In The Q

Starting off the pre-holiday newsletter with a photo illustration by Lincoln Kaar, Quakertown Community High School's Technology, TV News and Video Editing teacher. The Silver award by U.S. News & World Report rates QCHS in the top 10 percent of Pennsylvania high schools.

And continuing with the holiday theme, here are rehearsal videos of Sleigh Ride from QCHS musicians. Yes, students are masked and socially distanced! Click here for part one and here for part two.

Quakertown Elementary School held a food drive called Bring Color to Our Community that allowed students to be creative. Each grade received a color of the rainbow and had a goal of finding food of that color.

If the box of macaroni, for example, was blue that worked for the blue class. If it was red, the red class could donate it. On Tuesday, the school’s teachers and staff packed a truck filled with 2,000 food items - 1,416 pounds of food. That, along with a $500 donation, was brought to the Quakertown Food Pantry.

“This is awesome,” said math teacher Christa Held, who organized the food drive. “It has been amazing to see how kind and giving our QE Community is!”

Click here for more photos.

Click here for the story on the PSBA's Success Starts Here website.

With great appreciation from the PAL team, the Neidig Community collected 430 food items (that's 509 pounds) and $250 in Giant gift cards for the Quakertown Food Pantry! Mrs. Bruno and Mrs. Fries dropped off the food and Giant cards just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Mrs. Grube, Neidig's guidance counselor, spearheaded the gift card drive for Quakertown Community Outreach. Neidig's collection efforts included more than three dozen retail gift cards for families in need this holiday season. Way to go Neidig! You are truly awesome!

Quakertown Community High School senior Ray Slifer, a Machining Technologies student at the Upper Bucks County Technical School, is the first UBCTS student to be selected a Pennsylvania Career and Technical Education Presidential Scholar.

The criteria for selection includes:

• Academic Rigor
• Technical Competence
• Employability Skills
• Ingenuity/Creative Problem Solving

There were 16 Career and Technical students nominated for this recognition In Pennsylvania. Ray was one of three students selected to move on to the National Presidential Scholars Recognition Competition. He will be notified in mid-January by the U.S.Presidential Scholars office if he will continue to the next level of competition.

Sixth Grade Center music teacher and band director Todd Silvius is one of 20 standout teachers nationwide to win the Staples “Thank A Teacher” contest, which comes with $5,000 in Staples gift cards for the school to use on school supplies.

“I still can’t believe it,” Mr. Silvius said. “It was really an honor to be nominated. To be selected, wow! Anyone in public education, the administration, teachers, support staff, district office, they are all deserving of this. I’m really fortunate the award is able to come here, where we can purchase things for this building.”

Please click here for the story.

Approximately 40 law enforcement officers enjoyed their favorite event of the year Thursday night at the Richland Walmart as they received shopping lists and walked up and down the aisles with 180 youngsters - one at a time - as part of the Shop With A Cop program.

The Quakertown Police Department began the program about a decade ago to help the children of local families have their holiday dreams come true. Most of the participants benefitting from local donations are elementary-aged students in the Quakertown Community School District.

Please click here for the story.

Ethan Clark, a senior from the Small Engine Technology Program, has been named the Student of the Month for December at the Upper Bucks County Technical School.

Ethan, the son of Juli and Christina Clark of Quakertown, is a Cooperative Education student trainee employed by Trumbauer’s Motor Sports in Quakertown. He is a setup and service technician and has received excellent evaluations from his employer. He has also excelled in the Small Engine Program and was named Most Outstanding Level I and Level II student. He has earned the OSHA 10-hour safety certification and several other safety and training certifications.

A member of the National Technical Honor Society, Ethan has competed and won the gold medal at the SkillsUSA District Power Equipment Technology competition. He contributes to the community by serving as a junior firefighter for the Richlandtown Fire Co. and is currently preparing to earn his Eagle Scout rank.

Ethan completed course work in the UBCTS/ Bucks County Community College Technical Entrepreneurship Program. After graduation, he plans to attend BCCC and earn a degree in Fire Science. He plans to pursue a career in professional firefighting.

Kaylyn Mitchell and Ron Jackson remained president and vice president of the Quakertown Community School Board following votes during the December 3rd reorganization meeting.

Both members of the leadership team represent Region 1, which encompasses Richlandtown Borough, Haycock Township and Richland Township’s Election Districts 1, 2 and 3.

For more information about the School Board, please click here.

If between the years of 1956 and 1991 you attended the former Quakertown Community Junior High School and Bob Coleman was your social studies teacher, baseball or basketball coach, there’s a good chance he hasn’t forgotten you.

That was evident when a small group of family, friends and members of the Quakertown Community High School Alumni Association were on hand as the association awarded the 2020 QCHS Honorary Diploma to the retired educator.

“I am overwhelmed,” said Mr. Coleman, who received a diploma, graduation cap and 2020 tassel at the December 1st event at the entrance of Quakertown Community High School. “I’m going on 89. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see a lot more sunrises and sunsets. You get to this point in life, you don’t look too far down the road. This is something I’ll remember.”

Please click here for the story.

The Quakertown Community High School’s National Honor Society is holding a t-shirt fundraiser to raise awareness of the different organizations and causes that have been impacted by COVID-19. The t-shirt is designed to bring together the Quakertown Community in a comical reference to reflect on 2020, while also promoting safety during the pandemic.

To support the NHS and purchase a great t-shirt, please click here.

Strayer Middle School 8th-grade science teachers Cathy Laguna (left) & Jacki Clymer hold a $5,000 certificate, awarded to the school as a raffle prize through the iSTEAMM Conference last March at the Bucks County Intermediate Unit.

QCSD appreciates the generosity of the United Way of Bucks County. The funds will be used for a STEAM-related project.

The Quakertown Community School District has compiled much information related to COVID-19. To help our school community deal with this pandemic we have dedicated a section of this website for both educational purposes and transparency as it has impacted the district.

Please click here for these resources.

Quakertown Community High School had 10 singers make the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 11 choir this fall!

Congratulations to Megan Godshalk, Liberty Ashe, Kaylee Kratz, Alexa Sheetz, Kaitlyn Zajkowski, Savannah March-Dole (not pictured), Simon Fletcher, Jack Monaghan, Austin Hunsberger, Isaac Detweiler

As the 2020-2021 school year has been like nothing we've experienced before, we would like to strongly encourage families to apply for the Free & Reduced Meals Program. Families that qualified for Free & Reduced meals in the 2019-2020 school year were eligible for Pandemic EBT Benefits through the State during the spring and early summer. That benefit provided a debit card to purchase groceries based on Free & Reduced information.

Currently, our district is providing ALL families with children up to the age of 18 with FREE breakfast and lunch for the remainder of the school year through funds from the US Department of Agriculture. However, if you do not have a current application on file for the 2020-2021 school year, you could miss benefits from the state, should it decide to provide the Pandemic EBT Benefits again.

Please click here for the Free & Reduced Meal Program applications.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Stacy Reiss, Free & Reduced Lunch Program, at sreiss@qcsd.org or 215-529-2022.

Upper Bucks County Technical School is accepting online applications for the 2021-22 school year. Please click here to apply.

Since many programs fill to capacity quickly, students should complete their application by February 12th.

Hoping to incentivize more people with a Bachelor’s degree to become substitute teachers, the Quakertown Community School District is significantly increasing pay for substitute teachers for the 2020-21 school year.

The per diem rate is being raised from $105 to $120 per day. Long term per diem pay is being raised from $140 to $175 per day, highest in the area. The average per diem rate in Bucks County and surrounding districts is $109. The long term substitute rate is $125. Please click here for the story.

QCSD has several job openings that can be found by clicking here. They include substitute nurses, aides, and food service workers.

Click here for job openings in the Upper Bucks County Technical School.

QCSD's Elementary Redistricting Committee is tackling several important issues in online meetings that began in late September. The parent-led committee is scheduled to make its recommendations to the School Board by January 31.

The Board has charged the committee with the following tasks:

• Develop options for the grade level configuration and redistricting of elementary (or K-6) students to be implemented at the start of the 2021-22 school year.
• Evaluate those options based on impact on academic program, impact on students and families, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, impact on facilities (including the future use of Quakertown Elementary and the Sixth Grade Center), requirement for construction, renovations, or modular classrooms, impact on transportation, impact on personnel savings, and other criteria as the Committee deems appropriate.
• Report its findings, decision matrix, and recommendations to the Board no later than January 31, 2021.

On Dec. 3, the Committee gave a presentation to the School Board. Please click here for the presentation. If you would like to send a comment or question to the Committee, use this email address: Elemredistrict@qcsd.org. For more information about the committee, please click here.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is extending the deadline for the fourth annual Innovations Challenge through Friday, January 15. Students in grades 9-12 are invited to participate in this year’s Innovations Challenge, which encourages students to use their problem-solving, creative and strategic-thinking abilities to solve real-world transportation challenges in a competition among their peers. Click here for information.

This year’s Innovations Challenge asks students to develop an innovative and implementable solution that helps address Pennsylvania’s transportation revenue shortfall by identifying potential new funding streams, aside from additional gas taxes, tolls or mileage-based user fees, to help ensure adequate transportation funding for the future.

The Innovations Challenge aims to not only help students explore real transportation challenges that PennDOT is facing, but also open their minds to the very real possibility of working for PennDOT after graduation. Regional Innovations Challenge winners will be selected and invited to compete for the state championship.

Organizations are providing a combined total award of $5,500 to be divided among the first, second and third place statewide winning teams. For complete Innovations Challenge details, visit www.penndot.gov/innovation.

The Quakertown Community Pool will be closed for renovations. Please click here for information from Quakertown Borough.

Please click here for videos of past School Board meetings.

Click here to find them.

Gary Weckselblatt, QCSD Director of Communications, writes about the people and the programs that impact the Quakertown Community School District.

Email: gweckselblatt@qcsd.org
Website: www.qcsd.org
Location: 100 Commerce Drive, Quakertown, PA, USA
Phone: 215-529-2028
Facebook: facebook.com/QCSDNews
Twitter: @QCSDnews