{"id":272695,"date":"2026-08-26T17:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272695\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T17:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:46:14","slug":"baldwin-whitehall-welcomes-students-back-with-several-initiatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272695\/","title":{"rendered":"Baldwin-Whitehall welcomes students back with several initiatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI, new grading system, kindergartners at high school among Baldwin-Whitehall changes<\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/a>BALDWIN, Pa. \u2014<\/p>\n

The Baldwin-Whitehall School District welcomed students back Wednesday. This year, kindergartners are joining Baldwin-Whitehall High School due to renovations at McAnnulty Elementary as part of one of several new initiatives in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District. <\/p>\n

“I know parents just have the reservations about just being in such a big space, but just to see it, we’ve made it our own, and it really, truly doesn’t matter where we are, where the McAnnulty staff — no matter where you put us,” said Tricia Fusco, kindergarten principal. <\/p>\n

Superintendent Dr. Randy Lutz sees the move as an opportunity for older students to gain experience that could inspire them to pursue teaching careers, and students agree. <\/p>\n

“It was definitely like something really new. Wasn’t expecting that. But I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for both the older kids and the younger kids to learn and grow from each other,” said Reese Phelam, a senior. <\/p>\n

Teachers in the district are also stepping into the world of artificial intelligence with tools like Magic School AI and Teach FX, which will assist with lesson planning and provide feedback. <\/p>\n

“Teachers can’t be replaced of teachers or replace. Shame on us all. But we can be fueled and powered by some of these AI tools,” said Lutz. <\/p>\n

Dr. Janeen Peretin, assistant to the superintendent, believes it is important for the district to stay ahead of the curve. “We really feel a responsibility to help our teachers as well as our students to use it proactively and really try to offload some of the day-to-day tasks that they have,” she said. <\/p>\n

The district is also introducing a badge-based grading system that will one day replace traditional grades. <\/p>\n

“It makes learning and understanding really flexible for both teachers and students. So students can have multiple attempts to demonstrate mastery. So, if they don’t do it the first time, they can relearn, retry again. And it really helps them build resiliency. It helps motivate them and keep them engaged throughout all of our lessons and activities,” said Dr. Allison Lippert, a kindergarten teacher. <\/p>\n

The badge system will begin with kindergarteners this year and eventually expand to the rest of the district. <\/p>\n

On the safety side, the district is launching electric buses and a stop arm program. The program will capture photos or videos of drivers who fail to stop when a bus’s stop arm is extended. Violations will be reviewed by the school\u2019s police chief and sent out if found in violation. <\/p>\n

“If there is every a question, just stop. Take a moment. Give the kid the benefit of the doubt, and let’s move forward,” said Lutz. <\/p>\n

Lutz noted that kindergarteners will return to McAnnulty Elementary next fall once renovations are complete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AI, new grading system, kindergartners at high school among Baldwin-Whitehall changes BALDWIN, Pa. \u2014 The Baldwin-Whitehall School District…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[278,1609,114762,55947,114751,114752,9513,114759,114758,114756,114767,114764,6704,114755,114766,114754,114769,55943,114760,114753,28,73,75,74,10011,114768,114765,6984,4757,114761,9167,114763,114757,6569,78],"class_list":["post-272695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-badge-based-grading","tag-baldwin-whitehall-high-school","tag-baldwin-whitehall","tag-baldwin-whitehall-school-district","tag-district","tag-dr-allison-lippert","tag-dr-janeen-peretin","tag-dr-randy-lutz","tag-electric-bus","tag-electric-buses","tag-high-school","tag-kindergarten-principal","tag-kindergartner","tag-kindergartners","tag-lesson-planning","tag-lutz","tag-magic-school-ai","tag-mcannulty-elementary","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-school-safety","tag-several-initiative","tag-stop-arm-program","tag-student","tag-system","tag-teach-fx","tag-teacher","tag-traditional-grades","tag-tricia-fusco","tag-whitehall","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}