North Penn Announces Home Office Reorganization

LANSDALE, PA– Although school is out for the summer months, staff members at North Penn High School (NPHS) have been busy implementing some exciting changes for the 2016-2017 school year, the district announced.

Beginning in September, students at NPHS will be introduced to a new student organizational system that will be arranged by grade level. Instead of the previous system which divided some 3,000 students between five Home Offices alphabetically and by grade level, NPHS is implementing a “three house” system of only three Home Offices separated by sophomore, junior and senior classes, according to a press release.

"In my year-long assessment of how we do business at NPHS, I am so incredibly impressed with the teaching and learning that takes place each day. An area in which we can certainly improve is the culture and climate of the building,” said Todd Bauer, Principal of NPHS, in a statement.“We want to improve school spirit and the connectedness of the student body. Having counselors, administrators and others focused strictly on one grade level will help us to improve on things beyond the classroom, which are just as important for adolescents as academics."

Each Home Office will consist of two assistant principals and three guidance counselors who will be assigned to students alphabetically. Students will remain in the same Home Office throughout all three years at North Penn High School, keeping the same principals and guidance counselors from grades 10-12, the release states.

The idea behind implementing this new system is to capitalize on the cultural and academic needs of students both on an individual basis and on behalf of the student body as a whole. Having one Home Office with its entire staff concentrated on students in one grade level will allow assistant principals and guidance counselors to focus on specific social, emotional and maturity aspects of student needs and student development, according to the press release.

For example, the sophomore Home Office staff can put an emphasis on students’ transition to high school, while the junior class Home Office can put their energy into things like college applications, allowing the senior class Home Office to focus on graduation requirements and life for students after high school. Instead of staff having to split their time between the common needs of students in all three grade levels, they will now be able to focus in on one group’s needs on a more personalized and comprehensive level, the district said.

From an academic standpoint, this new organization system will limit the number of teachers that each counselor has to work with, as most students in each grade are taking similar core courses. This will allow for guidance counselors to become more specialized in the subject areas and act as more of a resource for students in the planning and execution of their education. The new system will also streamline the scheduling process, increasing consistency across the board, the school said.

The communication between families and school will also see an improvement, as messages are often directed to students by grade level. Instead of five Home Offices with six different assistant principals sending out a message to families of students in 11th grade, the message can come from one home office and two assistant principals. This will allow for more seamless, consistent communication, according to the press release.

Home Office assignments for the 2016-2017 school year are as follows:

Sophomore
Location: K-Pod Reception
Asst. Principals: Judy Turner and Stefan Muller
Guidance Counselors: Brian Daly, Christine McCreary and Judy McGuriman

Junior
Location: D-103
Asst. Principals: Mary Scott and Amy Schwartz
Guidance Counselors: Trish Pike, Marjorie Diegue and Elisa Manalo

Senior
Location: F-40
Asst. Principals: Pete Nicholson and Amy Linn

Guidance Counselors: Nicole Yetter, Sam Feeney and Sue Reichwein