Greater Nanticoke Area School District

Greater Nanticoke Area School District
Map of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania School Districts
Address
425 Kosciuszko St.
Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, Luzerne, 18634
United States
Information
Superintendent Anthony P. Perrone
School number 570-735-1270
Grades K-12
Kindergarten 190
Grade 1 173
Grade 2 167
Grade 3 170
Grade 4 183
Grade 5 163
Grade 6 167
Grade 7 178
Grade 8 154
Grade 9 171
Grade 10 176
Grade 11 174
Grade 12 175
Other Enrollment projected to be 2615 by 2020
Mascot Trojan
Team name "Trojans"
Website

The Greater Nanticoke Area School District is a midsized, public school district in Luzerne County. The school serves the borough of Nanticoke and the surrounding townships of Plymouth, Newport, and Conyningham. Greater Nanticoke Area School District encompasses approximately 52 square miles. According to 2000 federal census data, it serves a resident population of 19,443. In 2009 the per capita income was $16,077 while the median family income was $37,672.[2] Per school district officials, in school year 2007-08 the Greater Nanticoke Area School District provided basic educational services to 2,323 pupils through the employment of 137 teachers, 110 full-time and part-time support personnel, and 8 administrators.

The district operates five schools: a high school (grades 8-12), Educational Center (grades 6 & 7), Elementary Center (grades 3-5), Kennedy Elementary grade 2, K.M.Smith Elementary (grades K & 1).

Contents

Academic achievement

Student achievement at Greater Nanticoke Area is in the bottom 20% of school districts statewide. In 2010 the Greater Nanticoke Area School District missed 18 state averages in 21 testing categories on the state tests for reading, math and science. The district was the second lowest in 37 Northeastern Pennsylvania school districts.[3]

Greater Nanicoke Area School District was ranked 414th out of 498 Pennsylvania school districts in 2011 by the Pittsburgh Business Times. The ranking was based on student academic performance based on the PSSAs for: reading, writing, math and two years of science.[4]

In 2009, the academic achievement of the pupils in the district was in the 11th percentile among Pennsylvanian's 500 school districts. Scale (0-99; 100 is state best) [7]

Graduation Rate

In 2010, the Pennsylvania Department of Education issued a new, 4 year cohort graduation rate. Greater Nanticoke High School's rate was 92% for 2010.[8]

According to traditional graduation rate calculations:

Graduation requirements

In order to graduate from the Greater Nanticoke Area High School, a student must successfully complete 21 approved credits which include: 4 credits of English, 3 credits of Social Studies, 3 credits of Mathematics, 3 credits of Science, 2 credits of Arts & Humanities, 5 credits of electives and 1 credit of Health & Physical Education.[12] Students must also have scored at least at the proficient level of performance on the PSSA tests which are taken during their junior year.

By law, all Pennsylvania secondary school students must complete a graduation project as a part of their eligibility to graduate from high school. The type of project, its rigor, and its expectations are determined locally, by the individual school district.[13] At Greater Nanticoke Area High School the graduation project involves students making one of four choices: Community service, Artistic/literary creativity, Career exploration or Academic research.[14]

Beginning with the class of 2016, students must take the Keystone Exams in Literature, Biology 1 and Algebra 1.[15]

Greater Nanticoke Area High School

In 2010 and 2009 the school is in Corrective Action Level I AYP status due to chronic, low student achievement.[16] The school has been identified by the Pennsylvania Department of Education as School Improvement Intervention eligible due to the low academic achievement of both the 8th grade and 11th grade.[17][18] The High School administration provided parents with notice that they could transfer their child to a successful high school within the district. The district operates only one high school.

In 2010 The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development reported that Greater Nanticoke Area 11th graders had the largest decline in math and reading achievement among all Luzerne County School Districts on the 2009 PSSAs.[19]

11th Grade Reading

11th Grade Math:

11th Grade Science:

In 2010, The institute for Public Policy and Economic Development reported that Greater Nanticoke Area School District had the largest percentage of 11th grade students scoring below basic in science achievement, among all Luzerne County School Districts on the 2009 PSSAs.[25]

College remediation

According to a Pennsylvania Department of Education study released in January 2009, 30% of Greater Nanticoke Area High School graduates required remediation in mathematics and or reading before they were prepared to take college level courses in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education or community colleges.[26] Less than 66% of Pennsylvania high school graduates, who enroll in a four-year college in Pennsylvania, will earn a bachelor's degree within six years. Among Pennsylvania high school graduates pursuing an associate degree, only one in three graduate in three years.[27] Per the Pennsylvania Department of Education, one in three recent high school graduates who attend Pennsylvania's public universities and community colleges takes at least one remedial course in math, reading or English.

Dual enrollment

The high school offers a Dual Enrollment program. This state funded program permits high school students to take courses, at local higher education institutions, to earn college credits. Students remain enrolled at their high school. The courses count towards high school graduation requirements and towards earning a college degree. The students continue to have full access to activities at their high school. The college credits are offered at a deeply discounted rate. The state offers a small grant to assist students in costs for tuition, fees and books.[28] Under the Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation Agreement, many Pennsylvania colleges and universities accept these credits for students who transfer to their institutions.[29] The Pennsylvania College Credit Transfer System reported in 2009, that students saved nearly $35.4 million by having their transferred credits count towards a degree under the new system.[30]

For the 2009-10 funding year, the school district received a state grant of $12,710 for its dual enrollment program.[31]

Eighth grade

In 2010, The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development reported that Greater Nanticoke Area 8th graders had the second largest decline in reading achievement and the largest decline in math achievement among all Luzerne County School Districts on the 2009 PSSAs.[32]

8th Grade Reading

8th Grade Math:

8th Grade Science:

In 2010, The institute for Public Policy and Economic Development reported that Greater Nanticoke Area had the largest percentage of 8th grade students scoring below basic in science achievement, among all Luzerne County School Districts on the 2009 PSSAs.[38]

Educational Center

Provides grades 6th & 7th. In 2010 and 2009 the school is in School Improvement I AYP level due to chronic, low student achievement of subsets of students.[39] As required by NCLB, the administration informed students of the right to transfer to a successful school in August 2010. The district operates one school with 6th and 7th grades. The school has developed a mandatory School Improvement Plan which includes: improved differentiated instruction, more assistance to students who are not on grade level and a parent outreach program.[40]

In 2010 The institute for Public Policy and Economic Development reported that Greater Nanticoke Area 5th graders had a minimal improvement in math achievement and moderate improvement in reading achievement among all Luzerne County School Districts on the 2009 PSSAs.[41]

7th Grade Reading

7th Grade Math:

6th Grade Reading

6th Grade Math:

Elementary Center

Provides grades 3rd through 5th. The school made AYP in 2010. The school was in Making Progress: in School Improvement I status in 2009 due to low student achievement. Greater Nanticoke Area Elementary Center Academic Achievement data table 2010. [1], Report Card 2010 [2]

5th Grade Reading;
5th Grade Math;
4th Grade Reading;
4th Grade Math;
4th Grade Science;
3rd Grade Reading;
3rd Grade Math;

Special education

The district administration reported that 408 students or 17.5% were receiving special education services in 2009.[44] [45]

The District affords specialized programs of instruction specifically designed to meet the needs of the District's exceptional students. With assistance from the Luzerne Intermediate Unit 18, exceptional students have access to a complete special education program in such support areas as Learning, Life Skills, Emotional, Speech and Language, Hearing, Visual and Gifted.

The District engages in identification procedures to ensure that eligible students receive an appropriate educational program consisting of special education and related services, individualized to meet student needs. At no cost to the parents, these services are provided in compliance with state and federal law; and are reasonably calculated to yield meaningful educational benefit and student progress. To identify students who may be eligible for special education, various screening activities are conducted on an ongoing basis. These screening activities include: review of group-based data (cumulative records, enrollment records, health records, report cards, ability and achievement test scores); hearing, vision, motor, and speech/language screening; and review by the Instructional Support Team. When screening results suggest that the student may be eligible, the District seeks parental consent to conduct a multidisciplinary evaluation. Parents who suspect their child is eligible may verbally request a multidisciplinary evaluation from a professional employee of the District or contact the Supervisor of Special Education.

In 2010, the state of Pennsylvania provided $1,026,815,000 for Special Education services. The funds were distributed to districts based on a state policy which estimates that 16% of the district's pupils are receiving special education services. This funding is in addition to the state's basic education per pupil funding, as well as, all other state and federal funding.[46]

Greater Nanticoke Area School District received a $1,269,207 supplement for special education services in 2010.[47]

Gifted Education

The District Administration reported that 39 or 1.73% of its students were gifted in 2009.[48] By law, the district must provide mentally gifted programs at all grade levels. The primary emphasis is on enrichment and acceleration of the regular education curriculum through a push in model with the gifted instructor in the classroom with the regular instructor. This approach permits such specialized instructional strategies as tiered assignments, curriculum compacting, flexible grouping, learning stations, independent projects and independent contracts. Students identified as gifted attending the High School have access to honors and advanced placement courses, and dual enrollment with local colleges. The referral process for a gifted evaluation can be initiated by teachers or parents by contacting the student’s building principal and requesting an evaluation. All requests must be made in writing. To be eligible for mentally gifted programs in Pennsylvania, a student must have a cognitive ability of at least 130 as measured on a standardized ability test by a certified school psychologist. Other factors that indicate giftedness will also be considered for eligibility.[49]

Bullying policy

The school district administration reported there were no incidents of bullying in the district in 2009.[50][51]

All Pennsylvania schools are required to have an anti-bullying policy incorporated into their Code of Student Conduct. Greater Nanticoke Area School District has posted a Bullying/Cyberbulling Policy. The district provides an anonymous reporting form online [52] The policy must identify disciplinary actions for bullying and designate a school staff person to receive complaints of bullying. The policy must be available on the school's website and posted in every classroom. All Pennsylvania public schools must provide a copy of its anti-bullying policy to the Office for Safe Schools every year, and shall review their policy every three years. Additionally, the district must conduct an annual review of that policy with students.[53] The Center for Schools and Communities works in partnership with the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime & Delinquency and the Pennsylvania Department of Education to assist schools and communities as they research, select and implement bullying prevention programs and initiatives.[54]

Education standards relating to student safety and antiharassment programs are described in the 10.3. Safety and Injury Prevention in the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Health, Safety and Physical Education.[55]

Budget and taxes

In 2008, the district reported $3,780,481 in a unreserved-undesignated fund balance. The designated fund balance was reported as zero.[56]

In 2005, the district reported employing 112 teachers with the average teacher salary in the district was $46,881 for 184 days worked. The district ranked fourteenth in Luzerne County for average teacher salary in 2007.[57]

Greater Nanticoke Area had the lowest administrative cost per pupil, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, at $398 per pupil in 2008.[58]

In 2009, the district reported employing over 150 teachers with a salary range of $35,075 to $91,039 and a median teacher salary of $51,835.[59][60] Teachers work day is 7 hours 20 minutes and they receive a daily prep period. In addition to salary, the teachers' compensation includes: health insurance, life insurance, paid funeral leave, 10 paid sick, 2 personal days, and reimbursement for college courses. At retirement or death while employed by the district, teachers receive $40 per unused sick day and can receive district funded health insurance. Teachers receive extra compensation for additional duties and for extracurricular advising and sports coaching.[61]

In 2008, Greater Nanticoke Area School District reported spending $10,443 per pupil. This ranked 449th among the 500 school districts, in the commonwealth.[62]

In 2009, the district reported having over $18 million in outstanding debt in General Obligation bonds.[63]

In November 2010, the Pennsylvania Auditor General conducted a performance audit of the district. Findings were reported to the school board and the school district administration [64]

The district is funded by a combination of: a local earned income tax, a property tax, a real estate transfer tax of 0.5%, coupled with substantial funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the federal government. Grants can provide an opportunity to supplement school funding without raising local taxes. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pension income and Social Security income are exempted from state personal income tax and local earned income tax regardless of the individual's level of wealth.[65]

State basic education funding

For the 2010-11 school year, the state basic education funding to Greater Nanticoke Area School District was increased 7.88% for a total of $11,168,165. The highest increase in Luzerne County was awarded to Hazleton Area School District at 12,61%. Sixteen Pennsylvania school districts received an increase over 10%. One hundred fifty Pennsylvania school districts received the base 2% increase. Among Pennsylvania school districts, the highest increase in 2010-11 went to Kennett Consolidated School District in Chester County which received a 23.65% increase in state funding.[66] The amount of increase each school district receives is determined by the Governor and the Secretary of Education through the allocation set in the state budget proposal made in February each year.[67]

For the 2009-2010 budget year the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania provided a 7.68% increase in Basic Education funding for Greater Nanticoke School District a total of $10,354,031. The state Basic Education Funding to the district in 2008-09 was $6,347,347.04. The highest increase in BEF for the school districts in Luzerne County was awarded to Hazleton Area School District at a 13.36% increase. The highest increase in Pennsylvania went to Muhlenberg School District of Berks County which received an increase of 22.31 percent. Sixteen school districts received an increase in funding of over 10 percent in 2009.[68]

In 2009, the district reported that 1,041 students were eligible for a federal free or reduced lunch due to low family income.[69]

Accountability Block Grants

Beginning in 2004-2005, the state launched the Accountability Block Grant school funding. This program has provided $1.5 billion to Pennsylvania’s school districts. The Accountability Block Grant program requires that its taxpayer dollars are focused on specific interventions that are most likely to increase student academic achievement. These interventions include: teacher training, All Day Kindergarten, lower class size K-3rd grade, literacy and math Coaching programs that provide teachers with individualized job-embedded professional development to improve their instruction, before or after school tutoring assistance to struggling students, For 2010-11 the Greater Nanticoke Area School District applied for and received $418,449 in addition to all other state and federal funding. The district used the funding to provide all day kindergarten for the seventh year.[70][71]

Classrooms for the Future grant

The Classroom for the Future state program provided districts with hundreds of thousands of extra state funding to buy laptop computers for each core curriculum high school class (English, Science, History, Math) and paid for teacher training to optimize the computers use. The program was funded from 2006-2009. Greater Nanticoke Area School District did not apply for funding in 2006-07. In 2007-08, it received $223,513. The district received $45,413 in 2008-09 for a total funding of $268,926.[72]

Federal Stimulus Grant

Greater Nanticoke Area School District received an extra $3,027,696 in ARRA - Federal Stimulus money to be used only in specific programs like special education and meeting the academic needs of low income students.[73]

Race to the Top grant

School district officials submitted an incomplete application for the Race to the Top federal grant which would have brought the district over $1 million additional federal dollars for improving student academic achievement.[74]The teachers' union refused to support the effort.[75] Participation required the administration, the school board and the local teachers' union to sign an agreement to prioritize improving student academic success. In Pennsylvania, 120 public school districts and 56 charter schools agreed to participate. Pennsylvania was not approved for the grant. The failure of a majority of school districts to agree to participate was cited as one reason that Pennsylvania was not approved.[76]

Common Cents state initiative

The Greater Nanticoke Area School Board decided to not participate in the Pennsylvania Department of Education Common Cents program. The program called for the state to audit the district, at no cost to local taxpayers, to identify ways the district could save tax dollars.[77] After the review of the information, the district was not required to implement the recommended cost savings changes.

Real estate taxes

The school board levied a real estate tax of 9.9295 mills in 2010-11.[78] A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of a property's assessed value. Irregular property reassessments have become a serious issue in the commonwealth as it creates a significant disparity in taxation within a community and across a region. On the local level, Pennsylvania district revenues are dominated by two main sources: 1) Property tax collections, which account for the vast majority (between 75-85%) of local revenues; and 2) Act 511 tax collections, which are around 15% of revenues for school districts.[79]

In 2008, Luzerne County conducted a county wide property value reassessment. The previous county wide assessment had been done in 1965[81]

Act 1 Adjusted index

The Act 1 of 2006 Index regulates the rates at which each school district can raise property taxes in Pennsylvania. Districts are not allowed to raise taxes above that index unless they allow voters to vote by referendum, or they seek an exception from the state Department of Education. The base index for the 2011-2012 school year is 1.4 percent, but the Act 1 Index can be adjusted higher, depending on a number of factors, such as property values and the personal income of district residents. Act 1 included 10 exceptions including: increasing pension costs, increases in special education costs, a catastrophe like a fire or flood, increase in health insurance costs for contracts in effect in 2006 or dwindling tax bases. The base index is the average of the percentage increase in the statewide average weekly wage, as determined by the PA Department of Labor and Industry, for the preceding calendar year and the percentage increase in the Employment Cost Index for Elementary and Secondary Schools, as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S. Department of Labor, for the previous 12-month period ending June 30. For a school district with a market value/personal income aid ratio (MV/PI AR) greater than 0.4000, its index equals the base index multiplied by the sum of .75 and its MV/PI AR for the current year.[83]

The School District Adjusted Index for the Greater Nanticoke Area School District 2006-2007 through 2011-2012.[84]

The Greater Nanticoke Area School Board did not apply for any exceptions to exceed the Act 1 index for the budget in 2011.[85] In the Spring of 2010, 135 of 500 Pennsylvania school boards asked to exceed their adjusted index. Approval was granted to 133 of them and 128 sought an exception for pension costs increases.[86]

Extracurriculars

The district offers a variety of clubs and sports. Eligibility to participate is set by school board policy.

By Pennsylvania law, all K-12 students in the district, including those who attend a private nonpublic school, cyber charter school, charter school and those homeschooled, are eligible to participate in the extracurricular programs including all athletics. They must meet the same eligibility rules as the students enrolled in the district's schools.[87]

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