News from the Nest

Dear UD Community,

We take great pride in celebrating the diversity of our Upper Dublin community and the world around us. Each May we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI Heritage Month) is an annual celebration that recognizes the historical and cultural contributions of individuals and groups of Asian and Pacific Islander descent to the United States. AAPI people are a diverse and growing population who comprise about 7% total U.S. population.

We are grateful to the Upper Dublin Chinese Association for hosting an amazing AAPI celebration on Saturday, May 20, 2023, at the Upper Dublin Public Library. We are grateful for our ongoing collaboration with the UDCA! For more information about AAPI Heritage Month, please click here!

With just a few weeks left to the 2022-2023 school year, there are numerous activities and events taking place throughout the District. I urge you to check the District calendar and stay tuned for our principals' weekly Thursday communications, highlighting the great work and efforts of our students and staff.

In closing, please know that our committed administrators, faculty, and staff are here to support our students. If we can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out. Our Pathways of Communication is a great tool to assist you in determining who to contact for any number of questions or concerns. When you have questions or concerns, we want you to get the answers and resolutions quickly.

Onward!

Dr. Steve Yanni

Mr. Nicolas (Nick) Perez will be the next leader of MGES! Mr. Perez is currently the Principal at Cheltenham Elementary, a position he has held since 2014. Throughout each of his interviews and through the conversations and reference checks we completed, we heard time and again how much Mr. Perez loves being an elementary principal and how much faculty, staff, students, and parents/guardians respect him. Working side by side with teachers to ensure academic excellence and positive cultures where students and staff thrive, interacting daily with students to celebrate successes and address challenges, and engaging parents/guardians and families are among his greatest strengths and passions. We are confident that Mr. Perez’s experience, leadership, and character align with the needs of MGES. His leadership will have a strong, positive impact on the entire MGES community.

Prior to his tenure in the Cheltenham School District, Mr. Perez served both as an Elementary Principal and Director of Community and Student Services in the Allentown School District. His instructional background includes elementary experiences, serving as a 5th-grade teacher and a 1st-grade literacy interventionist. Mr. Perez’s understanding of elementary pedagogy, including special education, and elementary students is deep; we are excited to see the impact he will have at MGES!

In the coming days, we will share information about opportunities for staff, students, parents/guardians, and families to meet Mr. Perez. We will also ensure a smooth transition between Mr. Corcoran and Mr. Perez. We thank Mr. Corcoran for his continued service to MGES, and we know he will do all he can to help make the leadership transition from him to Mr. Perez seamless.

The District is moving forward with a new before and after-school care provider starting with the 2023-2024 school year. We are excited to partner with Right at School! Right at School is nationally recognized for before-school, after-school, and summer camp programming. Right at School provides an engaging and fun curriculum to continue developing skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, leadership, and much more during the before and after-school programs.

Right At School is offering a before and after-school program for the academic year 2023-2024 for our community. The before and after school program will be conveniently located at each of the elementary schools for incoming K through 5th-grade students. The before school program is offered 5 days a week from 7:00 am until school starts. The after school program is offered 5 days a week from the end of school until 6:00 pm.

For the before and after school programs, you can sign up your child/children for 1, 2, 3, 4 or all 5 days a week. This provides flexibility for our families! Right at School will also staff the programs to meet the enrollment demands; we are hopeful that this eliminates the need for waiting lists!

The cost for before school is: $200 per month for 5 days a week / $182 per month for 4 days a week / $158 per month for 3 days a week / $118 per month for 2 days a week / $73 per month for 1 day a week.

The cost for after school is: $350 per month for 5 days a week / $318 per month for 4 days a week / $277 per month for 3 days a week / $207 per month for 2 days a week / $127 per month for 1 day a week.

The cost for the combo of before and after school: $525 per month for 5 days a week / $477 per month for 4 days a week. $416 per month for 3 days a week / $311 per month for 2 days a week; $190 per month for 1 day a week.

Officials from Right at School will host a virtual information session on Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 6:00 pm. Because we know some families are already registered with the YMCA for next year, Right at School will waive the registration fees for those students/families. We will also ensure that families already registered with the YMCA will have spots in the Right at School programs! Please complete this form if you are interested in joining the information session. We will also ensure that information is available for folks who are unable to attend the meeting.

Several districts in the area, including, Lower Merion, Upper Merion, and Ridley, all partner with Right at School! With any change comes excitement, and we look forward to a great partnership with Right at School for many years to come!

The information below is included as a reminder of what we shared in last month's News from the Nest newsletter. Additionally, you can visit our District's Safety page at any time to learn about the safety processes and protocols we have in place. We continually review and refine our practices and protocols. We will include updates, etc., in editions of News from the Nest - and in other District communications - moving forward.

Reminders from previous editions of News from the Nest:

Below is a summary list as a reminder of the physical safety measures that we are continuing to take - and those that have been increased/strengthened for SY 2022-2023.

• We continue to utilize the Raptor system at all of our schools.
  
• All visitors to buildings will be asked a series of questions in addition to completing the Raptor process before gaining entry to our schools.
• Emergency response/panic buttons that immediately contact the police have been added in each of our schools.
• We have increased security personnel in the District.
• We continue to require all visitors and volunteers to wear their identification sticker in a prominent place on their clothing.
• We added card readers to numerous exterior doors to prevent the possibility of doors being "propped" open.
• We will conduct a series of unannounced security checks at each of our buildings. This helps us identify any potential vulnerabilities we have to rectify immediately.
• We conduct a series of announced and unannounced drills at each of our buildings. These drills include but are not necessarily limited to fire drills, intruder drills, lockouts, lockdowns, and off-site evacuations. Members of the UDPD attend our drills and provide feedback to our Leadership Team.
• The Upper Dublin Police Department will continue having a presence on our school grounds and in our buildings.

In addition to physical safety, it remains important to support the emotional and mental well-being of our students and staff. Below is a summary list as a reminder of the supports we have continued or increased for the 2022-2023 school year:

• We continue to provide five (5) counselors at UDHS, three (3) at SRMS, and one (1) at each of our elementary schools. Our school counselors provide support for students in several areas, including social and emotional well-being.
• We provide additional counselor support via our Lakeside counselors. We contract with three (3) of these counselors.
• Our schools continue their Child Study Teams (CST) and Student Assistant Programs (SAP). These processes involve identifying students' needs and providing the necessary interventions to improve academic, social, and behavioral outcomes.
• We will have additional Student Assistance and mental health support available throughout the year for students.
• We are expanding our collaboration with service agencies, such as Montgomery County Crisis and Victim Services of Montgomery County, to provide targeted assistance to students and families when needed.

The following resources have also been previously shared with our community. We are sharing them again so that our community is reminded of them.

• Montgomery County Mobile Crisis Support - Montgomery County Mobile Crisis provides immediate support for crisis situations, as well as assistance with managing recurring or future crises. Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-855-634-HOPE (4673). This service is available to anyone in Montgomery County, including children, teens, adults, and families. There is no fee and everyone, regardless of insurance, is eligible for assistance.

• Victim Services of Montgomery County - The mission of Victim Services of Montgomery County is to provide advocacy and counseling for all who have been affected by sexual violence and other crimes against the person and to promote sensitivity and awareness in the community through education.

• Safe2Say Something - Safe2Say Something is a youth violence prevention program run by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General. The program teaches youth and adults how to recognize warning signs and signals, especially within social media, from individuals who may be a threat to themselves or others and to “say something” BEFORE it is too late. With Safe2Say Something, it’s easy and confidential to report safety concerns to help prevent violence and tragedies.

This spring season has to go down as one of the most successful seasons in school history. We had four (4) teams win league championships and six (6) teams qualify for their district tournaments. We had four (4) individuals from our Girls Track & Field program earn a district championship. See below for season recaps.

• Baseball: Congratulations to our baseball team who won the Suburban One League Liberty Division Championship. The team finished the regular season 14-6 overall and 14-2 in league play. The baseball team will enter the District I playoffs as the #1 overall seed. Their first playoff game is Wednesday at home vs. either Unionville or WC East. Aidan McCarthy, Austin Dahl, Jared Levis, and Eric Berman have been key contributors to the team this year.

• Boys Lacrosse: The boys lacrosse team qualified for the District I playoffs. They defeated Abington 12-3 in the first round. Unfortunately, they lost to Downingtown East 6-5 in the second round, which ended their season. Caleb Kelly, Nate Fechter, Will Bailey, Chris Kohlbrenner, and Al Eby were strong contributors for the team this year.

• Girls Lacrosse: Congratulations to the girls lacrosse team, who this year won the Suburban One League American Conference. The girls also qualified for the District I postseason. The team lost their first round game to a strong Avon Grove team 12-10. Anna DiMartile, Paige Dinkel, & Allie Gay were key contributors for the team this year. Allie Gay was also recently named SOL Univest Athlete of the Week.

• Softball: The softball team finished their regular season 15-5 and earned the #1 seed in the upcoming District I playoffs. Recently, for the first time in over 27 years, the program defeated Hatboro Horsham to secure that #1 seed. The team will be at home this Wednesday in their first playoff game at 4PM. They will face either Unionville or Penncrest. Kyla Garrison, Bella Fiore, Madden Reilly, Anna Levin, and Kaelin Penna have all had solid seasons for our Cardinals.

• Boys Tennis: Congratulations to our Boys Tennis program, who won the SOL Liberty Division for the 3rd straight year. The team finished the regular season at 14-0 and entered the tournament as the 10th seed. They won two matches in districts and finished in 6th place, just missing the state tournament. Scott Schlackman and Tim Sheaffer also qualified for the District Doubles tournament.

• Boys Track & Field: Good luck to our Boys Track & Field program, who will be competing at the PIAA State Championships this weekend at Shippensburg. Kyree Butler, Matt Castronuovo, Owen Smith, Elijah Smith, Gus Platt, Rohan Bryan, and Jack Stelling are the state qualifiers.

• Girls Track & Field: Congratulations to the Girls Track & Field program, who last week won the SOL Liberty Division Championship. Also congrats to our 4x800 relay team of Talia Hoffner, Mason Kullmann, Lilly Pittakas, and Emily Kulak who won Districts this past weekend. Good luck this weekend at the PIAA State Championships at Shippensburg. Competing this weekend are the four girls listed above, as well as Mimi Pastore, Ellison Kullmann, and Olivia Burdo.

• Unified Track & Field: Congratulations to our Unified Track & Field program who finished in 2nd place at last week's Montgomery County Regional meet. The team had its largest participation on the team this year, and we look forward to another strong season next year.

• Volleyball: The volleyball team finished 13-4 this season and earned the #5 seed in the District playoffs. The team won their first round game 3-1 over Council Rock North. In the second round they defeated Pennsbury 3-2 in the quarter-finals. This Tuesday they will take on top seeded Haverford at 7PM. The team needs to either win Tuesday or in the playback game on Thursday to qualify for states. Terrell Turner, Landon Kullmann, Gabe Copley, and Cole Brown have been solid contributors on the team this year.

Please check out some of our Cardinal Student Athlete Spotlight interviews from this year.

Picture (L to R): Dr. Winson George (Non-Profit Organization Recipient), Ms. Connie Nitschke (Educator Recipient), Ms. Fan Zhang-Plasket (Community Member Recipient), Ms. Samantha Segal and Mr. Landon Kullmann (Student Recipients).

We continue to register kindergarten students and students in grades 1-12 for next school year. Registration information is available on our website. Our District's registrar, Ms. Mora Ruiz, is eager to help anyone who may need assistance in the registration process.

Please keep in mind that students must be at least five (5) years of age before September 15, 2023, in order to be registered for kindergarten. Next year's kindergarten students will be the Class of 2036!