Extended School Year students enjoy a field trip to Longwood Gardens

Staff News from the Avon Grove School District

Teaching Matters

Inside This Issue:

Heart of Learning FinalistPage 1

Keystones Technology IntegratorsPage 1

Teacher of the Year SemifinalistPages 1-2

Literacy Hero Nominee;Teacher Earns Patent Page 2

School Nurse Serves on PASNAP Executive BoardPage 4

Assistant Principal Appointed at AGHSPage 4

Inventors • Mentors • Role Models

Veronique Taylor, a first-grade teacher at Penn London Elementary School, was named the Avon Grove School District’s finalist for the 2009 Citadel “Heart of Learning” Award. Citadel and the Chester County Intermediate Unit created the award program, now in its eighth year, to recognize and honor excellent teachers throughout the county.

A Heart of Learning Award is presented to one teacher in each of the 13 public school districts in the county; one teacher from the Chester County Intermediate Unit; and one teacher from a Ches-ter County nonpublic school, which includes charter and home schools. A total of 719 teachers were nominated this year. Each of the 15 finalists received a $500 award for use in their classrooms.

For more information about the Heart of Learning Award, visit www.CitadelHeartofLearning.com

Two Avon Grove Teachers Selected as 2009 State-Level Keystones Technology Integrators

ESL Teacher a Semifinalist for PA Teacher of the Year

Ruth Nilan, who teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) at Avon Grove High School, was one of 30 semifinal-ists considered for Pennsylvania’s 2010 Teacher of the Year honor.

Teachers were nominated by stu-dents, parents, colleagues or community members. A committee of former Teacher of the Year recipients and past finalists select the 30 semifinalists. From those 30 nominees, the committee chose 12 finalists who were notified in May. The 2010 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year winner will be announced in October 2009.

Nilan has taught for 27 years. “Teaching is encouraging that young per-son to keep going, to get the job done, to see it through to the end,” said Nilan. “For me, the greatest factor that keeps me teaching is that never-ending expec-tation that what I do matters, even if the results are not tangible or immediate.”

As an ESL specialist, Nilan not only helps ESL students to learn a new language, she also helps students as-similate into a new culture and make sense of the information they get in each content area. Nilan also conducts work-shops for content area teachers which cover topics such as teaching vocabu-lary, understanding non-English-speaking cultures, adapting instructional materials, and teaching reading to English lan-guage learners.

Monica Daniels, a sixth-grade teacher at Avon Grove Intermediate School, and Jeff Bowlby, a mathematics teacher at Avon Grove High School, were selected as 2009 state-level Keystones Technology Integrators (KTI), and both were invited to attend the annual Keystones Technology Summit held July 27-31 at Bucknell University.

A Keystones Technology Integrator is defined as a classroom teacher who fully utilizes the many benefits technology offers to improve instructional practices across his/her content areas. In doing this, the teacher does not focus on the tech-nology itself; rather, s/he focuses on student learning and uses technology as a tool to support this end.

Each year, public school districts can nominate a maximum of two teachers for consideration for a state-level award. District-level nominees must submit sample work to a regional review team. Nine regional review teams select three Key-stones per Intermediate Unit area and two additional Keystones from each region for state-level recognition. Nominees from Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Mont-gomery counties were evaluated by a regional review team based at the Delaware County Intermediate Unit.

Daniels, teacher Vicki Covey from Lionville Elementary School in the Down-ingtown Area School District, and teacher Erin Van Guilder from West Vincent Elementary School in the Owen J. Roberts School District, were selected as the Chester County state-level Keystones for 2009. Bowlby is one of two additional state-level Keystones selected from the four-county region.

Earning state-level recognition is a significant achievement for a teacher, and it is especially noteworthy for a school district to have two state-level Keystones in a single year. Kathy Di Domenico, a fifth-grade teacher at Avon Grove Intermediate School, was named a state-level Keystones Technology Integrator in 2008.

About 100 state-level Keystones attend an annual five-day summit where they engage in hands-on workshops with topics such as differentiating instruction and teaching in the 21st Century. During the summit, Keystones also collaborate with colleagues, share ideas and practices, and strategize ways to disseminate model practices across the Commonwealth.

The KTI program, now in it’s sixth year, is coordinated through the Pennsyl-vania Department of Education’s Bureau of Educational Technology. Since the program’s inception, over 3,000 teachers have been nominated at the school-level and identified as Keystones. They represent over 300 school districts, nonpublic schools, and career technology centers/area vocational-technical schools.

Penn London First-Grade Teacher a 2009 “Heart of Learning” Finalist

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� Teaching Matters Summer �009

Bonnie McCloskey, a literacy coach at Avon Grove High School, was nominated as a Literacy Hero in the fourth-annual program created by the West Chester Public Library.

Heroes were nominated in eight categories: adult literacy hero, youth hero, local author, medical/health, technology/in-novation hero, community impact hero, corporate good neigh-bor hero, and educational hero.

All the nominees were recognized at a Literacy Heroes Breakfast on April 17 at the Longwood Gardens ballroom. Verizon was copresenter at the event. A total of 27 organizations sponsored the program. Representatives from eight sponsor companies reviewed the nominations and selected one winner in each category.

According to Howard Sundwall, president of the West Chester Public Library Board of Trustees, “The purpose of the function is to call attention to the topic of literacy and to celebrate hometown heroes who have done something exceptional to promote reading and writing in the local community.”

In addition to her role as a literacy coach, McCloskey often participates in activi-ties beyond the curriculum to engage students, teachers and staff in promoting literacy. Each March, for example, McCloskey has coordinated the high school’s Read Across America Day activities.

For the 2008-2009 celebration, AGHS teachers and staff were permitted to wear jeans and T-shirts to school on March 3. McCloskey suggested teachers wear red, white and blue or a shirt that paid tribute to a favorite book or author. At least one teacher designed a custom shirt for the occasion.

Participants were asked to donate $5 each to The Bridge, a local food and cloth-ing pantry that serves the Avon Grove community. A total of 48 teachers and staff members participated, raising $240 for The Bridge. McCloskey has also spearheaded children’s book drives and literacy poster contests.

She has worked at Avon Grove since 2003-2004 and has been a literacy coach for the last three years. In this role, McCloskey is instrumental in promoting literacy across the curriculum. She provides training for both veteran and novice teachers on the integration of reading and writing strategies across the content areas throughout the school year, often working side-by-side with teachers in their classrooms. She models lessons, participates in formal classroom observations and assists students with test-taking strategies.

This summer, McCloskey was the site director for the Extended School Year Pro-gram. She is currently working on the Accreditation For Growth, Student Achievement Team, and Writing Research Committees. She is attending graduate school to pursue a principal certification and is interning under Chris Matsanka, assistant principal.

Visit www.literacyheroes.com for more info on the Literacy Heroes program.

Dr. James Lertola, a science teacher at Avon Grove High School, was awarded a U.S. patent in his name on March 17, 2009, for his invention of a unitized membrane electrode assem-bly and the process for its preparation. The patent is assigned to E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company in Wilmington, Del. Lertola was a research engineer at DuPont for 13 years.

The application for the patent was filed January 22, 2003. The invention re-lates to fuel cells — battery-like energy sources with the potential to save en-ergy and reduce pollution in cell phones, computers, and eventually automobiles. Lertola also holds a DuPont patent for a type of bullet-proof-vest fabric.

Lertola earned a bachelor’s de-gree in chemical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a doctorate in chemical engineering and secondary teaching certification, both from the University of Delaware.

Lertola teaches chemistry, physics, and biology at Avon Grove High School. He joined the district in the 2005-2006 school year. Lertola is also a member of the National Science Teachers Associa-tion. He has two children in Avon Grove schools and coaches youth football.

She credits her colleagues and ESL support staff for helping students reach their potential. On average, 60 percent of ESL students at the high school are on the honor roll each quarter, and many go on to post-secondary education.

Former ESL students are currently attending the California University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State Uni-versity, Millersville University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Goldey Bea-com College, Thaddeus Stevens School

of Technology, West Chester University and James Madison University.

Nilan also founded the high school’s annual ESL Soccer Tournament, and she helps coordinate and supervise the event each June along with the ESL and soccer coaching staff.

During the tournament, male ESL students teach female ESL students how to play soccer, then the boys play com-petitive games and the girls play against one another. Over 40 students participate each year. Nilan says the event builds

friendships and gives the young men a chance to be teachers and leaders.

Nilan also helps students complete college and job applications, and often stays after school to help students with homework or projects. She also helps host Latino parent information nights.

“The investment of time into the lives of students contributes to a better world,” said Nilan. “I believe many students will long remember the extra time we invested into their lives much more than the academic knowledge we imparted.”

AGHS English-as-a-Second-Language Teacher a Semifinalist for PA Teacher of the Year

AGHS Literacy Coach Nominated as a “Literacy Hero”

Continued from page �

AGHS Teacher Earns Patent

Inventors • Mentors • Role Models

Teaching Matters Summer �009 �

AGHS Nurse Serves on Executive Board of PA Association of School Nurse PractitionersKaren Flad, a nurse at Avon Grove

High School, was recently selected as the President-Elect for the Pennsylvania Association of School Nurse and Practi-tioners (PASNAP).

Flad will serve two years as Presi-dent-elect, two years as President, and two years as Past President. As president elect, she will serve as coordinator for the association’s annual education conference for the next two years.

The organization’s mission is to provide the structure and leadership necessary to promote unity among all certified school nurses, to advance the professional practice of school health through continuing education, improve political awareness, and promotion of school nursing to assure quality school health services.

Flad began her career as a certified school nurse in 1995. She has served as president of the Chester County School Nurses Association and as the South East

School Nurse Representative for PAS-NAP.

Since 2005, she has been an adjunct instructor at West Chester University teaching Legal Mandates of School Nurs-ing. The course is part of the university’s school nurse certification program.

In 2006, Flad was one of seven Pennsylvania school nurses trained by the National Association of School Nurses to teach disaster preparedness to other school nurses.

Flad is the school nurse representative on a statewide committee for emergency preparedness and, along with about 80 stakeholders, helped develop the Penn-sylvania Department of Health’s Strategic Public Health Preparedness Plan. She is also active in the Avon Grove Regional Emergency Management organization.

Along with other Avon Grove school nurses and local health and emergency management officials, Flad helped organize and coordinate two Points of

Dispensing drills conducted at Avon Grove High School, one in October 2007 and one in June 2009. The drills were designed to test responders’ ability to dispense medications, either pill or injec-tion, to a large number of people during a mock public health threat.

Flad also worked with several other Avon Grove school nurses and local health and emergency management representatives to conduct a multiagency emergency drill in October 2008. The scenario for the drill involved a simulated bleacher collapse at the high school.

Flad was an emergency room regis-tered nurse for 18 years prior to becom-ing a school nurse. She’s a trained para-medic and had volunteered in the past as an emergency medical technician.

She also serves as an advisor for Avon Grove High School’s Humanitarian Club. This student group participates in numerous charitable events and activities through the year.

Inventors • Mentors • Role Models

middle and high school athletics. Mr. Connor also helped formulate policies, established a Web site for athletics, spearheaded community service projects through the athletic department, and implemented pro-cedures for academic eligibility and physicals.

In addition, he spearheaded a fund-raising event to benefit the American Cancer Society in honor of a former student who had leukemia. Mr. Connor was also the head coach for Garnet Valley’s 7th Grade Boys’ Basketball team and 7th Grade Boys’ Lacrosse team.

Mr. Connor holds a Master of Education in Instructional Leadership with a Principal Certification K-12 from Cabrini College in Radnor, Pa. He also earned a Bachelor of Sci-ence in Elementary Education K-6 as well as middle school teaching certi-fications in language arts and mathe-matics for grades 7-9 from Neumann College in Aston, Pa.

At the regular meeting of the Avon Grove School District Board of School Directors on August 13, 2009, the Board appointed Mr. James Connor as an assistant prin-cipal at Avon Grove High School.

As assistant principal, he will be responsible for ninth-graders and the athletic program for Avon Grove High School.

Prior to joining Avon Grove, Mr. Connor served as a sixth-grade teacher at Garnet Valley Middle School in Glen Mills, Pa., from Au-gust 2003 to the present. He also served as athletic director for the middle school from August 2008 to the present. Prior to joining Garnet Valley School District, Mr. Connor taught sixth-grade at Saint Anastasia School in Newtown Square, Pa., for three years.

While at Garnet Valley, Mr. Con-nor taught mathematics, social stud-ies and language arts. He worked on differentiating mathematics instruc-

tion and activities to ease transitions for elementary students entering middle school.

He also served as a teacher-member of the leadership team and the District Local Education Agency and served on the Crisis Plan Com-mittee and Student Assistance Pro-gram.

Mr. Connor served as a technol-ogy instructor during staff develop-ment and created a teacher Web site. He also organized and oversaw the “Camp Invention” summer sci-ence camp for middle school stu-dents in 2007-2008.

As athletic director for Garnet Valley Middle School, Mr. Connor planned, administered and directed interscholastic activities and man-aged the school athletic budget. He also served as chairperson for the Athletic Committee, which developed a mission and philosophy for the middle school athletic department and helped bridge the gap between

Board Appoints New Assistant Principal at Avon Grove High School

� Teaching Matters Summer �009