Panther Press

I would like to extend a warm welcome back to our students and families for the 2026-27 school year. I trust everyone has had a wonderful summer break. We are pleased to greet 40 new Kindergarten students. Click here to see this year's teacher lineup! Our school mission statement, "Personalizing Education", will continue to guide our instructional practices and decision-making this school year. Our staff and faculty will be focusing on the following building goals this school year:

Building Goal 1: Teaching & Learning Excellence

Improve student academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes through the consistent implementation of a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) that uses data to drive instructional and behavioral decision-making. Strengthen core literacy instruction through the purposeful implementation of the Being a Reader scope and sequence and provide targeted, data-informed small-group instruction in reading and math to meet individual student needs. Enhance a positive, safe, and supportive school culture through consistent PBIS practices and the implementation of SWIS to systematically track, analyze, and respond to student behavior data. Through aligned Tier 1 instruction, targeted interventions, progress monitoring, and collaborative problem-solving, ensure that all students receive the academic and behavioral supports needed to demonstrate meaningful growth and success.

Building Goal 2 – Culture, Climate & Safety

In the 2026–27 school year, Seylar Elementary will strengthen a positive and inclusive school culture by fostering a sense of belonging for all students, staff, and families. We will expand mental health supports through proactive interventions, staff training, and partnerships with community resources. In addition, we will maintain and enhance rigorous safety protocols by regularly reviewing and practicing emergency procedures, ensuring our facilities are secure, and promoting a shared responsibility for safety across our school community.

This year, we are excited to continue building a positive, connected school community with a focus on the power of our words! Inspired by Peter H. Reynolds’ The Word Collector, each month we will highlight a positive word that Emma will incorporate into classroom counseling lessons and that we can reinforce throughout our school community.

We are also making a few exciting changes to our Thunderpacks and PROUD PBIS program. Each Thunderpack will now have its own color and name in a different language: Friendship – Yellow – Amistad (Spanish), Service – Red – Seva (Hindi), Community – Blue – Ohana (Hawaiian), and Citizenship – Purple – Umoia (Swahili). These changes will make it easier for students and staff to identify their Thunderpack, help our youngest Panthers participate more independently, and give us another fun way to show our Thunderpack pride during schoolwide activities and parades. Throughout the year, we will continue using our PROUD expectations and Thunderpacks to recognize students for making positive choices and contributing to the Seylar community.

A special thank you to our Seylar Home & School Association for generously sponsoring this year’s program theme and events and for continuing to support experiences that make Seylar such a special place for our students!

We believe strong communication is the foundation of a strong school community, which is why we keep our families connected through regular updates, reminders, and open lines of dialogue. Our staff will continue to use Seesaw to communicate and share daily events happening in your child's classroom. Our main office will be using our PowerSchool Messenger (email and text) service, Seesaw, monthly newsletters, and Facebook to communicate to all our families.

Our Home and School Association is a great place to get involved with the activities that take place during the school year. During the summer months, they have been busy planning events for the upcoming school year. In addition, they have supported many of our initiatives by purchasing new playground equipment, assemblies, teacher materials, classroom furniture and so much more! I encourage our new parents to sign up for committees and volunteer. By volunteering and leading committees, you have a chance to participate and assist in making decision for our school. Our home and school will be under the leadership of President, Carolyn Sciarrino (mmseylarhsa@gmail.com) In the coming week, further information from our HSA will be sent via email to all our families. Click Here to access information from our school website.

Finally, our Custodial Staff has done an outstanding job in getting the building ready for September. The school is bright and sparkling and ready for a new year . . . special thanks to Mr. Silvestri, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Braunstein, and Ms. Rothrock. Our dedicated maintenance crew worked hard to prepare the building for a fresh start. From polishing the floors until they shine to adding a fresh coat of paint in the hallways, their efforts have brought new energy to our school. Along with these updates, several additional facility improvements were made to ensure our students and staff return to a welcoming, safe, and well-cared-for environment. Again, I'm amazed what this crew can accomplish during summer months!

Together, with the support of our families, staff, and students, we are ready to make this another amazing school year filled with learning, growth, and memorable experiences.

Warm regards,

Miles

As we prepare for the 2026-2027 school year, Pennridge Schools will once again provide all important school Informaton (schedules, first day procedures, important dates, etc.) electronically through SchoolMessenger. This information will not be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service.

Throughout the school year, Pennridge School District will continue to use SchoolMessenger for school and district communications and SafeArrival for attendance reporting. Families can learn more about both systems, including how to set up and manage their accounts, by visiting:

https://www.pennridge.org/departments/technology/school-messenger-and-safe-arrival

To ensure you receive important information, it is essential that your contact information is accurate and up to date. SchoolMessenger and SafeArrival use the contact information that families provide and verify annually through PowerSchool.

All families must complete the annual verification process each school year. The PowerSchool verification portal is expected to open during the first week of August. We encourage you to review and update your information as soon as the portal becomes available so you do not miss schedule information, school announcements, emergency notifications, or attendance-related communications.

Thank you for helping us maintain accurate records and effective communication with our families.

Regular Schedule

KDG, Grade 1 – 5
Arrival Time - 8:35 a.m.
School starts – 8:50 a.m.

Car pick up – 3:35 p.m.

Two-Hour Delay/Modified

KDG, Grade 1 – 5

Arrival Time - 10:35 a.m.
School starts – 10:50 a.m.

Car pick up – 3:35 p.m.

Elementary school breakfast is available free of charge to all students. The cost of a elementary school lunch is $2.75. We encourage all families to complete a Free & Reduced Meal Application, as eligibility may provide additional benefits beyond meal assistance.

To apply for Free & Reduced meals, families should complete the online application at www.schoolcafe.com. The process is simple, secure, and allows applications to be submitted directly to the Nutritional Services office for prompt processing. Parents and guardians with an email address on file in PowerSchool will receive electronic notification regarding their application status. Families may also use the QR code available on the school's website for quick access to the application.

There have been no changes to the online meal payment system. Families may continue to add funds to student meal accounts through www.EZSchoolPay.com.

To help expedite service during lunch periods, students are encouraged to bring payments to either the cafeteria or main office in the morning so funds can be added to their accounts before lunchtime.

RamPacks is an organization that provides food for children with food insecurity and those at risk of hunger within the Pennridge School District. The food is provided and packed into backpacks or bags by volunteers and delivered to schools every week. It is funded by donations from churches, community groups, businesses, and individuals. If you are interested in learning more about RamPacks, please click the logo below. If you need a form, click HERE. Return the form to Ms. Kramer, our School Counselor.

We know there are many ways to celebrate school birthdays. For a variety of reasons, we have moved away from birthday FOOD-RELATED treats. An important reason being to coordinate and align our school practices with the mission of our district’s wellness policy. In addition, we have several children with severe health restrictions/allergies that do not allow them to be in contact or near specific food items without causing a life-threatening situation.

We will still continue to recognize and celebrate birthday within classrooms. However, we are asking our families to alternatives such as pencils, erasers, stickers, or donate a book to your child's classroom.

Here is the Main Office communicates with our parents at Seylar:

• School Messenger Emails
• SeeSaw Messages
• Facebook Page...Like Us!
• Monthly Panther Newsletters

Last year, our staff began taking a closer look at student behavior, including interactions among classmates and with adults, as well as how we respond when students do not meet our expectations. After reviewing discipline data and gathering staff feedback, we identified opportunities to strengthen consistency across our school and ensure that Seylar remains a safe, respectful, and welcoming environment for everyone.

This year, we are strengthening our Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework. Students will be explicitly taught consistent behavior expectations for classrooms and shared areas, including hallways, the cafeteria, restrooms, buses, playgrounds, and special-area spaces. Staff will use common language to reinforce these expectations throughout the school day.

When concerns arise, staff will respond restoratively by helping students understand what happened, who was affected, and how they can make things right. Consequences will be fair, individualized, and progressive. We will also use the School-Wide Information System (SWIS) to document and analyze behavior patterns so that we can provide appropriate support to individual students and make informed schoolwide decisions.

Please use the link below to review our schoolwide behavior expectations and discipline guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact your child’s teacher.

Our Back-to-School Night is an important opportunity for all parents to meet with the teachers. This night is for PARENTS ONLY and child(ren) should not attend. This event will be on Thursday, September 10 from 6:00-7:30PM. Specific schedule will be communicated to families during the first week of school

Family Welcome Day (AKA...Meet and Greet Your Teacher ) - August 27

We are so excited to "Welcome Back" our students along with greeting our new students. Grade KDG-5 will be from 2:30-3:30pm

As a reminder, the first day of school will be Monday, August 31.

Hello, Seylar Families!

My name is Tracee Myers, and I am Seylar’s MTSS Specialist (formerly IST teacher). This is my fourth year at Seylar and my 24th year in education. I also help lead our Seylar Student Leadership and Panther Partner programs.

This school year, Pennridge is implementing a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) across the district. MTSS is a data-driven framework designed to support the academic, behavioral, and social-emotional growth of all students. Through MTSS, we use student data to celebrate growth, identify areas where additional support may be helpful, and provide instruction and interventions based on individual student needs.

Throughout the year, I will collaborate with our Seylar MTSS Core Team, classroom teachers, and families to help ensure the growth and success of all our Panthers. Students in grades K–5 will participate in universal screeners in reading and math three times each year. These assessments help us monitor student progress and make informed decisions about any needed supports. Results will be shared with families after each assessment window.

More information about MTSS will be shared at Back-to-School Night. I look forward to continuing to work with our students, staff, and families to help every Seylar Panther grow and succeed!

Tracee Myers
MTSS Specialist
tmyers@pennridge.org
215-257-6272

At Seylar Elementary, volunteers play a vital role in their support of our students, staff and programs at school. Now that it is August, I want to remind families about the volunteer requirements that were put into law October 2014 in Pennsylvania. This law requires action on the part of parents who intend to volunteer and help at Seylar - by submitting clearances (child abuse and state & federal criminal history checks) to the Pennridge District Administrative Office prior to volunteering at our school. If you have turned in your clearances already to the District Administrative Office last year, your clearances are valid for five (5) years.

Clearances will no longer be accepted at the individual elementary buildings. They must be brought to the Pennridge District Administrative Office located at 1200 N. 5th Street, Perkasie, PA 18944 between the hours of 8:00AM - 4:30PM. For more info, see here.

All clearances are needed for the following purposes, but not limited to...

• Field trip chaperone, homeroom parent, holiday party classroom helper, Olympic Day volunteer, guest reader, classroom helper (copy papers, etc)...
  

Listed below are the arrival and dismissal procedures. These procedures are designed for the safety of the students, staff, and parents. We greatly appreciate your adherence. Please remember that the Callowhill Road entrance is for buses only both before and after school. Parents dropping off and picking up students are to drive to the parking lot in the back of the school and follow the traffic pattern indicated with street signs and signs painted on the blacktop.

Note: Students will be sent home via the bus assigned the them at the end of the school day UNLESS we hear otherwise from your family.

Parent Drop-Off

Students in KDG and Grades 1-5, you may begin dropping your child off at 8:35 am if they are not in KidsCare.

Parent Pick-Up:

Students in KDG, Grades 1-5, parents may enter the campus at 3:25 to begin forming a car line. Parents that arrive before that time will be asked to move their vehicle off campus.

Important Notice

Any child whose normal way of transportation is altered will require a parent note with signature that clearly stating who will be picking up him/her. Notes can be given to the teacher, or emailed to the teacher (please copy the office at SEYAttendance@pennridge.org). If no note is received, then the parent will have to come into the office to sign them out.

All absences, early dismissals and late arrivals will be reported via SafeArrival. Instructions here.

A student is marked tardy if he/she arrives after 8:50 AM. A parent/guardian must come into the office to sign the student in if arriving after 8:50 AM.

Should there be a need to pick your child up early, please enter that into the SafeArrival system. These notifications should be sent as early as possible on the day and not after 2:00 PM. Please also email your child's teacher so that s/he will be aware of the change in dismissal. Please include the reason for the early dismissal.

Anytime you are able to provide a note from your child’s doctor or dentist regarding an absence, late arrival or early dismissal, the time away from school will be marked as non‐cumulative. You may scan and send it electronically via SafeArrival on the same day of the absence, or send the note in with your child when he/she returns to school or to SEYAttendance@pennridge.org.

For trips during the school year, please request a trip form from your child's teacher or the Seylar office.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding attendance, please contact Mrs. Amy Hewes in our attendance office at 215-257-6272.

Please know that the Pennridge School District enforces the NEW Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s school attendance law.

Truancy is defined as “three (3) or more school days of unexcused absence during the current school year by a child subject to the compulsory school attendance law.” Additionally, the new law defines “habitual truancy” as six (6) or more school days of unexcused absences during the current school year by a child subject to the compulsory school attendance law. Absences include illness, quarantine, required court appearance, death in the family, and educational tours and trips.

• Cumulative absences include: illness covered by parental contact (written excuse, fax, email, verbal communication via phone call), family vacation while school is in session (pre-approval needed), truancy, and other absences not classified as non-cumulative.
  
• Non-cumulative absences include: extended illness verified by a doctor’s note, death in the family, religious holiday as designated by the Department of Education, college visitation with proper documentation, and out-of-school suspension.
  

This district publication has important information relating to district policies and procedures at the elementary level. The handbook is a great way for you to find answers to many of the questions you may have about all areas of school life. Please take time to review the handbook, which can be accessed online at the school district’s website. The district no longer distributes a separate published handbook.

Please note that even though the handbook states that in the upper elementary grades Pennridge students may ride their bikes to school, at M. M. Seylar students are not permitted to ride bikes to school. The traffic volume, speed, and road conditions would jeopardize the safety of our students. For these reasons, and due to the fact that there are no sidewalks on Callowhill Road, students are also not permitted to walk to and from school.

All parents/guardians who enter the building must present a goverment issued ID to be scanned using our Raptor Identification System. This will print a badge that you will wear (visible on chest) at all times when visiting or volunteering. Those entering the parking lot door after 8:50 AM will notice that the only place they have access to upon entering the main door is the school office.

Our office staff can easily contact the teacher’s classroom to convey a message to your child, and they will call your child to the office if needed. You should not report to any classroom unannounced because the teachers have classroom and student supervision and instructional responsibilities that should not be interrupted. If you need to communicate with a teacher, please send in a note, leave a phone message, or send an email, and the teacher will get back to you as soon as possible. Your cooperation will ensure that our school visitor procedures are maintained, that students are adequately supervised, and that teachers can complete important tasks. Thank you!

Parents were asked via an email message from the school district to access the PowerSchool Parent Portal to check that the information for your child is accurate and up-to-date.

Please note that requests to change your child’s address and/or phone number can only be made by contacting our school office. Requests to change your child’s address must be made in person at the main office. Changes to home phone numbers may be made by calling the school office. If you are unable to login to add and/or change information on the PowerSchool Parent Portal please contact Mrs. Ogden, our school secretary, at 215-257-6272.

It is important for you to keep your child’s login information in a safe place, in order to access the portal on PowerSchool whenever necessary. Every student has his/her own personal login. This login remains the same and follows the student until he/she graduates from high school. In addition to updating your child’s emergency card information, every August you will be also be able to access the name your child’s homeroom teacher for the next school year.

All parents/ guardians must submit a copy of custodial arrangements if you are the primary custodial parent. These arrangements must be brought to my attention during the first week of school. Of course the school will comply with any and all court orders, but in order to do so we must have a copy of the court order on file to ensure that our school is in complete compliance. In the absence of court documents stating otherwise, we must assume that both parents have equal access to students and to student information.