Archive for the ‘Community Information’ Category

NA Moves Forward with 3 New Initiatives

Posted: December 5, 2014 in Community Information, NA School District Communications
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The North Allegheny School Board held its annual reorganization meeting on Wednesday night.  Chris Jacobs was re-elected President and Tara Fisher was re-elected Vice President.

The Board also took action on three new initiatives– a Budget and Finance Committee, a Citizens Advisory Committee, and an Information Technology Report.

1. The newly formed Budget and Finance Committee, comprised of three Board Members, will work with the Administration to gather information and make recommendations related to the budget and other financial matters.

2. The newly organized Citizens Advisory Committee, comprised of community members, Board members, and administrators, will address a variety of important issues facing the District.

3. The newly established Information Technology Report, prepared by District administrators, will be included in the Board folder to highlight the measures the District is undertaking in the area of technology.

To read more about the developments from Wednesday night’s meeting, please click here.

 

North Allegheny redistricting prevented crowding in schools, officials say

Posted: November 21, 2014 in Community Information, NA School District Communications, Press Coverage
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The North Allegheny School District’s redistricting helped offset the demographic shifts the district has been experiencing for several years, an official said.

School administrators also presented enrollment and facilities and capital funding plan updates at a board meeting Wednesday.

To read more, click here.

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To view the Enrollment and Facilities Update presented to the North Allegheny School Board on November 19, 2014, click here.

To view the Capital Funding Plan and Technology Plan presented to the North Allegheny School Board on November 19, 2014, click here.

 

North Allegheny officials say new state law on volunteers problematic

Posted: November 20, 2014 in Community Information, NA School District Communications, Policies and Guidelines, Press Coverage
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After months of study and meetings with parent groups, administrators in the North Allegheny School District thought they had found the perfect compromise for a policy to require criminal clearances for volunteers.

However, all that is changing because of Act 153, which was signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett in late October. The law mandates updated clearances for all school employees and volunteers every 36 months

To read more, click here.

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To view the proposed North Allegheny School District Clearance Policy, as presented to the School Board on November 12, click here.

Elementary Enrollment Continues to Beat Projections

Posted: September 30, 2014 in Community Information, Policies and Guidelines
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Third day enrollment records for the 2014-15 school year show the District has 3,553 elementary students–160 students higher than projected.

In 2012, the District hired a consultant who predicted elementary enrollment would decline to 3393 in 2014.  The consultant recommended closing an elementary school.  Last year’s elementary enrollment beat projections by 150 students and was the highest enrollment the District had seen in 15 years.  This year’s elementary enrollment is the 3rd highest in 15 years.
 
Third day enrollment records for the 2014-15 school year also show the impact of the new elementary class size policy, which was adopted in May 2014.
 
Under the new policy, the District is operating 158 elementary sections and no sections started the school year above the class size guidelines.  Compare this to 2012, when 11 sections started the school year above the class size guidelines because the District only operated 145 sections.
 
[Third day enrollment data: 2014 vs 2012]

Third day enrollment data: 2014 vs 2012

Class size guidelines are 25 students for grades K-2 and 30 students for grades 3-5.  The new class size policy states that the Administration shall determine the number of elementary sections in a manner that ensures that no section exceeds 29 students in 4th-5th grade, 27 students in 3rd grade, and 24 students in Kindergarten-2nd grade, when sections are created in early August.

North Allegheny revamping proposed policy on background checks for school volunteers

Posted: September 10, 2014 in Community Information, Policies and Guidelines
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The North Allegheny School District is revamping its proposed policy on background checks for parents who volunteer in the schools.

School board President Chris Jacobs said Aug. 27 that the district will seek more community feedback on the policy, which had been scheduled for a vote that evening.

To read more, click here.
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The proposed policy is included below.
volunteer policy

 

North Allegheny school board member appointed

Posted: August 21, 2014 in Community Information, Press Coverage
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Michael Meyer was appointed Wednesday to an open seat on the North Allegheny school board.

To read more, click here.

North Allegheny approves budget that holds line on taxes

Posted: June 26, 2014 in Community Information, Press Coverage
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The North Allegheny school board Wednesday approved a final budget without a tax increase.

The board voted 6-3 in favor of the $139.5 million budget that holds the tax rate at 17.4039 mills.

To read more, click here.

North Allegheny Approves Elementary Class Size Policy, Preliminary Budget Without Tax Increase

Posted: May 22, 2014 in Community Information, Policies and Guidelines, Press Coverage
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North Allegheny approves elementary class size policy

The North Allegheny School Board approved a policy Wednesday that sets limits on elementary class sizes.

According to the policy, the administration will set the number of sections according to how many students are enrolled 30 days before the first day of school.

No more than 24 students can be in kindergarten through second grade, 27 students in third grade and 29 students in fourth and fifth grades.

To read more, click here.

North Allegheny approves preliminary budget without tax increase

The North Allegheny School Board approved a proposed final budget Wednesday that does not raise taxes, but seeks to fund repairs to three buildings by a bond issue.

The district is looking at $8 million in renovations to Bradford Woods Elementary, $11.6 million to Marshall Elementary; and $14.9 million to Marshall Middle School, according to a 2012 study. All were built or last renovated in the early 1990s.

To read more, click here.

 

North Allegheny Board votes 7-2 for Redistricting

Posted: February 20, 2014 in Community Information, Press Coverage
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Since September of 2012, Save NA Schools has advocated redistricting in order to create more equity across all elementary schools and better utilization of “excess capacity” in some buildings.  Balancing enrollment is critical to reducing class size- which has been a central focus of this group.

On March 15, 2013, Save NA Schools stated that balancing enrollment would allow the district to

  1. keep class size within the district’s guidelines
  2. adequately administer elementary programs (music, ESAP, GOAL)
  3. reasonably accommodate future growth

Many members of the North Allegheny community, including parents from HES, IES, MCK, MES and PES,  spoke in support of the redistricting proposal for those reasons.  On Wednesday, February 19, the North Allegheny School Board voted 7-2 to balance enrollment across all of the district’s buildings– making the 16-month community campaign to “save class size” a success.

The redistricting plan incorporated the top two requests from the community:  1.) move the fewest number of students, and 2.) grandfather current 4th and 7th grade students.

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The North Allegheny School Board Wednesday approved redistricting students for the next school year. The plan moves fewer than 200 elementary students and allows for current fourth- and seventh-graders to stay in their current schools. It was introduced by the administration last month to take into account comments from residents about three previous plans

To read more, click here.

Reminder: School Board Meeting Tonight

Posted: February 19, 2014 in Community Information
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SaveNASchools encourages residents to attend the school board meeting on Wednesday, February 19 at 7pm in the auditorium of Ingomar Middle School.  The school board will vote on the administration’s final recommended redistricting scenario.

Residents interested in registering to speak may do so by contacting School Board Secretary Rose Mary Ryan at rryan@northallegheny.org or 412-369-5437.

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