Pennridge officials seek board approval for Navy‑funded STEM plus M labs worth about $1.5 million
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Summary
Pennridge administrators asked the board to approve participation in STEM plus M, a Navy‑funded 5‑year program that would provide fully equipped seventh‑grade labs, curriculum, professional development and ongoing software support at little material cost to the district; the district would pay modest infrastructure and electrical upgrades.
Pennridge School District administrators asked the school board for approval to pursue a Navy‑funded partnership with STEM plus M that they say would supply about $1.5 million in lab equipment, curriculum and professional learning for seventh‑grade students at minimal direct cost to the district. District leaders said STEM plus M would manage program setup, furnishings, equipment, professional development and software support over a five‑year partnership while Pennridge would be responsible only for space and modest infrastructure work, mainly electrical upgrades.
Erin Reichert, a K–12 instructional coach, said district staff hosted STEM plus M representatives and conducted walkthroughs of middle‑school instructional spaces to produce classroom sketches and implementation plans. "They took note of classroom measurements, existing equipment, and all of those notes that would help guide thoughtful implementation," Reichert said.
District presenters and classroom teachers described STEM plus M as hands‑on, standards‑aligned programming that includes engineering and design, CNC and 3D printing, robotics, automation, electronics, material science and career‑pathway exploration. STEM teacher Ryan Ruckel said the program would give middle‑school students “a real shot in the arm” and create continuity into high‑school pathways.
Board members pressed staff on potential obligations. Speaker 2 said the district had already checked operations and preliminary electrical work and that, if the board approves, STEM plus M also must approve Pennridge as a site. "We've already been in contact with our operations department, and they've done some preliminary work on the electrical pieces," she said. She added that work could begin this spring if the board and the vendor approve the partnership.
Administrators framed the opportunity as competitive—more districts had applied than available spots—and asked the board to consider formal approval at the February board meeting to move forward with vendor negotiations and the infrastructure planning.
Next steps: staff said they will present a formal recommendation and any contract documents to the board at the February meeting; STEM plus M must also accept Pennridge before implementation can proceed.