Pennsbury Has ‘Incredible’ Start to School Year

The Pennsbury School District’s more than 10,183 students went back to the classrooms earlier this week.

Superintendent Dr. Kevin McHugh said the school year had an “incredible” start.

The district is down 32 students over last year’s final enrollment, Director of Administrative Services Sherwood Taylor said.

Taylor and McHugh both said talked about class size. The largest classroom in the district has 27 student and is made up of fifth-graders. The average full-day kindergarten class this year is 21 or less.

“We’ve worked really hard to maintain these class sizes,” McHugh said.

The district’s much-buzzed about full-day kindergarten program was reported to be off to a good start, officials said. The superintendent said on the second day of class kids were already learning. Officials added that 23 last-minute kindergarten registrations come in on Monday.

District officials touted improved WiFi systems. McHugh cited a recent situation where 50 teachers in one room were able to use WiFi on their devices.

The district also welcomed The Nutrition Group as its new food service provider. The Nutrition Group provides the capability for parents to provide payments for their students’ meals through an online portal. The company replaces Metz Culinary.

McHugh said the district is now offering more advanced placement (AP) classes to high schoolers. He added that last years scores from AP students were impressive.

So far, the district appears to be off to a good start. No parents spoke at Thursday’s meeting about any problems yet this school year.