Burrell School District students ended the year with many success stories to celebrate in all areas, including academics and sports.

A Burrell guidance counselor's success with using her goldendoodle as a therapy dog has inspired other educators in the district to train their pets as therapy dogs.

Several Burrell High School juniors and seniors are joining district school board members to discuss important issues, offering students an opportunity to influence board decisions that impact them. The four students began joining school board members at the beginning of the academic year for the agenda meetings to discuss issues before members act on them during regular meetings.

As students adjust to the hardships caused by the global pandemic, Burrell School District leaders are focused on providing the support needed to ensure that students do not fall behind the learning curve.

Educators are expanding opportunities for teachers and students in Burrell School District thanks to two grants recently awarded.

Burrell joined five other southwest Pennsylvania school districts to collaborate through the Consortium for Public Education with funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Leadership teams from the districts are working together through the consortium and with teams in their individual school systems to improve school design, strengthen family and community engagement, and increase career readiness for students.

A Burrell School District program that focuses on the social, behavioral, and emotional needs of students goes beyond the basics to provide support.

Burrell District schools welcomed new educators and promoted others to new positions this academic year as students returned to the classroom. 

Two new instructors will help students and teachers with remote learning, serving students in the Burrell eAcademy virtual program and those students in quarantine after exposure to others who test positive for COVID-19.

Morgan Rockwell and Lori Christie began work with the virtual learning program this fall in the Burrell School District. Rockwell works with students in sixth to 12th grade, while Christie serves students in kindergarten to fifth grade.

Students in the Burrell School District have an opportunity to gain valuable work experience and special certifications through a career training program and a partnership with a local nonprofit.

Rodney Schafer practices what he teaches, so well in fact that the Burrell School District rocketry instructor received national attention for his skills.

Though students in the Burrell High School class of 2021 faced their fair share of challenges with the pandemic, they made it to graduation on June 10.

Two students in particular — Ian Oswalt and Reid Watkins — achieved much success in their senior year.

Despite the tribulations of a virtual event, several Burrell High School students excelled at this year’s state Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) competition.

A team of Jordyn Kowalkowski, Jessica Kowalkowski, and Sydney Horvat took second place in Sports and Entertainment Management. Their performance qualified them to compete at the FBLA National Leadership Conference, which will also take place virtually from June 29 to July 2.

The 2020-2021 school year has been challenging for everyone, including students, parents, and teachers.

“The most challenging part of the year for me has been trying to focus when I go virtual for the day,” said John Lindgren, senior at Burrell High School. “It's just very difficult to go to class after class while sitting in the same spot all day.”

Burrell School District hasn’t changed much from its original Health and Safety Plan at the beginning of the year and that’s because it’s working.

“The mitigation efforts that we put into place are serving us very well,” said Angela Dastolfo, RN, BSN, NCSN, MS, Coordinator of Health Services.

Burrell School District takes art education seriously, and it shows. The district has recently been named as an Outstanding Visual Arts Community by the Pennsylvania Art Education Association (PAEA). Only 27 districts across the state received this prestigious recognition.

Change is the name of the game at Burrell this year, but not only because of the pandemic. The district has also added two new teachers, Elizabeth Hartman and Alli Oberdorf, to the roster.

This year, Burrell School District has a new resource officer on campus — patrolman Robert Acquaviva from the Lower Burrell Police Department.

Acquaviva is filling the role vacated by John Marhefka, who left last year to become the chief of police for Lower Burrell.

Burrell School District’s 2020-2021 Health and Safety Plan is requiring teachers to offer lessons both in the classroom and virtually, and many teachers, like Mr. Bryan Mike, have spent the summer getting ready.

Mr. Mike, a biology teacher who is celebrating his 25th year with the district, calls this upcoming year “very different.”

“In other years, I had a pretty good idea what I was going to do,” said Mr. Mike. “My preparations were just to get my room ready. This year, I have had to create different documents, change documents to fit the virtual model, and will have to prepare my Google Classrooms (I have 6 classes, so 6 Classrooms).”

After much discussion and planning, Burrell School District has created a Health and Safety Plan for the upcoming 2020-2021 year.

The plan consists of three options families and students can choose from before the school year begins.

As the Food Service Director for Burrell School District, Andrew Klipple is using his previous experience as a chef to provide healthier and tastier options for students throughout the district.

One of his biggest challenges is following the guidelines set by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which restricts the use of sodium, mandates increases in whole grain, and governs how many calories, vegetables, fruits, and protein each grade should have per meal.