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Dr. Bridget O'Connell Contact Info: boconnell@palisadessd.org 610-847-5131, ext. 4024   Credentials

Welcome back to another exciting school year at Palisades!  The focus the Palisades community is the “greatest possible development of all of our students;” we are determined to raise our student’s academic achievements, improve the health and wellness of our students, and increase their ability to be successful global citizens.  Much of the work we do during this school year will focus on these three key areas.

I am very excited to begin this school year as the new Superintendent of Palisades and I look forward to working with students, parents, staff and community members to further position our district as a progressive educational institution.  Throughout my career as a former teacher, assistant principal, curriculum director and assistant superintendent, my strength has been in meeting educational challenges head on and solving problems through collaborations, hard work and creativity.  Although the challenges are great, my commitment to this district is steadfast.

Throughout the last year, we have been planning for the fast-approaching target that the U.S. Department of Education has set for schools…all schools in the nation must achieve 100 percent proficiency for all students by 2014.  This is a target that we take very seriously and will be devoting much of our resources towards achieving.  At Palisades, we have achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the past eight consecutive years - this is an accomplishment that only very few school districts across the state have achieved.  I feel that we are poised to continue our trajectory towards 100 percent proficiency given our unwavering determination and our pledge to provide an excellent education for all of our students.

Educating the “whole child” includes taking on the challenge of scrutinizing the nutritious food offerings in our cafeterias, as well as the programs and education we provide for our students and families surrounding health and nutrition.  With the revitilization of our district’s Wellness Committee, we will be helping our students develop good habits for life with regard to health and nutrition.  Enhancing our students’ achievements through healthy choices and educating our students about the importance of good nutrition and making healthy choices is a focus that we can all take part in helping to achieve.

As in recent years, our students and staff will continue to explore ways to make global connections through literature and classroom materials, virtual connections or student exchanges and excursions.  We have the tools through our web connections and classroom collaborative tools to allow students to work with their international peers and experts in their respective fields.  In addition, we provide students with many real-life experiences such as trips to other parts of the world including our very popular student trips to Germany, Costa Rica and the US Virgin Islands.  We continue to support these visits because they compliment our educational programs and often have a lifelong impact on our students.

Another exciting opportunity which you will hear more about throughout the year includes the implementation of our Palisades Cyber Academy (PCA); whereby students are being given the opportunity to take as many as all of their courses on-line or as few as one course online. The purpose of these on-line offerings is to provide an outstanding education to our students through a flexible format. All students who successfully complete their PCA courses will receive a Palisades diploma upon graduation. The PCA is beginning in the high school this school year but will expand to include K-12 offerings.

This program is yet another of a long list of programs and services offered to support the achievement of Palisades’ students.  The Watershed Integration Program (WIP) for middle school students, as well as the Media Technology Academy, Medical Career Pathways Program and Dual Enrollment Program for high school students are just a few other options that students have to become fully-engaged, driven learners.