Neshaminy Update
Neshaminy School District / September, 2023
Six Neshaminy School District alumni were honored at the Neshaminy Alumni Achievement Award Ceremony on Monday, November 25. This is the third year for the ceremony, which was created to "...honor outstanding lifetime achievement in post-graduation personal and professional pursuits among the alumni of Neshaminy School District as an inspiration to the current students of Neshaminy and the entire Neshaminy community." Nominations were drawn from the community and from Neshaminy district staff. The final selection was made by members of the Alumni Committee of the Neshaminy Education Foundation, which sponsors the ceremony.
The recipients of the 2024 Neshaminy Alumni Achievement Awards are:
- Roy Nelson, Class of 1966 who returned to Neshaminy as a music teacher at every level and choral director for 33 years.
- Claire Smith, Class of 1971, a pioneering major league baseball writer, editor and college professor at Temple University.
- Hon. Denise Bowman, Class of 1991, an attorney and Bucks County Judge in the Court of Common Pleas.
- Dr. Rachael Truchil, Class of 2000, a medical doctor and instructor at the University Pennsylvania.
- Dr. Morgan Hennessy, Class of 2005, a medical doctor and neuroscientist in Los Angeles.
- Andy Laub, Class of 2005, a filmmaker, producer and avid outdoorsman.
Biographical information about each of this year's honorees can be found at the following link:
🔗 Neshaminy Alumni Achievement Award recipient biographical information
Each was presented with an engraved crystal statuette at the ceremony, citations from the Pennsylvania Senate from PA Sen. Frank Farry, the PA House of Representatives from Rep. Joe Hogan, and a flag flown over the U.S. Capital from the office of U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.
"We are very excited about this year’s award ceremony," said Jan King, President of the Neshaminy Education Foundation. "Each of the recipients has demonstrated a passion and commitment to their careers after graduating from Neshaminy and we are pleased to recognize their contributions to their professions, our community, our country, and indeed, the entire world. They have made - and continue to make - Neshaminy proud.”
Five of the six honorees attended the ceremony in person. Andy Laub, who lives in San Diego, attended via Zoom and was represented in person by his parents. Each spoke about how their experiences at Neshaminy shaped their careers, passions and lives. They recognized particular teachers and staff members that guided and inspired them, some of whom attended the ceremony in person.
Pearl S. Buck Elementary School opened its doors to the public on Thursday, November 21 to allow current and former students, Buck families, staff members and neighbors one last opportunity to see their school building before it closes for good at the end of December. Hundreds of visitors toured the building, browsed through old yearbooks and photo albums, posed for photos with the school's dragon mascot Pearl, and reminisced about their experiences at the school.
Pearl S. Buck Elementary School first opened in 1969. Its namesake, the internationally renowned Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize-winning author who lived in Bucks County at the time, visited the school in 1970. The dragon mascot is a reference to her early life growing up as the child of missionaries in China, which she later wrote about in her books. She was also a strong advocate for minorities, women's rights and started a foundation that supports Asian adoption to this day. She passed away in 1973.
For 55 years, generations of students and staff members passed through the building, which was notable for its unusual circular floor plan.
The staff and students of Buck will be moved to the new Core Creek Elementary School on the Maple Point campus following the Christmas and New Year holiday break. The Buck building will be repurposed as a special needs educational facility operated by the Bucks County Intermediate Unit.
The 2025 Neshaminy STEAM Expo will be held on Thursday, April 10 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at Neshaminy High School. Since it was founded in 2015, this celebration of all things Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math has grown to become one of the most beloved and well-attended educational events in the district and a great night for students and their families.
We are looking for individuals, businesses and organizations who would like to share their STEAM expertise with the next generation to join the 2025 Expo as presenters. Please contact David Geanette at dgeanette@neshaminy.org for more information and to sign up.
Neshaminy Pre-K Counts and Family Service Association of Bucks County have partnered again this year to support families in making connections to community resources. Their parenting group meets monthly at locations throughout the area providing resources on various topics such as emotions, friendship, and technology. Educational tools are provided from the Family Service Association - Family Strengthening programs. Guest speakers will share resources on various topics. Information on the next session:
- Wednesday, December 11, 1 pm at the Bucks County Free Library in Langhorne, 301 South Pine Street. All families are welcome to join us to learn more about the resources our local library has to offer.
Families with infants, preschool and school-age children are invited to attend. Refreshments will be provided. Children are welcome to attend with their caregivers. These meet-ups are free, but pre-registration is required. Sign up at the link below.
ACT 1 INDEX ADOPTED
At the November 26 meeting, the Board approved a resolution stating that the district will not raise taxes for the 2025-2026 school year above the Index rate of 4.7% which was set by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. This resolution does not actually determine any possible tax increases for the upcoming school year, but rather simplifies the budgeting process by stating that the district will not need to exceed the state index and therefore will not seek referendum exceptions to balance that budget. The 2025-2026 budget will be finalized and approved in June 2025.
BOARD APPROVES 10-YEAR DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY
The Board approved undertaking a district-wide 10-year enrollment and demographic study to be carried out by Future Think, LLC. The company will provide 10-year enrollment projections (by grade, by school) for the district including an overview of the school district, current and future housing development, population trends, birth counts, and migration patterns. Similar studies have been conducted in the past to allow for long-term facilities and staffing planning. The study will take approximately four to six weeks to complete.
SANDBURG ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL APPOINTED
James Kelly was named as Acting Assistant Principal for Carl Sandburg Middle School at the Board Public Work Session (with action items) on November 12. Mr. Kelly, a social studies teacher at Maple Point Middle School, will replace Derek Albarran, who was recently named as Acting Principal at Sandburg. Mr. Albarran is replacing current Sandburg Principal Dawn Kelly, who is retiring at the end of December.
Following the Thanksgiving holiday, Neshaminy families and staff will begin to see a new number on their mobile devices when important texts are sent from Neshaminy district offices, the transportation department and individual schools. The district is switching vendors for its messaging system, which includes mass email, text alerts and phone messaging. The purpose of this change is to better integrate the messaging system with other data applications used by the district.
Neshaminy families and staff will see little difference in the messages they receive with the switch to the new system, but messages will come from a different number than in the past. Recipients should be careful to NOT opt out of these messages if they want to continue receiving important updates from the district and schools. Recipients may also need to check their email "spam" or "junk" folders if they stop receiving emails. "White-listing" the district's email addresses will help to ensure that these messages end up in the correct folders.
Congratulations to Tina Young, a Neshaminy parent, and her family who are the winners of the 2024 Neshaminy Education Foundation Eagles ticket raffle. She will be receiving four lower-level tickets to the Eagles-Cowboys game on December 29 plus a basket of Eagles-themed items. Thanks to everybody that entered for supporting the NEF. This year's raffle raised over $5,000, which will go back to Neshaminy schools to support classroom grants and the NEF scholarship program for graduating NHS seniors.
On November 4, the Second Annual Neshaminy District Castleball Tournament Championship Final was held in Gym 1 at the high school. Congratulations to all the teams that competed from every elementary and middle school, and the three winning teams in each grade category (Grades 3-4, Pearl S. Buck ES; Grades 5-6, Poquessing MS; Grades 7-8, Carl Sandburg MS). The entire tournament was a fundraiser for the Neshaminy Education Foundation. Many thanks to the Neshaminy physical education teachers who not only helped at the district championship but also organized their school-level competitions in October. And thanks to the hundreds of students that competed and their families for supporting the NEF!
Hoover Hawks participated in spirit days to promote the overarching themes of Red Ribbon Week - encouraging students to live drug-free and bully-free lives. Each spirit day was paired with a giveaway, which was sponsored by our School Counselors, the Council of Southeast PA, and the Neshaminy Coalition for Youth.
During the week, students planted tulips around the building to represent the promise of a healthy lifestyle. Classroom lessons reinforced bullying prevention techniques, and students participated in a Red Ribbon poster contest (the winners in Mrs. Kane's third-grade class are shown above).
Two Neshaminy choral groups are set to compete in the semi-final round of the annual B101 Christmas Choir Contest during the first week of December. Up first is the Carl Sandburg MS Soundwaves Choir, whose rendition of Carol of the Bells will be up for votes on Monday, December 2. The Poquessing Select Choir will be competing against two other schools on Tuesday, December 3 with their performance of Underneath the Tree. Should both schools advance to the final round later in the week, it possible that they will be competing against each other in the final round. Voting takes place all day, and the winners will be announced the following morning. Votes can be cast - as many times as you like - at the B101 website.
The Neshaminy High School Select Choir won the high school division of this contest last year and had the opportunity to perform at the Wells Fargo Center before a sellout crowd at a Tran-Siberian Orchestra concert.
Dawn Kelly, Kori Backhaus, and Caitlin Koczynski from Carl Sandburg MS presented a fantastic session at the 2024 MTSS (Multi-Tiered Systems of Support) and PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Support) Advanced Tiers Implementer’s Forum in Hershey. The room was packed, and they received a standing ovation. Participants soaked up the hour-long presentation which focused on increasing student and staff engagement with the PBIS framework through schoolwide activities and incentives showcasing opportunities to build positive school culture. The session was a big success thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Sandburg PBIS team. They inspired others and really highlighted Neshaminy School District as a leader in this work.
October was Cybersecurity Awareness Month and Cyber Forensic & Digital Law students were tasked with creating a cybersecurity campaign directed to their fellow peers to get high school students interested in cybersecurity and internet safety. Groups of students created posters that were hung up in the BCIT hallway for a voting competition. Over 300 students placed their votes on their favorite cybersecurity poster. Winners in the first period class with their Captain Underpants poster are Kaliyah Jones, Manha Mohammed, Delaney Nelson, and Rochelle Koon. Winners in the fifth period class with their Penn State Poster were Mika Junod and Claudia Little.
In November, students in the Cyber Forensics & Digital Law course as well as the Criminal & Civil Law course had the opportunity to hear from two guest speakers. The first one was Tim Primrose who is a Mobile Forensic Analyst withing for the firm DJS Associates based out of Abington. Tim shared his background and what a Mobile Forensic Analyst does on the job. The second guest speaker was our State Representative, Joe Hogan who spoke to the students about his education, and what the average day looks like for a State Rep. The students really enjoyed hearing about different careers within the Law, and Forensic career fields.
