N O R T H A L L E G H E N Y S C H O O L D I S T R I C T

November 2014

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www.northallegheny.org

Tiger News

Upcoming eventsThanksgiving Break – Thursday,

November 27, Friday, November 28, Monday, December 1

December 3 – School Board Reorganization Meeting @ CAO Bd. Rm. – 7pm

December 17 – School Board Combined Meeting @ CAO Bd. Rm. – 7pm

December Concert Schedule – See page 6

Winter Break – Wednesday, December 24 – Friday, January 2. School resumes Monday, January 5, 2015

Students and Staff Showcase Bully PreventionIES Welcomes Guests from NorwayOn November 20, Ingomar Elementary hosted visitors from Norway who wanted to learn how American schools are integrating the Olweus Bully Prevention Program. The guests included Baard Sk-rastad (Norwegian School Principal), Stein Gorseth (Norwegian Psychologist), Jane Riese (U.S. Program Developer), and Deb Sagan (Regional Olweus Trainer & Former NA Student Assistance Program Coordinator).

The visiting team sat in on classroom meetings to discover first-hand how IES students and teachers work together to process current issues, and provide students with the tools and strategies needed to navigate the waters of social interactions with peers. The guests were presented with the themes developed at IES and the ways students and staff members have intertwined the various topics into the grade-level curriculums. The team was also inter-ested in learning how IES has created a culture built around their monthly building themes and how the school has incorporated parents into committee meetings.

Ingomar Elementary provides morning announce-ments connected to their building theme to inspire students to include others and maintain social harmony. Building themes this year have included “Cooperative” for September, “Respectful” for Oc-tober, and “Responsible” for November. Teachers at IES have bully prevention jars in their classrooms to allow students to confidentially report bullying or bring up a topic for weekly class meetings.

“We had a wonderful time today with the

visitors and loved interacting with them and

exchanging ideas!” stated Kristen Silbaugh,

IES principal. “We were able to provide them a

flash drive full of interactive flip charts and hope

to take advantage of the program to develop a

pen-pal/Skype connection with students in Nor-

way. The team gave us two books as gifts, one

from the conference on Cultural Competence

and a picture-based book featuring photos of

their home town.”

N O R T H A L L E G H E N Y S C H O O L D I S T R I C T

November 2014

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Advertise in the NASD

E-Newsletter/Website Today.The North Allegheny School District

offers premium, affordable advertising

in the NA Tiger News E-Newsletter

and on the NASD website.

Click here for more information.

NA Makes National News Ranked Ninth in the U.S. by Niche K-12The North Allegheny School District is proud to share with our employees, our families, and our community that the 2015 Niche K-12 National Rankings have been released and our District is ranked #9! Niche rankings are based on Niche’s own proprietary data, a weighted evaluation of student/parent/alumni input, and education statistics sourced from the government and public databases.

To develop the final ranking, Niche established scores in these eight categories for each district evaluated:

• Academics• Health & Safety• Parent/Student Input on Overall Experience• Student Culture and Diversity

• Teachers• Resources and Facilities• Extracurriculars and Activities• Sports & Fitness

According to Niche, “a high ranking indicates that the district has great schools with exceptional teachers, sufficient resources, and a diverse set of high-achieving students who rate their experiences very highly.” For more information about how these rankings are calculated, please go to this webpage.

In addition to ranking NASD the #9 school district in the United States, the District was also recognized as the #3 school district in Pennsylvania and the #1 school district in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area.

The District was also ranked 5th best in the Nation for Best Public School Teachers. This category considered:

• Parent/Student Survey Input• Academic Achievement• Average Teacher Salary

• Teacher Absenteeism• Number Teachers in 1st /2nd Year• Student-Teacher Ratio

Individual schools also top the National rankingsThe North Allegheny Senior High School (NASH) ranked at #33 on the list of Best High Schools in the Nation (out of 14,431 schools). NASH also ranked #2 in Pennsylvania and ranked #1 in Metropolitan Pittsburgh Area.

Each of the three NASD Middle Schools… read more by clicking here.

Luncheon tickets: $30/person For more information, call 412-369-5437.

N O R T H A L L E G H E N Y S C H O O L D I S T R I C T

November 2014

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Howard Hanna Real Estate Services and the North Allegheny Foundation present the:

Saturday, December 6, 201411am – 4pm

A bus tour of six beautifully decorated homes within the North Allegheny School District.$25 in advance, $30 day of Tour

Proceeds Benefit North Allegheny School District and

Howard Hanna’s Children’s Hospital Free Care Fund

For tickets and more, visit: www.northallegheny.org/foundation

NA Students Excel at Model UN ConferenceNA students recently participated in the Model United Nations activity hosted at the University of Pittsburgh on November 10, 2014. Students Sashini Kannan, Christina Wang, Naria Quazi, Yara El-Katib, Becca Avidad, Jack You, and Zane Mehdi earned Second Place for Best Delegation while representing the United States in the simulation. Also representing the USA, students Katie Maley, Ashwin Reddy and Jason Hu earned awards for Best Individual Delegates in their respective committees.

NA students Reginald Kossuth, Varsha Suresh, Pranav Murthy, Yusuph Ulomi, Shanelle Fernando, Sra-vanthi Chintakunta, Kirthana Kannan, Murphy McAndrews, Anastasia Shabalov, and Taaja Lahoff also attended the conference and performed well while representing South Africa.

The Model United Nations, also known as Model UN or MUN, is an extra-curricular activity in which students role-play delegates to the United Nations and simulate UN committees. This is an opportunity for students to apply prior research and studies in a real-world context and practice diplomacy, negotiating, and resolu-tion writing. This activity takes place at conferences which are organized by high school or college MUN clubs. Approximately 500 students participated in this conference from the tri-state area.

Would you like to advertise in Tiger News?.

To place your ad, call

412-369-5445

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November 2014www.northallegheny.org

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MMS Students Adopting Plants for the Winter Months

Seventh grade Life Science students at Marshall Middle School are pairing up to adopt plants from the Bai-erl Family YMCA’s Outdoor Community Herb Garden in Franklin Park. The garden contains a number of ten-der perennials, such as rosemary and lemon grass plants, which are not able to survive through the winter in our region. Students will bring the plants to the 7th grade Life Science classroom and care for them over the winter. They will also be performing experiments and measuring the plants’ growth. All of the plants will be returned to the YMCA in the spring of 2015.

An Afternoon of Thanks and Giving at HESFifth grade students at Hosack Elementary spent an afternoon working on various fun and creative service projects on Friday, November 21st. Through-out the afternoon, students rotated between fifth grade classrooms which were serving as stations for specific projects.

The first project was for students to create dinner placemats to be do-nated to the Home Delivered Meal Program sponsored by Allegheny

County. The second project was to create paper turkeys and then stuff them with winter essentials such as gloves, mittens, socks, and hats. These student-created paper turkeys were then donated to the North Hills Community Outreach. Finally, students created Thanksgiving cards to deliver to a local nursing home.

These meaningful and enriching experiences allowed HES students to discover first-hand what Thanksgiving is all about!

IMS Student Wins Masters-Level Tennis Tournaments

Ingomar Middle School student Ava Catan-zarite recently won two Masters-Level tennis tournaments, advancing her into the Top 100 tennis players competing in the girls’ Age 12 division nationally. Ava, a U.S. National junior tennis player, is currently ranked #1 in the girls Age 12 division of the U.S. Tennis As-sociation (USTA) Middle States section and is nationally ranked #1 in PA and #77 in the U.S.

In August, Ava won the singles draw of the USTA Masters Tournament in Philadelphia, PA, and also won the doubles draw with her playing partner. In October, Ava became the USTA Masters Tournament singles champion in Richmond, VA, while also placing second in the doubles event.

Ava currently ranks #23 in the USTA Middle States Age 14 division and won her first Girls Age 18 championship during a USTA-sanctioned tournament this summer at the NA Senior High School.

Ava plans on playing high school tennis for NA and to become a collegiate player. Congratulations and good luck to Ava!

N O R T H A L L E G H E N Y S C H O O L D I S T R I C T

November 2014

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The 2014 Marcia Martin Unity/Diversity Expression Contest

2013

ent

ry b

y H

elen

Mao

, FES

All NA students are invited to submit entries for the

Fourteenth Annual Diversity Expression Contest

November 10 – December 5, 2014.

There is still time to enter! For entry forms CLICK HERE

“Each one of us is wonderful; together we are diverse and strong. Help make NA a place where everyone knows they belong.”

It’s Time to Check Your SchoolMessenger Information!This is a reminder to make certain you are enrolled in the SchoolMes-senger system and ensure that your information is current for this school year. You have the option of adding and updating contact information for phone calls, emails, and text messaging communica-tions. SchoolMessenger is the first and primary communication vehicle used by the District in the event of any emergency. It is used to notify families of school closings, delays, significant health-related issues, and other critical issues.

You may register for SchoolMes-senger, update contact information, and configure preferences and settings by visiting the SchoolMes-senger website. For more informa-tion, please visit this page on our website.

N O R T H A L L E G H E N Y S C H O O L D I S T R I C T

November 2014

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Gwxs# Gwxs

Paid advertisements in District communica-tions and/or on District property do not repre-sent the District’s endorsement or approval of the matters or organizations represented in the advertisements. (School Board Policy #2580 – Approved Commercial Advertising.)

FOR DISTRICT INFORMATION

www.northallegheny.orgNATV Cable

Armstrong, Ch. 50 Comcast, Ch. 98

Consolidated Cable, Ch. 406 Verizon, Ch. 33

North Allegheny School District, 200 Hillvue Lane, Pittsburgh, PA

15237 • 412-366-2100

NA Has a Mobile Website

Access the NA website anytime, anywhere with your mobile device.

December ConcertsThursday, December 4 CMS Choral Concert 7pm MMS Winter Choral Concert 7pm

Monday, December 8 NASH/NAI Orchestra Concert @ NASH 7pm

Tuesday, December 9 Choral Concerts (to be held at each school) BWE 7pm MCK Gr. 4 7pm MES Gr. 5 7pm

PES 2 & 7pm HES 2 & 7pm

Wednesday, December 10 NASH/NAI Choral Concert @ NASH 7pm

Thursday, December 11 Band Concerts (to be held at each school) CMS 7pm IMS 7pm MMS 7pm

Friday, December 12 IES Winter Choral Concert

Monday, December 15 Choral Concerts (to be held at each school) FES 7pm MCK Gr. 5 7pm MES Gr. 4 7pm

Thursday, December 18 CMS Orchestra Concert 7pm IMS Choral Concert @ NASH 7pm MMS Orchestra Concert 7pm

Thanksgiving Break

Thursday, November 27 – Monday, December 1

Classes resume Tuesday, December 2

Gwxs# Gwxs