets contact, what about other electives; appearance of military recruiting).
 Instructors are working with district to find ways to introduce program to
students:
 Guidance counselors are educated about Air Force Junior ROTC.
 Posters are hung in the middle schools.
 Instructors and cadets make themselves available to answer questions
on Back to School and Course Selection Nights.
 9th grade cadets advertise the program when they wear their uniforms
on Wednesdays.
 Working on an assembly to present all available high school electives to
9th graders.
o Principals were concerned that the information could not be fit
into a 45 minute assembly, but dry run went well.
 Junior ROTC instructors participate in any instructional meeting a 9th
grade cadet may need to have with his/her 9th grade faculty team.
o Reinforces that Junior ROTC instructors are just as responsible
for overall educational success of student.
o Expands contact with middle school faculty
o What about uniforms?
 Experience is that a student either is excited to wear a uniform or dreads it.
 Cadets are required to wear uniforms on Wednesdays.
 Pride in uniform develops in about a month.
 Academic rope introduced to uniform this year for cadets who have a
cumulative GPA of 3.0
 60% of current ROTC students earned rope
 Other faculty members are recognizing the cadet’s achievement when
they see academic rope.
Coordinating Council Business Meeting
Highlights of Knapp Elementary School – Lillian Harrell
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Participation of 4th, 5th and 6th graders in Home and School activities has historically been low.
o Students in these grades were surveyed in school to determine their interests.
o “Special Picks for Fourth, Fifth and Sixth” was held on a Friday night
 Featured music DJ, games, 4-square, basketball, etc.
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Free snack buffet, including chocolate fountain, was provided for students.
 Well-received by students.
 Lesson learned: Need to have separate restricted area for parents to reduce “dump and
run”
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Meeting items
1. Approval of Minutes –
 Minutes of April 2011 meeting were approved.
 Minutes can be found on www.npenn.org under For Families/Coordinating Council/CC
Meeting Minutes.
2. Treasurer’s Report – Becky Ellstrom, Treasurer
 Current balance – $2839.42
 Deposits – none
 Payments- $15 charity fee to state for last fiscal year.
3. Correspondence – Wendy Beatty-Burg, Corresponding Secretary
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None
4. Old Business
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Innovation Celebration: May 2
o Large crowd that included many district employees
o Poster outlined $265,000 in district educational activities funded by Home &School
organizations.
o Reflections:
 Discussion of busing for student activities did not make any mention of busing
for sporting events.
 Surprise that the district does not even have a part-time, dedicated grant
writer.
 Changing economy has changed district views on many sources of revenue and
savings (ex: previously saw recycling as a waste of employee time)
o Presentations are available on district website.
o Pressure district to follow up on items. How many Yes/No votes did each proposal get
from the viewing public? What is the status of the proposals?
5. New Business
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Elections: The following slate of Executive Board candidates was presented to Coordinating
Council and approved by a majority show of hands. Efforts will be made over the summer to
recruit people for open positions.
o President – Kathy Stella
o Vice –President- Therese Mellman
o Recording Secretary- Donald Mackowiak
o Corresponding Secretary – Wendy Beatty-Burg
o Treasurer – Becky Ellstrom
o Co-Treasurer – Open
o Executive Vice-President for Elementary – Maureen Werner
o Executive Vice-President for Elementary – Open
o Executive Vice-President for Pennfield – Janet Braverman
o Executive Vice-President for Penndale – Sheri Helt
o Executive Vice-President for Pennbrook - Open
o Executive Vice-President for High School – Claudia Barnada
o Executive Vice-President for High School – Open
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6. Level Reports –
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Proposal to change district ATHON regulation to allow ATHON during school day:
o Current district policy allows each school one ATHON, but the ATHON cannot be held
during school hours.
o Professional company, Race for Education, helps Home and School organizations run
Walkathon fundraisers. Private schools and public schools in other districts have
reportedly raised up to $30,000 working with this company.
o Race for Education receives a percentage of funds in the first year only in exchange for
the program and their training support. Home and School organization pays for
postage and fundraising letters. Race for Education stipulates that the Home and School
chair of the event cannot be employed full-time.
o Race for Education requires Walkathon to be held during school day. Race for Education
will not allow event to be held on Saturday due to less student participation (less
participation leads to less profit for company).
NPSEC
o Transition conference held at Pennbrook on April 2
o Money from vendor tables paid cost for conference
o Over 40 people attended
o Lessons learned
 Many attendees waited until week before conference to enroll. Do not despair
when registration is slow.
 More revenue could have been raised from the event.
Hatfield
o $13,000 for playground equipment and field trips was raised from Hawk Walk held after
school hours and Spring Fair.
York
o Internet safety program held for parents while students played games in gym under
supervision of gym teacher.
o The program was followed by an exciting student/parent kickball game.
North Wales
o Upcoming career day will feature 20 presenters.
7. Ideas, Concerns, Comments and Announcements - None
8. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned.
Next meeting of Coordinating Council will be held in September. Have a safe and fun summer. Please forward to
Wendy Beatty-Burg (beattyburg@aol.com), Corresponding Secretary, any business items or questions your
organization would like to have placed on future agendas.
Respectfully submitted,
Donald Mackowiak
Recording Secretary
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