Happy New Year!

December 2014

As we close out 2014 and welcome a new year I wanted to highlight several science and technology programs and events occurring in the Palisades School District. 

Upper Bucks County Technical School (UBCTS) Renovations

Yesterday (December 29, 2014) I had the opportunity to tour the UBCTS and see the progress on the renovation project with Jim Hallowell, Palisades School Board Vice-President and UBCTS Joint Operating Committee President and Joe Murphy, UBCTS Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds.

Several programs (including Health and Dental) will be ready to move into their permanent locations in January while others are preparing to move into their swing spaces. It is an exciting time at the UBCTS!

For more information about UBCTS please click here.


Palisades Medical Career Pathway Program - Visit to Temple University/St. Luke's Health Network Medical School

On December 12, 2014, Rich Heffernan, Palisades High School Principal, Monica Losinno, Palisades High School Guidance Counselor, and I visited the Temple University/St. Luke's Health Network Medical School (Bethlehem, PA) with our medical career pathway students. The students learned from Dr. Joel Rosenfeld, Chief Academic Officer for St. Luke's University Health Network's Graduate Medical Education Programs about the medical profession, undergraduate degrees, medical school and residency programs. Students also entered the simulation lab with Josh Onia, Simulation and Standardized Patient Coordinator, to observe how current St. Luke's medical students learn to treat patients through the use of both highly specialized simulation equipment and standardized patients. Thank you St. Luke's for hosting our students!

For more information about Temple/St. Luke's Medical School please click here.

Palisades Middle School - Focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM)




At our December Administrator meeting, Palisades Middle School students showcased their work in robotics, mathematics and programming! Two 8th grade students demonstrated Expedition Atlantis - The Robot Algebra Project from Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Academy and the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center. Through this program, students demonstrate mastery of mathematical concepts in order to navigate their virtual robot through various challenges.

In order to launch Expedition Atlantis at PALMS this school year, Palisades' teachers, John Venner, Joel Filling, Jim Beck and Chris Willman attended the Robotics Academy at the National Robotics Engineering Center (Pittsburgh, PA) last summer.

For more information about Expedition Atlantis - The Robot Algebra Project please click here.

For more information about the Robotics Academy summer professional development please click here.

Palisades 6th grade students also showed off their engineering skills by activating the robot they built as members of the First Lego League. Through teamwork and creative problem solving, this first-year team participated in a FIRST Lego League competition in the fall and look forward to many more opportunities to design and program!

For more information about FIRST Lego League please click here. 

I hope you have a wonderful new year and if you have questions about any of the programs we have in the Palisades School District please don't hesitate to contact me at boconnell@palisadessd.org

Happy New Year!

Palisades School District represented at White House

ConnectEd to the Future

I am excited to announce that on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 I will represent the Palisades School District at the first-ever National Connected Superintendents Summit at the White House. Thanks to the efforts of this community in supporting technology integration in the classroom, our work will be shared with a national audience and we will have the opportunity to collaborate with districts across the nation to support student learning. 

Palisades students using Chromebooks in class. 

To help spotlight the value of technology in schools, the Education Department is sponsoring a Future Ready Initiative aimed at showcasing outstanding school districts and strategies.

“The Future Ready Initiative highlights the critical role of district leaders in setting a vision and creating the environment where educators and students access the tools, content, and expertise necessary for thriving in a connected world,” said Richard Culatta, Director of the Department’s Office of Educational Technology.

Future Ready districts demonstrate effective use of technology in some of the following ways:

·     Fostering and leading a culture of collaboration and digital citizenship;

·     Transitioning schools and families to high-speed connectivity;

·     Empowering educators with professional learning opportunities;

·     Accelerating progress toward universal access to quality devices;

·     Providing access to quality digital content;

·     Creating access, equity, and excellence – particularly in rural, remote, and low-income districts;

·     Offering digital tools to students and families to help them prepare for success in college;

·     Sharing best practices and mentoring other districts in the transition to digital learning.

Palisades students in Graphic Communications. 

For more information on this event from the White House Office of the Press Secretary please click here.

For more information about our commitment to being Future Ready please view the following video.

Fire Prevention at Palisades School District

Thank you to our local volunteer fire companies for their support during Fire Prevention Week!

Springtown Volunteer Community Fire Company 

Last month our local Bucks County fire companies including Springtown Volunteer Fire Company, Ottsville Volunteer Fire Company, Delaware Valley Volunteer Fire Company and Upper Bucks County EMS visited our elementary schools to discuss fire prevention, creating a family escape plan and emergency response.

Delaware Valley Volunteer (Erwinna) Fire Company 

Fire Prevention Week, which dates back to the early 1920s, is noted as the longest running public health and safety observance in our nation's history.  President Woodrow Wilson issued the first National Fire Prevention Day proclamation in observance of  the infamous “Great Chicago Fire” of October 8,1871 that killed 250 people, destroyed over 17,000 homes and left 100,000 homeless. While the devastation in Chicago is the most well known, the Peshtigo Fire, began on the same day in 1871 in Northeast Wisconsin destroyed16 towns and claimed 1,152 lives. Over the past nine decades, the firefighting community has educated the public about the importance of fire prevention and safety.

Ottsville Volunteer Fire Department

The Fire Prevention Week theme for 2014 was Smoke Alarms Save Lives: Test Yours Every Month. 

To learn more about each of the fire departments and EMS serving Upper Bucks County, please visit their websites:

Ottsville Volunteer Fire Company
http://www.ovfc49.org/news/index/layoutfile/home

Delaware Valley Volunteer (Erwinna) Fire Company 
http://www.delawarevalleyfire.com/

Springtown Community Volunteer Fire Company
http://websites.firecompanies.com/springtownfireco/

Haycock Fire Company
http://www.haycockfire.org/

Point Pleasant Fire Company
http://www.engine41.com/

Riegelsville Fire Company
http://www.northhouse42.com/

Upper Black Eddy Fire Company
http://ubefire.com/

Upper Bucks Regional EMS
http://www.ubrems.org/

Bucks County Emergency Management Services
http://www.buckscounty.org/government/EmergencyServices

To learn more about about Fire Prevention, please visit the following sites:

National Fire Protection Association 
 http://www.nfpa.org/safety-information/fire-prevention-week/about-fire-prevention-week

National Association of State Fire Marshals
https://www.firemarshals.org/index.html


Office of the State Fire Commissioner
http://www.osfc.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/state_fire_commissioner_home/4462

Thank you again to our local emergency management organizations for all that you do to protect the lives and safety of our community.

Substance Abuse Prevention

National Substance Abuse Prevention Month

While the month of October is recognized as National Substance Abuse Prevention Month, our district and community commitment to combating substance abuse is ongoing. As the Presidential Proclamation (found here) notes:   

Substance abuse disrupts our families, schools, and communities and limits the success of young people across our country. It destroys relationships and stands in the way of academic achievement. Everyday, thousands of young Americans try drugs or alcohol for the first time, and for many, this decision will have a profound impact on their health and well being.

Palisades School District continues to partner with the community to provide resources, training and informational sessions all in the effort to support the health and well-being of our students and families.

Palisades School District Initiatives:

Student Surveys

Every two years, the district partners with the Upper Bucks Healthy Communities Healthy Youth Coalition (UBHCHY) and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to gather data regarding student-reported, risky behaviors (drug and alcohol abuse) and protective behaviors (involvement in extracurricular activities). Our district and community partners analyze the data, research effective practices and implement community campaigns and school-based programs.

UBHCHY Town Hall Meeting - May 29, 2014 

School and Community Programs and Partnerships

If you are interested in joining the Palisades community organization committed to eliminating risky behaviors and promoting protective behaviors please contact Partners in Action for Community Togetherness (PACT) chairperson John Debczak at john.debczak@wellsfargoadvisors.com or community moblizer Emily French at ewfrench@verizon.net. If you would like to see the PAYS survey please access the PACT website here.

For more information on trainings and resources please click here for Just Communities, Inc.

Substance Abuse in Our Community Presentation

In partnership with the Bedminster Police Department and the Upper Bucks County Technical School, Palisades School District will host a Community Outreach Program, “Substance Abuse in our Community,” on Thursday, October 23, 2014 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in the Palisades High School Auditorium.

Bucks County, PA Initiatives:

Drug Take Back

A drug take back day was held on Saturday, September 27th at various locations throughout Bucks County. As a result of this program, 7201.18 lbs. of prescription medications were collected and safely destroyed.

Opiate and Heroin Town Hall Meeting

A town hall meeting will be held on October 30th at Morningstar Church  from 7:30 pm to address the Opiate and Heroin problem in Upper Bucks.

Heroin Prevention Outreach - Alerting Law Enforcement of Heroin Activity

The Bucks County District Attorney’s office has set up an anonymous tip line. There are three methods of alerting law enforcement officers about heroin activity in Bucks County. The first is a telephone line: 1-215-345-DRUG (3784). The second is an e-mail address: drugtips@co.bucks.pa.us. The third, geared at the millennial generation is a text tip line: simply text BUCKSDRUGTIPS to TIP411.

Digital Learning at Palisades School District

Connected Superintendents' Summit

At the beginning of the school year I was invited by the US Department of Education to apply to join other superintendents from across the nation in Washington, D.C. to collaborate on how our districts are implementing digital learning and how we are preparing students to be future ready.

For more information about the Connected Superintendent Summit please click here.
For information about the Future Ready District Pledge please click here.

In this blog, I wanted to share how Palisades School District is implementing digital learning and where you can learn more about our district's technology infrastructure and programming on the district's website.

The Palisades School District is implementing Digital Learning for our students, staff and community in the following ways:

1. Expand mass customized learning with blended and online learning options built from within and led by Palisades teachers and building administrators
2. Expand Palisades Cyber Academy with a hybrid and blended campus for all secondary learners
3. Enhance credit recovery options with online learning
4. Continue to build capacity and efforts to get a device to every student with thin clients, Chromebooks, (Bring Your Own Device) BYOD, and existing infrastructure as our "1 to World" endeavor - The district remains platform agnostic - the only goal is connecting all learners.
5. Partner with other districts to offer diverse and streamlined on-line offerings
6. Develop flexible scheduling options where students can earn credit in non-traditional time periods like summer and evenings - We are also planning an open learning spaces initiative to open our libraries and cyber centers to the Palisades community in the evenings with special events, classes, and other programs
7. Develop “Open-Educational Resource (OER) Elective” opportunities where students can participate in the online learning revolution by enrolling in MOOCs, open courses, and more
8. Build, maintain, and innovate cyber centers in our buildings to offer the entire learning community blended support and learning spaces
9. Build elementary “Immersive Literacy Rooms” with tablets and apps for immersive reading, augmented reality, and virtual reality to make close reading and literacy relevant and multimodal within a comfortable, differentiated environment - Our building technology leaders will be major contributors to how these spaces serve students
10. Provide increased opportunities for community members to learn through our Community Evening School, both in person and online
11. Increase teacher readiness and global competence by promoting and providing professional development for Google certification, national board certification, and other achievements of excellence
12. Provide non-traditional professional development channels that promote blended professional development and choice in learning
13. The district has provided the opportunity for four teachers - two technology education teachers, one math teacher, and one computer and information sciences teacher - to participate either in-person or virtually in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. These teachers shared details of their experience with the entire staff at opening day in August and will begin creating a STEM Academy at Palisades Middle School.
14. Providing extensive support to a small group of teacher leaders who are incorporating flipped class/blended learning and opportunities into their classroom. These teachers are also encouraged to share experiences/best practices with colleagues both in and outside the district, as well as Board and community members.
15. Delivering a series of parent information nights led by district administrators on internet safety, college and career readiness, BYOD, and other pertinent educational topics.

The following websites will assist you in learning more about our district’s digital infrastructure and programming:

Palisades School District - Superintendent’s Webpage
Palisades School District - Director of Technology Webpage
Palisades School District - BYOD
Palisades School District - Palisades Cyber Academy
Palisades School District - Cybersonics Technology Team 103

Welcome Back!

Opening Week with Faculty and Staff - August 25, 2014

One of the most rewarding aspects of my role as superintendent of schools is when I am able to develop or strengthen partnerships between the Palisades School District and the community to meet the goals of the Comprehensive Plan. Our Comprehensive Plan is focused on fostering academic excellence, providing leadership opportunities for all students, promoting community engagement, and creating an enriching environment for all students. For more information on the district comprehensive plan please this link.

This year for our opening day kick off with all members of the Palisades School District faculty and staff, many of our district partners were able to share the work they are doing with our students to meet the goals of the Comprehensive Plan. Parents, teachers, School Board representatives, Upper Bucks County Technical School (UBCTS) representatives, community members and regional partners like Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes, CEO of the Red Cross Southeast Region shared the value of partnerships for enhancing student learning.  Thank you again to all of the speakers that made opening day so inspiring!

To review the full presentation from opening day please use this link.

At the end of the opening day kick off, administrators participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge. As a district, we raised $1500 for ALS.

Scott Davis - Springfield Elementary Principal, Dr. Bridget O'Connell - Superintendent, and

Donna Holmes - Director of Community Relations

Opening Week with Students - September 2, 2014

This is one of my favorite weeks of the school year. As I visited all of our district buildings and the UBCTS I saw students engaged in learning, practicing fire drills, discussing class leadership positions, meeting new teachers and support staff and in some cases dancing in the halls! The UBCTS is in the process of major renovations and you can see two pictures in the slide show.

My First Blog Post for the Community

Welcome to the first post of my Superintendent blog! I have used blogs in the past with various groups including new teachers, administrators, and students; however, I have not created a blog for the Palisades School District community. There were four questions I needed to resolve before venturing into blogging on a larger scale.

1. Why write a superintendent’s blog?

This was the first major question I had to answer.  The district has numerous communication outlets including: the District Web site, building Web sites, The Palisades Patch (if you are not on the distribution list please register using the “The Palisades Patch” link to the right), Community Newsletter, Board and sub-committee meetings and posted minutes, articles by local news agencies, videos posted on Service Electric channel 103.4 or 261 (with a digital box), and notices via SchoolMessenger, to name a few.  We are also in the process of placing our district videos on YouTube with a link from the district website. The purpose of this blog will be to add the Superintendent’s voice to current topics or events that may not emerge through our already established methods of communication and to solicit your feedback on those topics.

Another benefit of a blog is that the conversation will be available when you are ready to participate. I have also set up an email subscription so you can receive my posts as an email instead of having to access the blog. Please go to the “Follow by Email” text box to the right and enter your email address if you are interested in receiving this blog via email.  

2. What will I write about?

I mentioned in the previous section that the posts are available when you are ready to read them which implies the posts are not time-sensitive.  For example, in the midst of an emergency situation, the community will continue to receive alerts as opposed to needing to refer to the Superintendent’s blog. Similarly, if you are interested in all of the amazing community and district events occurring in the upcoming weeks, please continue to rely on The Patch since it is distributed weekly during the school year.

The Superintendent’s blog will highlight special interest stories and educational issues from the district and community as well as feature guest bloggers. I would also like to know what you would like to see written in a blog post. Please use the “Make a Suggestion!” link to the right if you would like to share a topic idea with me.

3. How will I handle comments?

The benefit of a blog is that it promotes two-way interaction which is why comments will be allowed. However, if you already communicate with me via email, phone call or meetings to discuss issues please continue to use those methods of communication if they work best for you. This blog does not take the place of those communication methods; rather it simply adds another option.

The two issues that concern me regarding blog comments are being inundated with spam and handling inappropriate comments. This is how I plan to address both. If a comment looks like spam (a one-line response, anonymous, contains a link, written in a foreign language, or includes “visit my blog”) I will review the comment more closely and if it is spam, the message will be deleted.  If a comment is inappropriate (profane or disparaging, names an individual, is not relevant to the topic of the blog specifically or education in general) I will delete it.

4.  How often will I blog?

I will set an initially conservative goal of at least once a month but I plan to post more frequently. I already plan to blog again soon, so stay tuned…