School Board Notes

School Board Directors Andrea Rees and Paul Winters have achieved the honor of being named to the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) Honor Roll. This recognition is reserved for school directors who have served for at least eight years. The PSBA's Honor Roll of School Board Service program specifically acknowledges and celebrates the dedication school board directors have given to their local districts and school communities. Congratulations on your recognition, Ms. Rees and Mr. Winters.

Dr. Zerbe, during his monthly report, shared that Methacton School District is making progress towards its strategic plan goals, specific with improving rank. Dr. Zerbe shared that rank comparisons to other schools and to ourselves over time is a good metric to aspire and make improvements. Additionally, we must not forget the enormous list of prestigious college and university acceptances and the countless local, state and national awards and recognitions that our students receive annually.

US. News and World Report ranks Methacton High School in the top 7% of ranked public high schools in the Commonwealth and in the top 8% of all high schools in the country out of 17,680. He further explained, by utilizing Niche rankings that our district rank for academics is an A+ similar to schools in PA in the top 10. However, our overall ranking of an A is impacted by the B ranking for sports, C ranking for Food, and a C ranking for Resources and Facilities. Dr. Zerbe shared that our strategic focus this past school year with changes to our Food Services program is destined to make inroads with moving that C ranking in Food toward an A+. Similarly, there is an Athletics committee discussing how we can make similar leaps in programming. The work to update to our Master Facilities plan and the implementation of the Methacton High School Campus Planning Committee work should materialize into plan improvements to address these areas and contribute to a higher ranking in the near future.

Dr. Zerbe shared several (not complete) listing of the awards and recognitions our students, schools and district have received, which includes:

• National Association of Music Merchants’ "Best Communities for Music Education" Award
• National Merit Scholarship Awardees
  
• PA State Citizenship Awardees
• Pioneer Athletic Conference, District, & State PIAA Championships
• MIT Research Science Institute Awardees
• Dannehower Academic and Athletic Awardees
• Methacton students annually receive more than $20M in scholarships & grants
• Ranked 22 in State for Advanced Placement scores with 90% of Methacton exam takers scoring 3 or higher compared to national average of 60% along with several perfect scores
• Annually perform thousands of community service hours
• Earn Science Fair awards and scholarships
• Annual Skills USA State medal winners
• Student run - Mini Thon - raises more than $70k annually
• PA Academic Decathlon winners
• National History Bee winners
• PA History Bowl award winners
• District One Sportsmanship Award winners
• US Presidential Scholars Program recognition
• Recognition from PA Department of Education for having the first student run Hydroponics Farm in the Commonwealth
• PMEA All-State Musicians
• Reading Olympics Blue Ribbon Winners
• Pennsylvania Council for the Social Studies Innovative Teacher of the Year Award winners
• Math Counts - Valley Forge Chapter 1st place winner and 3rd place state winner
• National Spanish and French oral proficiency winners
• Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Award winners
• 1st Place in 24 Math Regional Competition
• Outstanding Alumni – entrepreneurs, community servants, & CEO’s - making significant contributions to local, state and national level

Dr. Zerbe provided an update to the Board and public by sharing that since the 2016 facilities assessment report and the subsequent development of the district facilities master plan, the Methacton School District has been annually addressing facilities matters identified within that plan.

Following the pause on making nearly a $30 million dollar investment of HVAC upgrades into the high school, the MHSCPC (Methacton High School Campus Planning Committee) was formed to take a deeper look at the overall challenges associated with building and campus and to organize a comprehensive campus plan. Registration for participation on the MHSCPC closed mid-September with a total of 149 members.

• 105 from Lower Providence
• 44 from Worcester
• 23 Community Members
• 25 HS Students
• 59 Parents
• 42 Staff

Number of people who signed up for tours to area schools:

• Pottsgrove: 39 people
• Upper Merion: 71 people
• Avon Grove: 31 people

Our Meeting dates include:

• October 5, 2023 (Thursday) 6:30PM – 8:30PM
• October 14, 2023 (Saturday) 8:00AM – 12:00PM
• November 2, 2023 (Thursday) 6:30PM – 8:30PM

The MHSCPC website shows the committee and people involved. Our target is a February 2024 report of recommendations to the Board of School Directors based on input from the committee.

Strong student civic engagement was among the achievements recognized by the Board at the regular meeting. Dr. Zerbe reported that as part of the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s ACT 35 civics testing requirements, 95.5% of our high school students achieved a passing score on the Civics Knowledge Exam and nearly 10% of those students achieved a perfect score.

In addition, Mr. AJ Maida -- MHS AP Government teacher -- spoke about the enthusiastic response students have shown around the topic of civic engagement. This past spring, 11 Methacton students were recognized by the Governor’s Office for their work at the polls and helping citizens register to vote. Methacton had the most students in the state recognized in the “Student Poll Worker” category. Mr. Maida reported that more than 70 students have submitted their interest to serve as election workers in November. That’s nearly double the number of students who served last school year. He also shared thanks to Ms. Kristen O'Brien for all her work in nominating our Methacton students for the Governor's Award.

More than 400 Methacton High School students have earned "M" Awards for Academic Excellence for the 2022-2023 school year. These students have achieved a 93% or greater grade point average. Methacton High School Principal Dr. Jamie Gravinese made the announcement at the September 26, 2023 Meeting of the Board of School Directors. Click here to view the full list of M Award recipients.

Congratulations to Methacton High School juniors Victoria Fan and Sol Martin! The students were sworn in as Student Representatives to the Board of School Directors. Victoria and Sol will serve for a term of two years.

District Appointment

The Board of School Directors approved the appointment of Dr. Jamie Gravinese to serve as the next Director of Pupil Services. In her 20 years of service to the Methacton School District, Dr. Gravinese has served the students, staff, and families of our school community in a number of roles including supervisor of secondary special education, high school assistant principal and, most recently, as high school principal.

All other items listed in the September 26, 2023 agenda were approved.

The Methacton School District's Board of School Directors meets each month. School board work session meetings are generally held on the third Tuesday of the month, followed by the regular meeting on the fourth Tuesday (except during the month of December). Regular Board and Work Session meetings typically take place in the Arcola Auditorium, and all residents are invited to attend. Committee meetings take place in the MHS LGI. Meeting agendas are posted to Agenda Manager, and start times and locations are posted on the District's website. Please confirm meeting time and location before attending. Download the meeting calendar here. Watch the meeting video online.

Email: information@methacton.org
Website: www.methacton.org
Location: 1001 Kriebel Mill Road, Eagleville, PA, USA
Phone: 610-489-5000