Welcome to Fred S. Engle Middle School

Serious weather conditions or other emergencies

Charter School Information

The Charter School Law, 24 P.S. §17-1701-A et seq., was first enacted by the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1997. While initial charter applications, renewals and annual reporting are procedures involving the local public school district, the primary responsibility for the success or failure of a charter school rests with the board of trustees, administration and staff of the charter school itself. In this regard, charter schools are largely self-managed. Public school districts such as the Avon Grove School District do not have day-to-day management responsibility or control over a charter school. Charter school funding is mandated by the Pennsylvania Charter School Law, and not by individual public school districts. In addition, some charter schools, known as “cyber” charter schools, are approved directly by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. For more information on charter schools, view the Pennsylvania Department of Education website at www.pde.state.pa.us.

REVISION TO BOARD POLICY # 916 - "Effective July 1, 2005, building level administrators are responsible for ensuring that all volunteers having direct contact with children shall undergo and complete criminal background and child abuse clearance checks prior to serving. Such clearances are to be maintained by the principal at each school. Volunteers shall be reimbursed for the cost of these clearances, ie., $10.00 for the Act 34 clearance, $10.00 for the Act 151 clearance and $24.00 if necessary for the FBI clearance) after filing appropriate receipts. The clearance requirement shall not apply to a volunteer for a single event where the volunteer will have no contact with children other than under the direct supervision and in the physical presence of district staff."

Instructions for obtaining clearances for Volunteers

Click here to download the form: Criminal History Request Form - SP-164

Click here to download the form: Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance Form (CY-113)

For More Information: Public Welfare Site

Serious Weather Conditions or Other Emergencies

Serious weather conditions or other emergencies may make it necessary to close school, delay the opening of school, or dismiss students early. In any one of these cases, announcements will be made on local radio stations, Philadelphia television stations, and our district web site. Avon Grove’s emergency closing number is #859.

Television Stations: Radio Stations: Web Sites:

Channel 3-KYW-TV3 WSTW 93.7 FM www.avongrove.org (link)

Channel 6-WPVI-TV6 WJBR 99.5 FM www.wstw.com

Channel 10-WCAU-TV10 WCOJ 1420 AM www.nbc10.com

Channel 29-WXTF-Fox 29 WDEL 1150AM www.abclocal.go.com/wpvi

In the event of an emergency school closing, students will be sent home via the school bus. Our children need to know what to do when they get home in the event that you are not home to greet them. Please discuss the appropriate arrangements with your child prior to any unforeseen emergency situation.

Due to the number of students that we serve, coupled with addressing circumstances of an emergency situation, it is not possible to make individual phone calls to parents and/or guardians. Emergency information will be posted on the District web site and will be broadcasted over the radio and television. Please monitor these communication systems as needed. We ask that you do not call the school, as unnecessary phone calls will tie up our phone lines and personnel needed to deal with the emergency.

During dismissal, our school driveways and parking lots can become very congested. School bus transportation is the safest means of getting our students home. We encourage parents to have children use school bus transportation during inclement weather. This way our roads, driveways, and parking lots will be less congested.

Please note that when school is cancelled, all after-school or evening programs or activities for that day