Rose Tree Media School District
Penncrest High School
Minutes of the October 13, 2014 PTG Meeting
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:01pm.
Welcome: Debbie Saylor-Brown welcomed everyone to the meeting. Members of the PTG
Board and class representatives were introduced.
Guest Speakers: Penncrest Principal and Assistant Principals:
Principal Gregg mentioned that the freshman transition was changed this year and introduced
Ralph Harrison to elaborate.
Ralph Harrison, Assistant Principal:
 The new freshman transition procedures were based on feedback from parents,
students, and staff.
 The first day of school was attended only by the freshmen. They attended
workshops on the iPads, Google Drive, test taking, study skills, and
organizational skills. They were also given a tour of the building by upper
classmen and were given some preparation for attending a pep rally.
 Teachers and students have been polled since the transition to help improve for
next year.
Bill Dougherty, Assistant Principal:
 Students were visited by Mr. Dougherty during their Social Studies classes. They
discussed how to define success and what it takes to succeed. Students were also
shown a video about GRIT (passion and perserverence for goals over a long
period of time) by Angela Duckworth.
 Goal setting was discussed with the students. They learned the importance of
writing down and sharing your goals. They can then be referred back to
throughout the year when struggling.
Joseph Fuhr, SYA Principal:
 SYA is now in the Penncrest building, and it was a smooth transition.
Sharon Sweeney, Assistant Principal:
 There is a new bell schedule this year. Scheduling of labs, sectionals, etc. are now
easier and the hallways are quieter during class time.
 Many students are now doing homework during lunch. For those who elected to
Lunch and Learn, teachers are making sure that they actually do eat their lunch in
class.
 Half year electives are now available for 11th and 12th graders with Health now
being in 10th grade.
Rick Gregg, Principal:
 Last year was a great one for PHS. Please check out the Annual Report on the school
website for details.
 Penncrest was named a top school in the country by Newsweek, U.S. News and World
Report, The Washington Post, and The Daily Beast.
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The district is eliminating night Gym and online Health class.
We are looking at the possibility of doing cyber school for snow days.
30 students are currently participating in Lunch and Learn.
A parent asked Mr. Gregg if Penncrest coordinates their curriculum with SLMS. Penncrest
does attempt to coordinate.
Secretary's Report: Minutes of the May 12, 2014 PTG meeting were unanimously approved
(motions to approve: Bob Schultz and Julie Bond).
Treasurer's Report: The PTG currently has about an $8,400 of spendable cash left from last
year. Some of this will possibly be used to add seating and a patio in the courtyard. The
collection of dues is low this year. The PTG’s first tax return was filed but still has yet to be
approved by the IRS. We may have an accountant review the taxes for this year. Treasurer’s
report was unanimously approved (motions to approve: Mary Beth Orens and Julie Bond).
Committee Reports:
AM Prom - (Julie Bond): The committee has met and decided on a theme.
School Board Meeting Report (September 23, 2014)-Provided by Joanne Torillo:
Educational Presentation:
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POWR Day program at Penncrest High School – Louise Naismith spoke about the success of
this Job sharing/shadowing program available at the high school for Freshman through
Seniors. The program has been around for 6 years now. On a local level, the students are
brought in and taught “mock interview” skills – how to make eye contact, shake hands on
introduction and saying their names. Opportunities are presented to students in many forms,
including one-on-one meetings, in-house seminars and group trips.
Reports:
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School Reports
o Glenwood held BTSN’s on two nights 9/11 and 9/16 – both very successful.
o Indian Lane presented its new on-line newsletter called “E-News on the Lane”,
which will be a weekly publication by the Principal available on their website.
o Media Elementary – Welcomed back students and families at their “Welcome
Back Potluck dinner” on September 5th. They enjoyed good company, food and
face painting for the children.
o Penncrest – Penncrest ranked #316 on Newsweek’s Top 500 HS’s list.
“Newsweek’s 2014 Rankings highlights schools that do the absolute best job of
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preparing students for college. This year, our methodology is more stringent than
ever with new measures of quality and a higher standard for data.” The
Simon Youth Academy was transitioned from the Granite Run Mall over to
Penncrest.
o Springton Lake Middle School – The 7th and 8th grade Select Chorus students
have been chosen to sing the National Anthem at the 76ers game on November
21st. SLMS was challenged by Mr. Jackowski, former Vice Principal, to accept
the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Dr. Sallidino accepted his challenge and set a
goal to raise $1,000 for ALS. They exceeded that goal and raised $1,800. Four
students won the rights to dump the ice bucket over the Principal’s head.
Superintendent’s Report – Spoke about School Performance Profile or SPP. The SPP
is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of student academic performance in
every Pennsylvania public school building, including traditional public schools, charter
schools, cyber/charter schools and career and technology centers. It is designed to serve
three purposes – 1) federal accountability for Title I schools under the state's approved
federal No Child Left Behind waiver, 2) the new teacher and principal evaluation system
that was signed into law in 2012 and 3) to provide the public with information on how
public school as well as schools across Pennsylvania are academically performing. The
SPP scores have been released to the District officials and the Rose Tree Media School
District and due to the contribution of each and every school, the average District score
has increased.
President’s Report – The next School Board meeting will be held on October 23rd at
Penncrest. There will be a 6:30pm Personnel Committee meeting before the 7:30pm
Board meeting.
RTMEA Presentation (Sue Williamson):
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Wanted to welcome the three new Principals to the District
o Media Elementary – Paula Voshell
o Indian Lane – Christine Seeley
o Springton Lake – Donald DiPaulo, Asst. Principal
Excited about mentoring program where existing teachers have the opportunity to mentor
new teachers in the district.
The Teacher’s Association has a team participating in the 5th Annual West Chester STOMPS
Cancer 5K on September 26th.
On October 25th at Springton Lake Middle School, Aidan’s Heart Foundation will once again
offer free heart screenings for children ages 5-19 years of age. Pre-registration required.
Appts between 8:30am to 4pm.
Association recently had 2nd meeting on contract negotiations.
Finance Report:
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Approved concurrent enrollment agreements for Dual Enrollment with Pennsylvania State
University.
Principal’s Advisory Board (PAB)- Provided by Sue Scanlon:
 Question was asked about how the new "Lunch & Learn" program was going.
Response:
- 30+ students are participating, mostly 11th and 12th graders.
- Lunch periods are a little longer.
- A couple of quiet rooms have been set up to use as a study hall or for test make-ups.
- There are no more pull-outs from instruction.
- Assemblies are done during the 2nd half of lunch.
- Class council can meet during this time, if desired.
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Question was asked about are students aware of what's going on, since the
announcements are no longer being announced. Additionally, can an archive system be
set-up to access prior announcements for a given month?
Response:
The announcements are on the school front webpage. Students need to get in the
habit of checking them every day on the website. The daily news broadcast is also on
the website and cable channel.
- Mr. Gregg will check into the possibility of posting links to the past announcements
for the month.
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Question was asked about getting more information about the sex education curriculum,
with respect to what's covered and how.
Response:
- This is taught in 10th grade health, and some changes have been made to how lessons
are delivered.
- Theresa Long will be asked to join the next meeting to address specific questions.
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Question was asked about how students get any papers handed out when they are absent,
since they probably don't know they missed something.
Response:
- Papers/forms are distributed in the English and Social Studies classes. Hopefully,
teachers hold papers for absent students and give them out upon the student's return.
- Check the weekly principal messages also for information.
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Some discussion occurred about the Pennsylvania School Performance Score recently
released, which is higher than last year's score. One of our current goals is to help
students with grit and perseverance, as grit has been identified as a key to success. There
is a link to a video on grit research in Mr. Gregg's weekly message.
Superintendent’s Advisory Board (SAB) – Provided by Debbie Saylor-Brown:
October 8, 2014 at 7pm
 School Performance Profiles (SPP) for the 2013-2014 school year will be released soon
by the Board of Education. The SPP for each school will include the spring PSSAs for
the applicable schools. The SPP was put into place after No Child Left Behind was
known to not get 100% of students proficient.
 Rose Tree Media schools are also reviewed by the Pennsylvania Value Added
Assessment System (PVAAS). Student performance is measured in Reading, Math,
Writing and Science; a score is now given verses a percentage. Growth is a large
measurement of student assessment; it’s not just if students are proficient or advanced,
but also have to have a full-year’s growth in one-year’s time.
 Teacher evaluations are done in each building; besides their individual evaluation,
teachers get credit for how the entire school building performs. Teachers are involved in
data analysis, which includes the principal, guidance counselor, psychiatrist and reading
interventionist.
 There are Student Learning Objectives (SLO) based on a teacher’s specific subject. SAT
scores of 1550 or higher is another factor in SPP. Graduation rates are now tracked for
the four years of a student’s high school career.
 Middle school is the most challenging to keep on track; the students are tweens/teens, it’s
the middle program going from 5th to 6th grades and prepping for 8th to 9th grades; and it
has its’ own assessment design. Middle school students have a hard time understanding
expectations. Mastery of Learning is a model used at the middle school.
 Quality is more important than quantity – homework will be based on mastery, not
repetition of the skill the student has already mastered.
 Indian Lane Elementary School has some kinks to work out with the interim principal,
parents and staff.
 Lunches and snacks were discussed. Mr. Wigo will speak to Dr. Eleanor DiMarino as to
what guidelines schools should use for what’s a healthy snack and lunch.
 The shortened math and language arts periods at SLMS were brought up. Parents were
concerned about losing the instruction time and being ready to move up to the next grade
by the end of the year. Teachers said the extra time wasn’t a benefit in teaching the
students; the students are done learning before the double period ended. SLMS math
teachers work with the math coordinator at the high school to keep on the curriculum.
Also, to help improve reading and writing, every teacher took a course which pertained to
their specific subject.
 School directories were discussed. Parents need to go to the school websites to register
their students and input the information they choose to list in the directory. In the future,
school directories may become an online feature connected to your parent HAC
password.
 Last Friday, Penncrest teachers handed out letters to parents outside of the school before
the start of the school day. Negotiations are moving slowly. Benefits is the biggest topic
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of discussion in negotiations. The teachers are working without a current contract, and
Mr. Wigo praised the teachers for continuing to give every student the best education.
Safety items were mentioned; there are always capital improvements being reviewed and
given a time frame to accomplish.
Old Business:
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New Business:
 PTG School Directory – Our PTG will be collecting information from families in order
to publish a school directory. This directory is being published for our school families to
be able to connect with one another in the best interests of our children and community. It
will contain the information that you choose to share for student/parent use only and is
not for non-school distribution or outside solicitation. Please click on the link below to
complete as much of the information as you would like to share. Thank you!
http://www.rtmsd.org//cms/module/selectsurvey/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=1380
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We will always accept your PTG dues, so please pay if you haven’t done so already.
Meeting Adjourned: The meeting was adjourned at 8:10p.m.
**The next PTG meeting will be on November 10th @ 7pm. Our guest speaker will be Joseph
Fuhr, Principal, Simon Youth Academy (SYA).**