Spring-Ford School District students, teachers begin new school year
The Spring-Ford Area School District welcomed nearly 8,000 students back to school on Monday, Aug. 26.
Along with new friends, come new initiatives from the school district including a new School Breakfast Program. The Spring Ford Food Service menu will now include an option to purchase breakfast before school.
Through the new breakfast program, students will have the opportunity to preorder breakfast which they will enjoy before the start of the school day. As with Spring-Ford’s lunch program, breakfast will be available at a free or reduced price for eligible students.
The new breakfast program will launch districtwide in October. Additional information including a breakfast menu, ordering process, and prices will be sent to families mid-September.
Spring-Ford School District also has a new assistant superintendent. This summer, the Spring-Ford School Board appointed Robert Rizzo as the new assistant superintendent. Rizzo began his career as a band director in the East Allegheny School District in 1993. Since that time, he has served as a band director for Penn Hills School District and Indiana Area School District, as well as an assistant principal at Indiana Area Senior High School, principal at Ben Franklin Elementary School, coordinator of instructional technology for Indiana Area School District, and most recently, assistant superintendent of the Indiana Area School District.
Rizzo is currently pursuing his doctorate of educational leadership: instructional technology through Wilkes University. He earned his superintendent’s letter of eligibility in 2015 from California University of Pennsylvania, his principal certification and master of education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and is a proud graduate of Penn State University.
Rizzo joined the Spring Ford family on Aug. 5. Parents will have opportunities to meet Mr. Rizzo at various school district events throughout the start of the school year.
A Bus Status App is also a new feature for the school district this year. The Bus Status App displays up to date bus information for schools and school districts. The app sends out push notifications for cancelled, delayed, or early buses, keeping parents and students updated throughout the day. Select your bus route as a favorite to receive notifications for special announcements and late bus information.
Spring-Ford Area School District’s 9th grade students stopped into school a week early to pick up their new Chromebook laptops as part of the Chromebook program.
Over the past six years, five cohorts of teachers — a total of 65 — have participated in modernized learning training. This year, teachers will use technology as a seamless part of solid instructional practice, engaging students and meeting their individual needs, while student will embrace technology integration as easily in the classroom as they do outside of it.
The Class of 2023 is the first class of students to receive new laptops. In order to ensure ALL K-12 students are involved in “modernized” learning, Spring-Ford is following a multi-year plan to increase student and teacher access to technology with technology training in K-12 classrooms.