Pennridge School District Becomes One of Pennsylvania’s ‘Great Schools’

The Pennridge School District has been recognized as a “Great Pennsylvania School.” The Great Pennsylvania Schools (GPS) designation is given to Pennsylvania public schools that meet certain criteria. These schools offer challenging academic programs, prioritize community involvement, have strong financial stability, and show resilience according to the Pennsylvania School Board Association. The Great PA Schools honor is a recognition that lasts for four years. To maintain this recognition as one of the best districts in Pennsylvania, the district needs to be evaluated again every four years, according to a press release from the district.

“I am extremely proud of our students and staff for achieving this remarkable accomplishment,” said Angelo Berrios, superintendent of Pennridge School District. At Pennridge, we go beyond the usual idea of a school district. We are a lively community that is dedicated to promoting high academic achievement, providing support, and building resilience. We are working hard every day to create a better future for each student by offering a challenging curriculum, building strong relationships with the community, and making our students a top priority.

The Pennridge School District shared celebration programs that were created for students, staff, and the community over the past two years as part of the application process. We are committed to sharing important information with district stakeholders, and we also prioritize highlighting the excellent programs that our teachers and staff provide to Pennridge students on a daily basis.

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“Our goal is to give every student a challenging and meaningful curriculum that ignites their curiosity and motivates them to love learning,” explained Dr. Kathy Scheid, who is the assistant superintendent in charge of teaching, learning, and assessment. “We have recently added a new course called AP Human Geography to our list of courses. We will also be adding more interesting and engaging options for all students.”

“Receiving the Great Pennsylvania Schools designation shows how dedicated our staff is to our students and our school,” said Ron Wurz, president of the Pennridge School Board. “Our students are able to reach their full potential because of the hard work and dedication of our teachers, who go above and beyond for them.” I want to congratulate everyone on this incredible achievement.

In order to receive this designation, districts must meet the criteria that have been established in each of the four categories: Districts that offer challenging academic programs must ensure that all of their teachers are certified and that students have opportunities for career and technical education, gifted education, advanced placement, and/or dual enrollment baccalaureate courses and programs.

In order to show that a district is the most important part of the community, it needs to be a leader in creating new and exciting school programs, regularly recognize the achievements of students and staff, and offer a wide range of academic and extracurricular activities for the benefit of students.

The last criteria, resilience and fiscal health, assess a district’s planning efforts that ultimately result in successful academic programming. In order to meet the resilience criteria, a district needs to have a plan in place for emergencies and also offer mental health support to students. The release stated that a district can be considered financially healthy if it meets certain criteria. These criteria include having an elected or independent auditor conduct a financial audit every year, making the final district budget available for public review before it is adopted, and following the School Code requirements for bids and quotations when purchasing goods and services.