ASD Highlights & Happenings
February 2026
Dear Abington School District Community,
I hope our staff, students and families had an enjoyable and restful winter recess, and are feeling settled into 2026, despite the disruption of our routines due to snow.
A new calendar year is always a fitting time to re-evaluate goals, and consider any improvements one would like to make in the coming months. Beginning this year, I am pleased to share that we have decided to take ASD Highlights & Happenings from being a quarterly newsletter to being a monthly one!
It is our hope that by sharing districtwide news with you more regularly, that you feel you have a better sense as to what is happening across our nine schools, as well as, what might be on the horizon when it comes to topics such as academic achievement, parent/guardian resources and our Abington Middle School Project.
In addition, as we closed out the 2025 calendar year, we developed an Abington School District annual report as a means to share out information on our key demographics, major initiatives and funding. Please take a moment to review this report.
Stay warm!
Regards,
Dr. Jeffrey S. Fecher
Superintendent of Schools
Future Focused: Annual Report 2025
The year 2025 was a milestone year for Abington School District! Read an overview and see the highlights in our just-released Annual Report.
One ASD, One Future: Design Phase of the Middle School Project
Around this time a year ago, the Board of School Directors took a big step in the future of Abington School District by following the community’s lead and moving forward with a plan to build a new Abington Middle School, and a referendum that would let voters in Abington Township and the Borough of Rockledge decide whether to invest in funding that plan.
Since voters approved the referendum in May 2025, District administration and the Board of School Directors have been working with project management consultants at ICS to gather information and stakeholder input to develop schematic designs.
The status of this process to date was presented as an orientation at the January 27, 2026, meeting of the Board of School Directors, where ICS reviewed buildable versus non-buildable zones, conceptual site plans, potential traffic flow, the building footprint, and organizational zones, such as community and academic spaces. The presentation also highlighted next steps, including a traffic study that is currently underway, as well as meetings with various Township officials and Committees in the coming months. The project continues to be on schedule and within budget.
Community engagement was also highlighted in the presentation, including a recent meeting with neighbors whose properties immediately border the Middle School property, as well as ongoing discussions with Middle School personnel to ensure designs align with student and staff needs. The orientation also touched upon results of the most recent online survey in which the District requested input on the community's design priorities.
Nearly 1,800 respondents provided input, more than any other survey related to the Middle School Project to date. Key takeaways included:
- Approximately 80% of respondents were parents of former, current, or future ASD students.
- Twenty-one percent of those respondents attended ASD as a student themselves, and 65% have lived within the District for 11 years or more.
- They expressed that their top principles for building a new Middle School were: (1) an inclusive feel of the building, focusing on long-term educational needs over current trends, (2) an efficient and easily maintainable building and (3) providing teachers with the space and tools needed to support building growth.
- .Among respondents who were not current or past parents of ASD students, the top principle was a building with long-term infrastructure that is easy to maintain.
This feedback helped confirm or redirect the project team's alignment in creating a building design that is the best fit for the community. Both the orientation presentation and video, as well as the full survey results, are available on the Resources page of OneASDOneFuture.org.
Overlook Elementary honored the life, legacy and call to action of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at an assembly that included a Zoom visit with author/historian, Alice Faye Duncan, in addition to grade-level stories and songs, and the MLK Peace Award. Students then participated in their annual MLK Sock Roll Challenge service project.
Gary Liguori, Chancellor, Penn State Abington
Framed by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey
Rosalie Guzofsky, Executive Director, Abington Art Center
Don Quijote de La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes
Farzin Vahidov, First Year Admissions Counselor, Penn State Abington
Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit by Brené Brown
McKinley Elementary Librarian, Ms. Lauren Strohecker, was a recent recipient of a Learning Grant from the Abington Educational Foundation (AEF) to support the school’s summer reading program and build excitement about literacy among students. Over 100 books have been contributed to the school’s summer reading inventory, vetted in accordance with the district’s policies, and giving all students the opportunity to select a new-to-them book of interest to read over the summer.
“Thanks to the generosity of the AEF, 111 new books have arrived at McKinley to go toward our Summer Book Giveaway! Thank you SO much for awarding us this grant,” Ms. Strohecker said.
To learn more, visit the AEF website.
Now through the end of March, everyone who shops at the GIANT on Susquehanna Road in Roslyn will be invited to round up at the register to support Feeding School Kids in ASD! Donations are used by the Student Services Department to purchase GIANT gift cards, which are distributed by our social workers directly to families in need in order to help supplement the cost of their groceries.
