Schools in norristown pa: Norristown Area School District / Homepage

Norristown Area School District / Homepage

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  We are hiring! Join the NASD team and Apply today!

  
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Norristown Area School District

View Calendar

• December 8th from 6pm-8pm

  
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• Superintendent of Schools, Christopher Dormer, sends the 2022 Welcome Back letter to students and families

  
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• Volunteers play an important & valuable role in helping the district reach its goal of increased academic achievement for each & every one of our students. Interested in volunteering in your child’s school?

  
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• Join us in reading Lola Levine is NOT Mean! by Monica Brown

  
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• Superintendent of Schools, Christopher Dormer, shares his end of the school year message with the NASD families

  
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• Visit www.itavc2.us to register today!

  
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• NASD has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education.

  
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• Michael Killen has been recognized by Widener University, NBC10 and Telemundo62 as a part of the 2022 High School Leadership Awards. The recognition comes with a $20,000 scholarship upon attending Widener University.

  
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• NASD School Board approves the 2022-2023 calendar

  
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• Norristown Area High School held its first annual Mini-THON on Friday April 1. Through the efforts of NAHS students, along with the support of NASD faculty, staff, parents and administration, that goal was surpassed as the event raised over $12,000 for Four Diamonds. 

  
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• Updated March 2022

  
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• Norristown Area School District will recommend but not require masks for all students, staff, and visitors in all schools, offices, and district buildings effective Thursday, March 3, 2022. Masks will also be recommended, but not required on all district provided transportation.

  
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• Online registration open NOW!

  
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• Mr. Dormer announces details of the NAHS Cafeteria renovation. Ready for the opening of school next school year August 2022.

  
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NASD School Board / Meet Our Board

Mr. Christopher Jaramillo

Mr. Jaramillo has been a resident of the Greater Norristown Area since 2010. He began his educational journey at Montgomery County Community College and, shortly after, transferred to West Chester University. Mr. Jaramillo went on to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania in May of 2020 with a Master of Science in Education along with a 3. 74 GPA. Through the years, he has worked closely with the Norristown Area School District’s Administration on their Cultural Proficiency initiative, and also serves on the board of West Chester University’s Alumni Association, where he strives to make positive, impactful changes for students of color who attend both institutions.

Mr. Jaramillo’s community involvement runs deep. He has been an active member of the Norristown Branch of the N.A.A.C.P., joining in April of 2017. His passion for the education and empowerment of individuals paired with his love for uplifting the diverse community in which he currently lives led him to seek out the organization for righteous causes. As former Chair of Social Media, Mr. Jaramillo created and managed the various media platforms of the Norristown Branch to broaden the chapter’s reach and footprint on today’s most relevant issues while conducting activities involving public relations with exceptional professionalism. Currently, as Chair of Membership, he has been one of the main driving forces behind the swell of new, young members who recently joined the organization to do the work of Social Justice.

Mr. Jaramillo is also a board member of the Hispanic Heritage Association, which seeks to bring community awareness of Latinx Culture. He is currently working on developing organizational policies and a Latinx curriculum which can be utilized by educators. 

Mr. Louis W. Mason

Louis W. Mason was born and raised in Conshohocken, PA. Mr. Mason is a proud family man who is happily married to his lovely wife of 38 years.  He has been blessed with two adult children, both of whom are college-educated and happily married.  He is a member of Mt. Zion AME Church in Norristown, PA.

Mr. Mason is a graduate of Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, class of 1971. He received an Associate’s Degree from Montgomery County Community College and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education from West Chester University.  He also earned his Master of Education Degree in Educational Administration from Cheyney University. 

With over 40 years in the field of public education, he has taught in Bridgeton, NJ, and Camden, NJ.   He served as the Teaching & Learning Network Coordinator in the School District of Philadelphia.  He went on to serve as Principal of Pulaski-Edison Junior Academy in the Chester-Upland School District and Morgan Village Middle School in Camden City Public School District. 

He was promoted to serve as the Director of the Office of Postsecondary Readiness and Career & Technical Education for Camden City Public School District.  Most recently he served as the Chief Academic Officer for Harambee Institute of Science and Technology in Philadelphia, PA.

Mr. Mason is proudly beginning his second 4-year term as School Board Director for Norristown Area School District.  He serves on the Education and Technology Committee, the Cultural Proficiency Committee, and has served as the Chairman of the Joint Operation Committee for Central Montco Technical High School.

Mr. Mason is excited to use his passion for learning, energy, and educational skill sets to serve in the Norristown Area School District community.  

Mrs. Sharon Mauch

Mrs. Sharon Mauch is a lifetime Norristown resident and chose to raise her family in the Norristown Area School District because of the many great things the district has to offer. Sharon has been married for over 20 years and currently has one child in the district. Sharon and her husband are also foster parents. 

Sharon is extremely active within the community. Sharon is also the Vice President of the MCIU Board of Directors. Sharon is a licensed cosmetologist and serves as chair of the hair and makeup committee with the Dramateurs at The Barn Playhouse. She is also an active supporter of Coffee Closet with Barista Jake, a local nonprofit organization.

Mrs. Cynthia Wirth

Cynthia Wirth has been a resident of Norristown since 1970. She has been active in education as a teacher, adjunct professor, life coach for young adults with ASD and parent advocate during IEP planning.

She is an active community volunteer as past president of Norriton Circle Kiwanis, Choice Food Pantry volunteer on Haws Ave, Literacy advocate with therapy dog, Page and classroom volunteer at Cole Manor.

Her mission as a school director is to make schools and community joint partners in the education of our children. She will work to be present and visible in the community to provide opportunities for all voices to be recognized.

Miss. Marissa Dell

Marissa Dell is an East Norriton native and a 2019 Graduate of Norristown Area High School. Dell is currently a student at Temple University completing her undergraduate degree in political science and a minor in business. 

Ms. Ingrid Parker

Ms. Parker is a Norristown native and a NAHS graduate. As a PA Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Behavior Specialist, she believes in a strengths-based approach to helping individuals, which includes a variety of holistic, eclectic and person-centered techniques. She postulates that this approach is best practice in coordination with natural resources, professional services and educating individuals about the interconnectedness of mind, body and spirit.

She has continued to develop her clinical expertise and management experience in various nonprofit and for-profit roles across Montgomery County, such as a Licensed Clinician, Clinical Program Manager, Clinical Supervisor, and Director.  Ms. Parker enjoys working with individuals of all ages, although she has an affinity for helping children and has become a strong advocate for Norristown children and families. She is passionate about creating quality and sustainable change in the NASD community through her role as a NASD School Board Director.  

Mary Ann Shudd – American black rights activist

Mary Ann Shudd Carrie was born October 9, 1823 in Wilmington, Delaware (Wilmington, Delaware). Her father Abraham (Abraham) and mother Harriet Shadd (Harriett Shadd) were free black citizens. Mary Ann was the eldest in the family, where, in addition to her, twelve more brothers and sisters were brought up. Her shoemaker father played a key role in the functioning of the ‘Underground Railroad’ (‘Underground Railroad’). This was the name of the system for the transfer of fugitive black slaves. Not only that, Abraham was a subscription agent for the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison, founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

When Shadd was ten, she and her family moved from their home in Delaware to West Chester, Pennsylvania so that their children could be educated at a school provided by the international Quaker religious movement. Mary Ann stayed at this school for six years before returning to Wilmington. In 1840, Shadd returned to West Chester and helped open a school for black students. She also taught in Norristown, Pennsylvania (Norristown, Pennsylvania), and New York (New York City).

When the Fugitive Slave Law of 1950 in the United States allowed the search and detention of fugitive slaves in lands where slavery had already been abolished, Shadd and her brother Isaac moved to Canada and settled in the city of Windsor, Ontario (Windsor, Ontario). In Windsor, Shadd founded a school accessible to students of all colors with the support of the American Missionary Association.

Advocating for racial integration, Mary Ann was embroiled in a public dispute with Henry Bibb, the recognized leader of the black community in Canada. Bibb’s newspaper, ‘The Voice of the Fugitive’, attacked Shadd’s ideas and undermined her reputation, and then at 19On the 53rd, she and Samuel Ringgold Ward opened The Provincial Freeman newspaper. The latter lasted just nothing, but a year later Shudd and Ward revived ‘The Provincial Freeman’, which this time was released on King Street, Toronto (King Street, Toronto). Work in the newspaper did not stop until 1859 – until the moral reform, until the solution of the problems of blacks on their own during the overthrow of racial discrimination in North America (North America). ‘The Provincial Freeman’ was one of the most read newspapers among the black population before the Civil War.

Eventually, many of her family members, including her father and sisters, came to Canada to join her. In 1856, Shudd married Thomas F. Cary (Thomas F. Cary), a barber from Toronto, who was involved in the activities of the newspaper ‘The Provincial Freeman’. The couple had two children, Sarah (Sarah) and Linton (Linton), and the family lived in Chatham, Ontario (Chatham, Ontario). Mary Ann continued to work at the newspaper and taught children at school. In 1858, John Brown, one of the first white abolitionists, held a secret ‘meeting’ at the home of her brother Isaac. In 1861, Shadd published ‘Voice from Harper’s Ferry’ about Brown’s unsuccessful attempt to capture the town of Harpers Ferry.

After her husband’s death in 1860, Shadd and her children returned to the United States. After the Civil War, she taught at black schools in Wilmington before moving to Washington, where she continued to teach schoolchildren and studied at Harvard Law School (Howard University School of Law). Mary Ann received her law degree in 1883, becoming the second black female lawyer in the United States.

Shadd died in Washington on June 5, 1893.

Mary Ann believed that separate churches, schools, and communities for black people ultimately undermined the very idea of ​​freedom and equality. She advocated equality and integration for black people, for free public speaking, solving issues of the destruction of slavery and the slave trade, etc.

Walking in Doylestown, PA.: drakosh_a — LiveJournal

While traveling around Pennsylvania, timed to coincide with my DR, I discovered many amazing and beautiful places very close to home. An hour and a half drive from New York is not a long distance, but since the journey spanned five days, we stayed at two hotels along our route. This was part of the program, as we had a festive dinner in the restaurant of one of them. We saw a lot: the main purpose of our trip was to see the places in Pennsylvania and New Jersey where General Washington and his army crossed the Delaware River, attacked British troops and won the first three decisive victories that turned the tide of the American Revolutionary War, which seemed almost lost. In addition, we visited nature reserves and visited several charming small towns. About one of them – Doylestown in Pennsylvania my story. We walked with a guide, an elderly American guy with a stick, who turned out to be very knowledgeable. From his story, I understood only what I need to pay attention to, I learned everything else myself. The story is in no way a repetition of the excursion, except for the route;)
It was difficult to write, believe me, not a single house jumped into the story on its own, sometimes clinging to a vaguely distinguishable house number in the photo. Stories also did not appear on the first attempt, and not even on the fifth (hmm). As a result, I fell in love with this city, for the agony of working with materials, most of which were left behind the scenes, for God’s sake, sorry if there is a lot!

Pennsylvania, as a state, was formed from one of the oldest colonies of settlers in what is now the United States. An interesting story about the origin of its name, which seemed well known until I came across a document on the Internet, which contained interesting details.

“Sir William Penn, Admiral of the British Navy, died 1670. He was owed £16,000 for services rendered to the British Crown. William Penn, Sir William’s heir, wrote to the King of England, asking the King to grant him lands in America as payment for a debt and in lieu of money.
On March 4, 1681, King Charles II (1630–1685) granted William Penn (1644–1718) 40,000 square miles of land in America to pay off a debt. Penn named the territory New Wales or Sylvania, but members of the Privy Council of England, the government body that advised the sovereign of the English kingdom and was in charge of granting royal charters, objected. The name was too similar to other lands. To settle the dispute, the King suggested that it be named “Province of Pennsylvania” after Penn’s father. William Penn, a Quaker, decided to encourage people to immigrate to America by offering cheap land. The price of the land was set at £100 for 5,000 acres. Penn went to America in August 1692 years to see their land for the first time.
During his travels, he founded the counties of Bucks and Philadelphia, and also made a treaty with the Lenny Lenape tribe of Delaware Indians who already lived in these lands. Penn was determined to act honestly and maintain friendly relations with the Indians. His instructions were to “be gentle with the Indians… To soften their attitude towards me and the people, to let them know that you have come to sit among them lovingly… Be serious, they don’t like to be smiled at”/ “ be tender of offending the Indians…To soften them to me and the people, let them know you are come to sit down lovingly among them…Be grave, they like not to be smiled on.”

This vast amount of land was too large for Penn to manage on his own, so in 1682 he sold about 20,000 acres to a group of wealthy Quaker merchants in England called the Free Society of Merchants. The Free Society of Merchants, in turn, began selling off large tracts of land. They dominated the sale of land and kept the best plots for themselves. This caused great annoyance among the poorer Quakers and settlers. The Society’s offices were located in Philadelphia near the Delaware River. The area later became known as Society Hill. From 1682 to 1683, the Society organized and sent over fifty ships to Pennsylvania!

In 1724 the Society sold a large amount of land to Jeremiah Langhorne (1680–1742). Nearly half of this land was in central Bucks County (derived from Buckinghamshire, a county in England), including the areas of New Britain, Doylestown and Warwick. Among these Langhorne lands were two parcels that make up what is today called Doylestown. Jeremiah Langhorne, Esq., was one of the first settlers and largest landowners in Bucks County. He founded an estate or plantation with many slaves in what is now Lower Bucks County, served as Chief Justice from 1739years before his death in 1742.

I needed this long preface to express at least a little “the spirit of the time and place” and to show a dozen and a half photographs of houses and monuments that are interesting from the point of view of architecture and history. Vicki calls Doylestown “a community”, which I found offensive, as it is now a beautiful little city where the majority of the inhabitants belong to the “well to do” category, with a population of about 8500 people.

Doylestown has experienced ups and downs in its history, most recently with the emergence of huge shopping centers in the suburbs and the decline of commercial activities, which for the city was one of the main sources of income. Fortunately, the city did not give up, the streets and houses were renovated and rebuilt, and the focus of interest shifted to tourism: beautiful nature, location in the center of the county and close to New York at the same time, rich history made this place attractive for living and visiting.

Doylestown is named after the Doyle family. The Doyle family originally came from France (they were called D’Willi at the time), but moved to Ireland during the Inquisition. Around 1600 their name was changed to D’oyly and later back to Doyle. Edward Doyle sailed to America in 1640 and lived for a time in Rhode Island until he moved to Bucks County after receiving a grant from William Penn in 1692. He died in 1703.

Edward Doyle’s children stayed in Bucks County and settled in the Doylestown area. In 1730 Edward Doyle Jr. (born 1690) bought 150 acres of land in what is now Doylestown. Further land purchases in the area were made by the Doyle family in 1737.

William Doyle owned a piece of land with his father and soon went to Newtown County to apply for a license to run an inn. He had recommendations from fourteen of his neighbors and friends. The petition stated that there were no inns within a five-mile radius of where they lived. The Doyles built an inn and tavern in 1745 at a crossroads of Indian trails, becoming roads connecting the “Swedish Ford” built by settlers in the 1700s. across the Schuylkill River at Norristown with the Coryella Ferry, (now New Hope Township), and roads between Philadelphia and Easton. The village became known as William Doyle’s Tavern. Gradually, it grew from a hamlet to a village, and then, due to its central location in the county, became the county seat of Bucks County in 1813. This gave new impetus to development, and in 1838 the city was granted the status of a borough or self-governing municipality. I don’t want to delve into the nuances of the administrative division, because it is confusing, and I am writing about something else.

“William Doyle’s Tavern”, not preserved in its original form, and in 1756. a new one appeared in its place. The Doyles ran the tavern for 30 years before moving to New York State, and the Bucks County intersection was still called Doylestown, after the original Doyle pioneer family.

During the American Revolutionary War, the tavern was owned by the Tories, but was confiscated by the authorities and sold at auction. George Washington and his Continental army camped in the Doylestown area in June 1778 on their way from Valley Forge to fight the British fleeing Philadelphia for New York. For 19th century, in addition to the tavern, this house was the first post office in Doylestown and a stopping station for the stagecoach line, which began to run here in 1792, connecting Philadelphia and Easton. In 1856 a railroad line was built between Doylestown and Philadelphia. The current railway station in the city dates from 1876.

The Old City Center is listed as a Historic Monument, which limits the type of modifications people can make to buildings in order to preserve the historic integrity of the area. Most recently, in 2001, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the city as one of its “Top Ten Outstanding Destinations”.

Fountain House
Photograph of Fountain House on the site of William Doyle’s Tavern. In the past, the house was the oldest of the seven taverns in pre-revolutionary Doylestown and has been the center of Doylestown life for over 250 years ever since. In its current form, the architecture of the house refers mainly to the Victorian style.
By 1830 it was called “The Fox Chase” with a stable for 60 horses, and in 1836 a third floor was added with a double veranda along two sides overlooking the crossroads, as it is now. It later became the Doylestown Hotel and was renamed the Fountain House Hotel in 1872 when it was “modernized” with its current mansard roof and a horse watering fountain was installed. In addition to being a hotel, the second floor had a large ballroom with a music gallery that was used for dances and concerts.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the old inn enjoyed an excellent reputation for its cuisine and magnificent antique furniture. In 1912, Francis S. Miro purchased the hotel and sold his collection of rare furniture and antiques from there for $100,000. The building was last used as a hotel in the 1960s. The Fountain House is currently home to a Starbucks cafe that occupies the entire ground floor and several different offices and apartments located on the second and third floors. It is the main social gathering place in Doylestown. We, unfortunately, did not go inside, but I hope to do it on my next visit.

Magill’s Mansion
Staying at the same intersection and looking at the house across the road – this corner of West State and South Main Streets was originally the site of a log cabin built by brothers Roger and Henry Magill on a piece of land they purchased in 1768 They were recent Scotch-Irish immigrants born in the north of Ireland. They arrived in America around 1760 and settled in Bucks County. The brothers were trading in a corner of a small village opposite Doyle’s tavern.

Later, Henry retired, moved to a farm in the town of Bedminster and transferred ownership of the land to his brother Robert. Robert in 1774 married Mary Doyle, daughter of William and Martha Doyle, the owners of the local tavern already known to us. Robert died on his farm in 1782, leaving a widow, Mary, and one child, William Magill (1775-1824). William was only seven years old when he was orphaned, but his father requested that his only son be educated and learn a trade. William trained as a watchmaker and practiced the craft for many years, producing large antique clocks. He spent his childhood with his mother and stepfather in what was then a small village. Itinerant and local schoolteachers supplemented his education. As a young man, he managed his mother’s hotel, a two-story house that appeared on the site in 1805.

During the War of 1812, William joined the military and became a captain in a force known as the Bucks County Rangers. He remained a police officer until his death. When it became known that Doylestown would become the county seat in 1812, William enlarged the then inn to a three-story stone building and named it the Mansion House Hotel. In 1879, the ordinary corner building was extensively remodeled to its current size, with a single-window sloping wall with a door on the ground floor, designed to match the configuration of the Lenape Hall building across the road built five years earlier. The arched cornice on the angled roofline also echoes the cornice of Lenape Hall, (photo of the brick building below), so that the houses form a peculiar ensemble.

In 1915, on the ground floor there was a candy, stationery and haberdashery shop named JF Moore, after the name of the owner.

Now this house is called Paper Unicorn – after the stationery and gift shop.

It is hard to believe that on the site of this beautiful building, there was once a log cabin that belonged to the first settlers Robert and Henry Magill.
It also differs from the hotel, which appeared here later and had a balcony along the entire 2nd floor, where guests and their guests gathered to gawk at the square from above.

Lenape Hall

The building was named after the Lenape Indians of Bucks County and the Delaware Valley. Lenape Hall is one of the most distinctive buildings in Doylestown. The building was designed by architects Addison Hutton and Thomas Cernea in 1874. It originally provided Doylestown with a large town hall for public meetings, storage space and a much-needed covered market. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Strand Theater showed films here, until in the 19The New Strand Theater was not built in 25. In essence, it was a Victorian trading center that had a strong influence on the city’s commercial focus. This building mixes Romanesque Revival, Classical Greek and perhaps others, while maintaining the integrity and beauty of the façade. Do you think this building is drawn to the city or “town”, as Vika formally calls Doylestown?

This marker stone was preserved from the former tavern building on this site and laid in the foundation of a new house during construction – the inscription on it: “26 miles to Philadelphia.” This distance to the place of the former tavern was not chosen by chance, it was believed that a person could, on average, walk such a distance in a day, although they were guided by the local Indians.

S Main Street Baptist Church
Architect A. Oscar Martin (1873-1942), whose buildings adorn Doylestown (Historical Society house restoration, fire station) and more.
Oscar Martin’s ancestors were among the first German settlers in Bucks County. The German colonists traditionally belonged to the Methodist Church, so his authorship in the project is not accidental. His father was a carpenter, and after moving to Doylestown he became involved in contracting and construction. Oscar was one of thirteen children in the family. He also studied carpentry, but then received a degree in architecture in Philadelphia, interned at architectural firms in New York.

Mary Beckman Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1902 in neo-gothic style.

This church later became the S Main Street Baptist Church.

The building was sold in 2016 to be converted into a private residence.

Doylestown Historical Society
This building houses the headquarters of the Doylestown Historical Society. The building, built around 1814, was purchased in October 2001 by the Historical Society (founded in 1995) and then repaired.
The building symbolizes the whole history of the city. several generations of owners have changed here, starting with the Magills we already know. The house was built around 1814 by William Magill as a schoolhouse on 10 acres of land that had been owned by the family since 1768. Initially, the stone walls were covered with plaster and whitewashed. The interior consisted of one room on the first floor, a classroom, and two smaller rooms on the second floor, where the schoolmaster, William’s son Alfred Magill, probably lived. Alfred inherited the school building on his father’s death in 1824. Subsequently, he left teaching and became a farmer. The building also had modern, very prosperous owners. An interesting feature of this house is its facade. The walls made of stones in the past were blown by the wind so much that the candles on the table went out. The current owner, the Historical Society, decided to remove the plaster, expose the stones, and seal the cracks with a special mortar. The architectural department of the city did not agree with this decision, believing that it violates the original appearance. The Historical Society insisted that a house with stone walls looked more attractive.

Federal style house.

One of the streets in the center. I learned that the protruding visors above the windows are called “brows”.

Showcase in a glasses store.

The “Old Intelligencer Building”
The Victorian building is one of the most architecturally distinctive buildings in Doylestown. It was designed by architect Thomas Cernea shortly after the completion of his design in collaboration with Addison Hutton at Lenape Hall. This was his last commission, he died the same year at the age of only 41. Completed in 1876, the building became the new home of the then-current The Bucks County Intelligencer, whose BCI logo is still on the front of the tower. Today the newspaper is called the Doylestown Intelligencer and has occupied the building for almost 100 years. The appearance of the building has changed little during its existence. The newspaper still exists, but moved to another building.

Came closer to see the details.

Another federal-style house, decorated with a cornice and a porch, I suppose later.

N.C. JAMES HOUSE , built circa 1890, architect Milton Bean

This asymmetrical gray stone house gives a sense of the concentration of wealth in the city center before the decentralization (movement to the suburbs) made possible by cars.

Side view, but what about 🙂

The building of the regional court, which grew up on the site of a historic building with a very beautiful clock tower, was demolished, because. there were no funds to maintain it as a historical monument, and it no longer met modern requirements. Almost like Pennsylvania Station in NY.

2015 Bucks County Justice Center designed by HOK Architects Inc. from Dallas.
The building cost the city $120 million, incl. due to errors in the design of the roof, which had to be redone. I would not mention it if it were not for the previous story with the demolition of a historic building that had nothing to support.

Bucks County War Memorial. 28th Infantry Division from Pennsylvania were a revelation as I didn’t know anything about it.
William R. Mercer (brother of Henry Mercer), designed the memorial fountain. The bronze statue was created by John Bateman of Haddonfield, New Jersey.
The sculpture depicts one wounded soldier on his knees helping a more seriously wounded comrade, who, leaning on his arm, pours water from his flask into a cup.
The models for the sculpture were two veterans of the First World War, whom Mercer invited to come to his studio in military uniform, without even explaining the reasons in advance. The military was placed on a rotating platform and Mercer took four pictures.