Kinks in Haverford School Lunch Accounts

Seems like Haverford School District (HSD) is making a change in the lunch account system. Parents who are trying to log on to the present system, myschoolaccount.com, are getting errors. A password reset attempt eventually produces this email from the site: It appears that Haverford School District is making a change.   They are no longer active within our system.  Therefore, the parent accounts under this district are no longer active.   You will need to contact your school directly for more information.   Keep in mind that if your students have a current balance, those funds are at your school.   Thank you for using myschoolaccount.com.support@myschoolaccount.com A call to Gerry Gannon, HSD's Food Services Director, told us the new system, ParentOnline.net, is still being tested. We asked if we had missed an announcement, and Mr. Gannon said no. Announcements on the change will go out after complete testing is done. (Thinking summer might have been a good time for this, but hey... whatevs, as the kids say). If you had money left in your child's account from last year, your pre-existing balance is still active. Your student can use that money. Also there is always the cash option (but this doesn't work out so well for the little ones, who tend to promptly lose their change at recess. Every once in a while at Chatham an old guy comes out with his metal detector and combs the fields. He probably has already recovered the price of the metal detector). If you go to ParentOnline and register your child (you'll need the 5 digit ID number), you can add more money to the account, monitor purchases, etc. The official announcement of the change will come sometime in... let's take bets. January? We have a feeling Mr. Gannon probably isn't paid enough to be fielding all the phone calls he's been getting about it. So, spread the word. Leave Mr. Gannon alone and hang tight. It'll work itself out eventually. … [Read more...]

Cheltenham parents asking for later school start

This may come as a shock to most of you, but some of us Townies didn't grow up here. While my family has long historical roots in Haverford Township, I didn't move here until 14 years ago. One thing I loved about HT is the walkability of it (walkscore.com gives the 19083 an outstanding score of 71 out of 100). I grew up in the Poconos where we had to catch a school bus around 6:30 am to get to school by 8:15. That's a very long commute and a brutal rise time, not just for high school but for all 12 years because we attended the catholic school. When I see kids walking to school in the morning, I get flashbacks of seeing re-runs of Happy Days and the Brady Bunch. As far as I knew, only Hollywood had kids that walked to school! But even without those very lengthy bus rides to school, the HT school day still begins earlier than most of us are leaving for work in the morning. I never saw the logic in this. If anything, we could consider at least flipping the start times. The young kids could start at 7:35, as they naturally rise earlier, and the older ones could start at 8:35 or later. After-school activities can become before-school activities for those who are interested. These flipped times correspond better with decades of adolescent psychology and neurology research. Greater Philadelphia area Cheltenham school district is being challenged over the early starts. From CBSnewslocal: CHELTENHAM, Pa. (CBS) - The conversation is still in the very earliest stages, but some parents in a Montgomery County school district are considering asking administrators to change the start time for their high school. Rhonda Feder’s daughter is in 10th grade at Cheltenham High School. Class starts at 7:30. She can’t help but wonder whether her school work is affected because she and other teens may be sleep deprived. Feder started a Facebook page to get input from other parents and says the research is out there that shows a later start date would be beneficial to … [Read more...]