JoAnne Townsend, assistant principal at Shaler Area High School, received the 2014 Leadership Award from Blended Schools Network during the 64th annual PASCD Conference, in Hershey, for her work with the Shaler Area Academy.

The Blended Schools Network Leadership Award recognizes an educational leader who works to create engaging online or blended learning environments. Mrs. Townsend was recognized for her work with the Shaler Area Academy, an in-house blended learning academy for students with nontraditional learning needs.

The Shaler Area Academy is a school-within-a-school model that uses online coursework blended with some traditional classroom instruction to deliver the Shaler Area School District curriculum to students with social, emotional or environmental issues, which impede their learning.

“The technology and blended learning approach in the Shaler Area Academy opens the classroom up to flexibility and individualized learning,” said Mrs. Townsend, director of the Academy. “Students do not need to be completing the same course work at the same time as you find in the more traditional classroom setting.”

Mrs. Townsend said she shares the Leadership Award with the educators who all work together to make the Shaler Area Academy a successful model for students to excel academically, including Dave DiPasquale, coordinator of the Academy, the Shaler Area Academy team of teachers and the counseling department.