Burrell School District

Burrell School District
Address
1021 Puckety Church Road Lower Burrell , Westmoreland , Pennsylvania 15068 United States
Information
Type	Public
Superintendent	Shannon Wagner
Grades	K-12
Enrollment	1902 (2009-2010)
• Kindergarten	136
• Grade 1	126
• Grade 2	141
• Grade 3	139
• Grade 4	131
• Grade 5	152
• Grade 6	161
• Grade 7	147
• Grade 8	139
• Grade 9	160
• Grade 10	171
• Grade 11	148
• Grade 12	151
• Other	Projected to be 1862 in 2019
Color(s)	Blue and White
Mascot	Buccaneer
Team name	Burrell Bucs
Newspaper	Burrell Hi-lites
Yearbook	Buccopia
Website	http://www.burrell.k12.pa.us/

The Burrell School District is one of many school districts under the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. The Burrell School District is located 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Pittsburgh. The school district serves the City of Lower Burrell and Upper Burrell Township. The district operates Burrell High School (9th-12th), Charles A. Huston Middle School (6th-8th), Bon Air School (K-5th) and Stewart School (K-5th).

Administration and officials

District-wide administration in the school district consists of a Superintendent and an Assistant Superintendent. The Administrative Complex of Burrell High School contains both levels of district-wide administration.

• Superintendent- Mrs. Shannon Wagner
• Administrative Assistant- Dr. Michael Loughead

The psychologist normally resides in Huston Middle School.

• Psychologist- Mrs. Kristen Serluco

Bon Air Elementary School

Bon Air Elementary was newly remodeled in 1997 in the Burrell School District. Construction of the building was completed in time for the beginning of the 1997 school year. A photo of the building on Google Maps can be found here.

History

Dating back into at least the 1950s, Bon Air Elementary was a small building that originally housed grades one through six. Kindergarten was later added. Eventually, other small schools (Gladeview, Upper Burrell, and Wills in Kinloch) in the Burrell School District closed, eventually forcing the district to renovate Bon Air. Small parts (mainly the second-grade hall) of the old building can still be found in the new architecture.

Present

The new building, completed in time for the 1997-1998 school year, was built for new technological applications. Phone and network jacks are in place in each of the rooms, including the cafeteria and "multi-purpose room", which is a gym/auditorium. The building currently houses grades Kindergarten through Fifth, and is the main elementary school. Recently, proposals have been made to the school board to make it the only elementary school. These, however, have failed due to the wishes of the public to retain "neighborhood schools".

Administration

Both elementary schools have only one level of building administration, the principal. Bon Air's principal is Mr. Gregory Egnor.

Stewart Elementary

Stewart Elementary School is the oldest of the schools in Burrell. The building's exterior has stayed mostly unchanged in the long amount of time it has been open, as can be seen on a Google Maps picture here.

History

Stewart School was built on the property of the Stewart Family farm in the 1930s. There are certain rumors that the land is still owned by the Stewarts, but rented by the district. The building was once the flagship building, but is now the lesser of two elementary schools.

Present

Stewart Elementary School is the oldest of the four buildings, and has undergone renovations from time to time to keep it "current". The inside has changed drastically, especially with the addition of computers and network jacks in virtually every room. Stewart, like Bon Air, once housed Kindergarten-Sixth, but now houses Kindergarten through Fifth grades. It has been proposed that Stewart should consolidate with Bon Air, forming one large elementary school. These proposals have been largely unpopular with the residents who live within Stewart's student radius, and no further action has been taken.

Administration

Much like Bon Air, Stewart has only a principal, who is in charge of all duties in the building. The school's principal is Ms. Amy Lenart.

Charles A. Huston Middle School

Charles A. Huston Middle School (more commonly known as Huston Middle School or HMS) is the second oldest building in the district, completed in 1964. A Google Maps picture of the building during construction can be seen here.

In 2009, the 8th grade was ranked 30th out of 141 western Pennsylvania middle schools based on three years of student academic achievement in PSSAs in: reading, math writing and one year of science. (Includes schools in: Allegheny County, Beaver County, Butler County, Fayette County, Westmoreland County, and Washington County

History

Originally, the building was named Burrell Junior High School and housed grades seven through nine. The 1980s marked change in the school, when the building was renamed to honor the former principal and then-superintendent Charles A. Huston, and to reflect the change to a sixth through eighth grade building. Huston Middle School has been remodeled and was finished in 2008. Charles Huston attended a final renovation ceremony for the official ending of the renovations. Charles Huston died soon afterward.

Renovations

Renovation work to the building was started on June 1, 2006 with a ground-breaking ceremony (an article describing the renovation and ground-breaking can be found on the Burrell website).

Administration

Building administration includes both a principal and an assistant principal. The principal's duties mainly focus on administration and academic quality. The assistant principal is focused mainly on discipline. Mr. Matthew Conner is principal for the Middle School. The assistant principal position belongs to Mr. Brian Ferra.

Burrell High School

Burrell High School is the second newest building in the district. The picture from Google Maps shows the track/football field (black, bottom right) and the tennis courts (red, middle left).

History

Burrell Senior High School was completed in the mid-1960s. Grades ten through twelve were housed in the building, and later changed to grades nine through twelve (the name also changed from Senior High to High).

Present

The district's administration, tennis court, swimming pool, athletic offices, and the track/football field are in the high school grounds. The school currently is home to grades nine through twelve.

Administration

Administration at the high school is similar to that of the middle school. The principal is Mr. John Boylan and the assistant principal is Mr. James Croushore. croushore eats his own shit

Academic Achievement

Graduation Rate:
2009 - 94%
2008 - 96%

PSSA Results
11th Grade Reading
2009 - 68% on grade level. In Pennsylvania, 65% of 11th graders on grade level.
2008 - 75%, State - 65%

11th Grade Math:
2009 - 57% on grade level. In Pennsylvania, 56% of 11th graders are on grade level.
2008 - 64%, State - 56%

11th Grade Science:
2009 - 34% on grade level. State: 40% of 11th graders were on grade level.
2008 - 34%

College Remediation: According to a Pennsylvania Department of Education study released in January 2009, 16% of Burrell School District graduates required remediation in mathematics and or reading before they were prepared to take college level courses in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education or community colleges.

Dual Enrollment

The high school offers a Dual Enrollment program. This state program permits high school students to take courses, at local higher education institutions, to earn college credits. Students remain enrolled at their high school. The courses count towards high school graduation requirements and towards earning a college degree. The students continue to have full access to activities at their high school. The college credits are offered at a deeply discounted rate. The state offers a small grant to assist students in costs for tuition, fees and books. Under the Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation Agreement, many Pennsylvania colleges and universities accept these credits for students who transfer to their institutions.

For the 2009-10 funding year, the school district received a state grant of $26,878 for the program.

Extracurricular activities

The district offers a variety of clubs, activities and sports.

By Pennsylvania law, all K-12 students in the district, including those who attend a private nonpublic school, cyber charter school, charter school and those home schooled, are eligible to participate in the extracurricular programs including all athletics. They must meet the same eligibility rules as the students enrolled in the district's schools.

See also

• List of school districts in Pennsylvania

External links

• Burrell School District website