Scheduling Changes, Middle School Programming New To Hatboro-Horsham

HATBORO / HORSHAM TOWNSHIP, PA —With the start of the upcoming 2023-2024 school year approaching, Patch posed five questions to Hatboro-Horsham Schools Superintendent Scott Eveslage.

Eveslage answered questions about the new year ahead, the challenges the district faces and what was accomplished during the prior school year.

See his answers below:

1. How excited are you about a new school year starting up?
We are excited about the upcoming school year and the potential it holds. Every school year plays an important role in shaping students' lives and preparing them for the future, and we take that responsibility seriously. It is a fresh opportunity to encourage innovation, provide a positive learning environment, and nurture students' diverse talents and interests. There were several points of pride from 2022-23 to build toward enhancing the educational experiences of our students, while partnering with our families. Together, we can make this academic year a success and a memorable journey of growth and achievement.

2. What are the biggest challenges the district faces this year?
School districts are challenged to navigate the ever-changing educational landscape through unpredictable economic times. The pandemic disrupted society and schooling in a way that had never been seen. We are seeing students with a wider range of needs —social/emotional, academic, and mental health —and we strive to help them continue to grow amid those challenges. This has exacerbated our annual challenges, including allocating resources efficiently with limited budgets, balancing the needs for quality education and infrastructure maintenance, providing inclusive education for students with diverse needs and backgrounds, maintaining a safe and secure learning environment, building strong relationships with families and the community, and continually revising and upgrading the curriculum and programming.

3. What are you most proud of that you accomplished in the past year?

The 2022-23 school year brought with it several points of pride. First and foremost, we saw
improvements in our student achievement outcomes in many areas across the district. Our fundamental purpose is student learning, so experiencing student learning growth brings great satisfaction. Other educational and programmatic points of pride:

• We successfully adopted a new elementary Reading curriculum and program into Reading.
• The class of 2023 was an incredibly accomplished graduating class with a plethora of academic, scholarship, and athletic success. The characteristics of this class, along with seeing their next steps, are impressive and a source of pride for the community.
• Our student interest in our elementary music program is booming, with our historically largest number of elementary students pursuing music education as part of their program. The music program is amid a curriculum review, and we are excited about growing our music program K-12.
• We added elementary math specialists in our schools and a college and career counselor at the high school. These roles were refined by shifting internal staff into new responsibilities with the hope of better-supporting students.

Business and management accomplishments:

• Began the Keith Valley campus construction project.
• Finalized a new teachers’ contract with the HHEA through 2026.
• Enacted a support staff compensation model that will help attract and retain high quality staff throughout the district.

4. What stands out most that will be new for students/teachers/staff for the upcoming school year?

There are some elementary schedule changes to approach our first week of kindergarten in a collaborative and student-centered manner to “start off strong.” The elementary schedule also ensures intentional collaboration time for grade-level teachers while maintaining the same amount of time for kids in all grades to experience time in specials (STEM, Library, PE/Health, Art, Music). Our incoming 6th-grade class will also begin to experience the first signs of the reimagined middle school programming.

5. What should parents expect from the Hatboro-Horsham School District?
Parents and families should expect unconditional support for their children, willingness
to listen to and engage with our students and families, and to be seen as an active partner in their child’s education. We desire families to expect us to communicate frequently and with intentionality. Parents and families can expect comfortable class sizes with healthy student-to-teacher ratios, allowing for staff to know students by name, strength, interest, and need.