Capital Improvements, Virtual High School headline Palmyra School changes.
With August quickly coming to an end, a new school year is upon us. For the Palmyra Public School District, school begins for all students on Sept. 6 with teachers starting a day earlier.
Students of all ages will see numerous changes this fall, whether it is the textbooks they use or the software on their computers.
Superintendent Brian McBride is in his sixth year with the district.
“I’m definitely excited for the upcoming year,” McBride said. “We put in a lot of hard work this summer for the students, and it will come to fruition starting in September.”
Some $300,000 worth of capital investments will take place over this next school year, according to McBride, covering a number of things. Installation of cameras on school buildings, cement work, landscaping and new servers inside the schools are just a few.
The enrollment in the district has gone up, with approximately 40 additional students starting in the school district this September.
As for instructional technology, new programs will begin this year in the Charles Street School and Palmyra High School.
“We have a Reading Eggs program starting for grades kindergarten through fourth grade,” McBride said. “A Reflex Math fluency program will occur for K-sixth, while an IXL adaptive learning program will start for grades six through nine. High school students in grades nine to 12 will see a new PLATO program. It’s all about advancing our students and their studies.”
The labs in Charles Street School will see a refresh, while Palmyra High School sees another lab added to the building. ELA, health and physical education, science, social studies and world language are five subjects that will see advances in either textbooks or extracurricular programs.
Over the summer, two programs were offered for students. AP Primer and pre-algebra could have been taken over the summer in preparation for the new school year.
“We want to give our students every opportunity to dive deeper into certain studies,” McBride said. “Our virtual high school program is an awesome program which also gives students the chance to learn languages that they normally couldn’t find in a traditional classroom.”
The virtual high school program offers 60 seats to high school students and has grown each year, McBride stated. If a student wanted to learn Chinese, they could do so with this program.
The district is also in year two of a strategic plan, while it is also taking part in a feasibility study that is looking at a possible consolidation of grades six through eight as a comprehensive middle school. Palmyra High School currently holds grades seven through 12. No timetable has been set for when this would occur, but it is a study McBride and the Board of Education will keep an eye on.
“It’s something that we have considered, but we figure that this study would give us a more in-depth look at this possibility for the future,” McBride said.
For more information on the Palmyra Public School District, check http://www.palmyraschools.com/ps.
