Editorial: Challenging Times Call for Collaborative Solutions

(The following submission is part of a monthly series of editorials, courtesy of our partnership with North Penn School District and the North Penn Board of School Directors.)

Dear Community,

As I reflect back on the challenges of the last year, I find my heart filled with gratitude for the efforts of each and every member of our North Penn community. We have all pulled together to truly exemplify what it means to be “North Penn Strong.”  

I once had a valued mentor tell me that the true measure of a leader is not how they lead during good times, but how they lead during the most difficult of times. During challenging situations, strong and honorable leaders form partnerships, foster cross-cutting and innovative collaboration, value the efforts and inputs of all team members and celebrate small victories as they work to unite a community and lead through the challenge. The challenges our community has faced during the COVID-19 pandemic have certainly felt insurmountable at times, but through collaboration, we are emerging stronger, more resilient and united.

I am proud to serve the North Penn community as an elected member of the North Penn School District’s (NPSD) Board of School Directors. In addition to this role, I also serve as the Board Treasurer for the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit and am the school board’s representative to the North Penn Educational Foundation’s Board of Trustees. During the last year, in all three of these roles, my fellow board members within NPSD — as well as among other districts throughout Montgomery County — were faced with making some of the most difficult decisions of our careers in volunteer service to our community. Despite the challenging decisions we faced, we were always presented with fact-based, creative and collaboratively derived options. The collaborative relationships that were born out of necessity of the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to serve and benefit the North Penn community for the remainder of the pandemic and beyond.

We will emerge from these exceedingly challenging times stronger, more connected and aware of our community’s strength and resourcefulness — ready to welcome and rise to the next challenge together.  

Join me in recognizing and showing our gratitude for just a few of these model collaborative efforts including:

• Dr. Curt Dietrich, NPSD Superintendent has participated in twice weekly (oftentimes more frequent) information sharing, planning and service coordination meetings in partnership with all Montgomery County Superintendents, led by the MCIU, with the CHOP Policy Lab and the Montgomery County Health Department. Together, this team has worked to ensure the health and safety of our community’s children through information and data sharing, and the implementation of innovative public health strategies including coordinated contract tracing and rapid testing. The rapid testing initiative was piloted at North Penn and now has been replicated in other area districts. It was truly a monumental moment, when this team was able to successfully facilitate, in partnership with the National Guard, a vaccination effort open to our county’s school district employees. In the span of 12 days, 11,235 vaccines were administered to our county’s school employees.
• Our North Penn School Nutrition Services team has truly been the model of team adaptability as they have worked since mid-March 2020 to ensure that our children, 18 and younger, have access to food. During the growing season, they partnered with area farmers to provide extra fresh produce in the meal bundles. This partnership both ensured increased access to fresh locally grown produce but also helped to reduced food waste.
• NPSD has teamed up with the North Wales Family, Rann and Skippack pharmacies to host vaccination clinics at Pennbrook Middle School and North Penn High School. This collaboration is hands down, the second-best use of our school buildings — of course, the first being places for learning and growth of our 12,765 students. These weekend vaccination clinics are supported by hundreds of community volunteers and to date have helped to vaccinate more than 10,000 community residents. Each vaccination brings us one step closer to ending the pandemic.
• North Penn School District worked in partnership with the North Penn Educational Foundation to ensure internet access for students at the start of the pandemic which helped inspire the North Penn Strong campaign. To date, the North Penn Strong campaign has helped to raise more than $42,000. The uniqueness of the North Penn Strong Campaign is not only that it is helping to generate funds to support innovative teacher-lead projects that are benefitting our students who are attending in-person, hybrid, or virtually, but also that it is serving to help unify, inspire and ignite support for our North Penn community. From this campaign, we have all benefited and learned that together, we are #NorthPennStrong.

Despite the challenges we have faced, the creative approach to problem solving through meaningful partnerships and collaboration at the local, county and state levels are truly examples of what unites us and what makes us North Penn Strong.

Thank you to our dedicated North Penn team of administrators, teachers, and staff and to each and every member of our North Penn community.

P.S. The NPSD Educational Foundation’s annual online auction is scheduled for April 28 through May 4. The Foundation's Board of Trustees have been working hard to secure donations and put together some really great auction prizes - including some much loved North Penn experiences and unique items from local vendors. It would mean the world to us if you would help us spread the word about the auction.

Juliane Ramić
NPSD Board of School Directors
Term Expiration: 2023

See also:

Editorial: Recognizing The Opportunities Presented By North Montco For Students, Community At Large

Editorial: Dr. Frank Boston A Key Figure In Local Black History

Editorial: North Penn COVID-19 Planning In 2021

Editorial: District Readying For Return Of Students In Hybrid Schedule

Editorial: School Board Thankful For Community Support And Patience