Newsroom

David Hein

David Hein is a two-term member of the Parkland School Board and its current vice-president. He also chairs the Personnel and Finance Committee and has served on the Academics, Arts and Athletics Committee. He serves on the joint operating committee of the Lehigh Career and Technical Institute and is its most recent treasurer… More

Art Levinowitz

Art Levinowitz has been involved in education for his entire professional life. He was a teacher for eight years, employed as an administrator for more than 25 years for the New Jersey State Department of Education, and has served on Upper Dublin School Board for 20 years, including five as president… More

Tricia Steiner

Tricia Steiner has been a school director for Derry Township School District since 2017. She regularly attends PSBA professional development events such as the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference and Advocacy Day. She participates actively as an advocate and is a member of the PSBA Equity Taskforce… More

Ronald Cole

Ron Cole has been a school board member in the Sayre Area School District for nine years. He is the current board vice president, chairman of the Community Relations Committee and a PSBA liaison. He also is a board member for the Northern Tier Career Center… More

Sabrina Backer

Sabrina Backer has been active in public education since her children started elementary school. She began with the executive board of their school’s parent/teacher organization, moved on to her local school board in 2015, and then served as Section 1 advisor, and on the Governing Board of PSBA in 2018… More

Marsha Pleta

Marsha Pleta is president of the Washington Area School Board and formerly served as board treasurer. She currently serves as PSBA liaison and Section 5 advisor. She is on the Legislative Advisory Committee and has been active in advocacy efforts on behalf of the association… More

Register for “Federal Focus: Fully funding IDEA”

Join U.S. Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-01) and other IDEA Act co-sponsors at this complimentary focus meeting to talk about the critical need to modernize and fully fund the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Learn about bipartisan efforts now in the U.S… More

A western PA school suspended fewer students by using a restorative model

Suspensions among fourth- through sixth-graders are down at Woodland Hills School District. That can be attributed, in part, to a restorative practice program created by the University of Pittsburgh, according to school district administrators. The team supporting the work recently released a report reviewing the past two years of the strategy's implementation… More

Local school districts grappling with teacher shortages

Since 1996, the number of undergraduate education majors has declined 55% nationwide, and since 2009, the number of newly issued in-state instructional teaching certificates has dropped by 71%, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Pennsylvania used to issue licenses to more than 14,000 new teachers annually. In 2016-17, the state issued 4,412… More

National News: Report shows 2.7M students suspended in 2015-16 despite efforts to curb exclusionary discipline

During the 2015-16 school year, more than 2.7 million public school students received at least one out-of-school suspension, according to a new report titled “Beyond Suspensions: Examining School Discipline Policies and Connections to the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Students of Color with Disabilities” from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights… More