Dear South Fayette Township School District Families and Community Members:
3680 OLD OAKDALE ROAD MCDONALD, PENNSYLVANIA 15057
PHONE 412 / 221.4542 FAX 724 / 693.0490 www. southfayette. org outh Fayette
SOUTH FAYETTE TOWNSHIP SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS
Dr. Bille P. Rondinelli
Superintendent of Schools
We anticipate our children returning to campus and the start of the 2016-2017 school year with a great sense of enthusiasm and excitement. Campus has been extremely busy throughout the summer with our facility projects including the continuation of the high school renovation project, paving of parking areas, and stadium turf replacement. Additionally, many students have participated or are participating in the Intermediate School’ s STEAM Camps, Strings Camp, Band Camps, Little Lions Academy, Technology Programs, and Athletic Activities.
In addition to all of the student activities, adult learners have also been on campus for various professional development opportunities. South Fayette was proud to again be the host site for the AIU 3’ s Advanced Placement( AP) Summer Institute coordinated by the AIU 3’ s Paul Cindric and in collaboration with the South Fayette Administration and Staff. Educators experienced an opportunity to exchange ideas and collaborate with colleagues. The AP Summer Institute’ s primary purpose is to coach teachers with information, resources, and strategies that better engage students and enhance the teaching in the AP course experiences. Teachers had the opportunity to become a part of and the option to continue on as a member of the extended AP learning community.
In addition to the AP Summer Institute, South Fayette was fortunate to receive a significant grant of $ 78,731 through the generosity of the Grable Foundation( http:// grable. org). The purpose of the grant, written and facilitated by the Director of Technology and Innovation, Aileen Owens, was to provide opportunities for teachers to assume the role of students, experience students as co-teacher facilitators, and to Remake Learning. Regional educators experienced making, building, designing and creating learning materials to use with their own students.
The South Fayette Township School District— with the ongoing regional support of the Grable Foundation and Remake Learning Network( www. remakelearning. org), including the collaborative expertise of consultants Norton Gutsky, Maureen Pedzwater and, Technology Assistant, Lynette Lortz— has developed and reimagined this unique professional development experience annually to include a wide range of workshops around the theme of STEAM( Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) Innovation.
During the June Summer Institute, educators selected from multiple workshops facilitated by South Fayette STEAM teachers /
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facilitators such as Melissa Unger and Stephanie DeLuca. In addition, regional educational experts, including Digital Promise: League of Innovative Schools partner Avonworth’ s Michael Lincoln and his students, worked on teaching drone programming. Technology use and integration included, but was not limited to: Python, Raspberry Pi, and Microsoft OneNote sessions; Arts and Bots using Hummingbird Robotics; 3D Printing and Entrepreneurship; Environmental Science; Programming using Scratch; the Maker Movement; 3D Prototyping; STEAM Projects; and Pathways to Computational Literacy. A unique difference this past year included actively engaging students in the teaching and learning. For example, South Fayette High School teacher Stacey Barth and student Ashumi Rokadia co-facilitated the Raspberry Pi course.
The South Fayette School District partners locally, statewide, and nationally to help lead the way by continuing the development of our K-12 articulated curriculum focused on computational thinking as the new literacy.
Children of the South Fayette community are fortunate to have a community that supports their whole-child development through ongoing innovative learning opportunities. The South Fayette Township School District extends sincere public thanks to the entire South Fayette community for its continuous commitment to the children we serve. The district’ s population and enrollment continue to climb, with a current total enrollment of 3,041 students. The expectation is that the enrollment number will increase as the school year commences.
Our primary goal remains as we strive to provide solid and innovative academic programs. The district’ s most recent data indicates that South Fayette students continue to achieve at