After a one-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pennridge North Middle School hosted the 33rd annual Veterans Day program that rotates between the Quakertown Community, Palisades and Pennridge school districts.

As master of ceremonies state Rep. Craig Staats said, “After last year’s cancelation, looking at the crowd, this is a great comeback.”

Indeed, Thursday’s patriotic event honored veterans for their service and included several speakers, wonderful music and songs from the Pennridge band, chorus and several adult musicians along with several ovations throughout the 90-minute program that recognized veterans in the Upper Bucks County community.

Please click here for the story.

Students at Pfaff Elementary School have been benefiting this week from the cutting-edge technology of the Bucks County Intermediate Unit’s Fab Lab, designed to inspire and encourage students to pursue careers in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) fields.

Pfaff’s Fab Lab work this week (Nov. 8-12), which includes students in grades 2 through 5, is linked to its curriculum, and helps prepare students for tomorrow’s workforce, which will require them to be skilled in computer science and digital fabrication

Students in fifth grade, for example, are each building a home on the Moon that will include items needed to live in space. Once they sketch a design of their Moon habitat, they will design it in Tinkercad, a 3D printer.

Younger students have been studying oceans and are sketching symbols that represent the ocean to include on a bookmark they’ll create with a laser engraver.

Please click here for the story.

Third-grade students at Richland Elementary School have published the first edition of the Richland Times.

The idea was inspired by Kit Matthew, a student in Mrs. Reese’s class. Kit wanted to share the happenings at school. He recruited several classmates and they worked hard to create the school's first newspaper.

Please click here to see the November, 2021 five-page edition of the Richland Times.

The November 2021-22 school year issue of Paw Prints, Quakertown Community High School's student newspaper, is available by clicking here.

Several interesting reads, including:

• "Turkeys may be out of stock," by Sabrina Van Lieu
• "Downfall of the Bush House," by Ivyanna Barndt
• "Historic season of Quakertown Football," by Dylan Aponte
• "Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery," by Adrianne Po and Delaney Peckham
• "Teacher Effectiveness," by Elizabeth Glenn
• "Thanksgiving Day Parade is a must," by Julie Pizzi
• "Transgender Community," by Charlotte Dean
• "Outstanding Student of the Month," by Delaney Peckham
• "Crazy NBA offseason," by Blake Koehler

Former Quakertown Community High School student MacKenzie Mahler returned home Thursday to speak with students about a rare major she is taking at Kutztown University. MacKenzie and fellow Kutztown student Allison Fidler, both juniors, spoke about becoming teachers through KU’s visual impairment program.

“When I first learned about it I wasn’t sure it was for me,” she said. “But it’s really appealed to me, it’s something not many people know about and I’m really excited about it.”

Please click here for the story.

The Quakertown Community School District and Quakertown Educational Support Personnel Association (QESPA) have reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on a recruitment and retention plan that includes pay increases in affected categories, changes to longevity pay, recruitment bonuses and restructuring the number of hours for some positions.

The Quakertown Community School Board unanimously approved the agreement at its November 11th meeting. QESPA’s membership, which includes approximately 225 full- and part-time employees, including secretaries, food service workers, custodians, maintenance staff and aides, voted in favor of the plan on November 22nd.

The four-year, $1.8 million agreement comes just months after QESPA began a new four-year contract. But QCSD is not immune to factors in the local economy. Businesses up and down Route 309 and along Route 313 are also short-staffed and aggressively recruiting with sign-on bonuses and higher starting wages, further reducing QCSD’s pool of applicants.

Since late June, the district has had 30 resignations or retirements. And staffing shortfalls throughout the school year have been discussed at each Finance Committee meeting since August. QCSD is dealing with shortages of classroom aides (15 percent), cafeteria staff (50 percent) and building custodians (30 percent), in addition to openings among secretaries and building maintenance workers.

Please click here for the story and here for the Memorandum of Understanding.

On November 10th, 118 Sixth Grade Center students attended a field trip to Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles.

These students earned the field trip by selling magazines for the school's magazine drive or were chosen by a friend who sold enough magazines, said Ashley Walter, an Autistic Support/Emotional Support Teacher teacher at the Sixth Grade Center.

During the trip, she said students had the opportunity to tour the Eagles locker room, team tunnel, post-game interview room, press box and the field.

Quakertown Community High School's Social Justice Alliance recently hosted a Spark Talk in which a current and former student presented their experiences.

Please click here to see the 10-minute video.

If you would like to share your feedback after watching the video, please click here.

Neidig and Quakertown elementary schools joined forces on a great project to collect new socks for Quakertown Community Outreach. The two schools collected more than 4,000 pairs!

“It is amazing what we can achieve when we work together and work as a school community to help people in need,” said Quakertown teacher Christa Held. Mrs. Held and Alicia Bolks ran the event for QE, while Allie LaBadie and Maggie Johnson organized things for Neidig.

Richland Elementary School collected more than 437.5 pounds of food to donate to the Quakertown Food Pantry.

Students, staff, and parents helped deliver the bounty to aid people in need. Principal Nicole Zuerblis said she is proud of our students to learn what an impact they can make in our community. "Thank you for your generosity this holiday season!"

Neidig Elementary School Principal Scott Godshalk paid the price for his students' hard work. Mr. Godshalk agreed that if students exceeded their goal in the Race For Education fundraiser, he would sit still for a slimming. And that's just what happened, as the photos illustrate.

The Emmanuel Episcopal Church Christmas Carnival, 560 S. Main St. Quakertown, is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 11 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. To register, call Sharon Bachman-Kresge at the Upper Bucks Salvation Army office between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. by November 30 at 215-529-6547.

The “Drive-Through” Toy and Food Distribution Event is sponsored by the Quakertown Ministerium, HUBBUB, and the Upper Bucks Unit of the Salvation Army.

The Bucks County Health Department is providing free COVID-19 testing for:

• Bucks County school employees and contractors.
• Bucks County children who have exhibited symptoms of COVID-19.
• 
  

This free testing opportunity is not for individuals required to provide proof of a negative COVID test in lieu of vaccination. Per the Bucks County Health Department, individuals required to produce proof of a negative test in lieu of vaccination will need to secure other testing arrangements.

Click here for the flyer, which contains all the necessary links, addresses, and expectations. Please note that appointments are required and can be scheduled by scanning the QR code or clicking on the link provided. No walk-ins are accepted.

CVS and Rite Aid do testing as well, and appointments can be made via their websites.

Click here to find other COVID-19 testing locations.

The Quakertown Community School District nursing staff has developed an online form for families to use if your child has tested positive for COVID. We’re hoping that having this option available makes it easier for our families to communicate positive results to our nurses. This process aligns with the goals of the district’s Health and Safety Plan to safely monitor student and staff health.

If your child tests positive for COVID, please fill out this questionnaire. Please click here for the Spanish version.

St. Luke’s Health Network and the Penn Foundation are sponsoring a program called “Grief is a Dancer,” a community-wide event presented in word, music and dance. The free event will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, December 2nd. The program is about dealing with grief, tied to the loss of a loved one, a job, a routine or a social connection. Reserve your seat by November 24th at www.pennfoundation.org. Each attendee will receive a complimentary copy of Alisa Blair’s book “Grief is a Dancer.”

Daughters of the American Revolution is offering dozens of scholarships for graduating high school seniors, college, and graduate students in varied areas of study.

Scholarship applications are being accepted through January 31, 2022.

Click here to visit the online application portal.

Click here for additional scholarship information.

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