Lower Merion School District
Encyclopedia
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010, the population was 799,874, making it the third most populous county in Pennsylvania . The county seat is Norristown.The county was created on September 10, 1784, out of land originally part...
. The school district
School district
School districts are a form of special-purpose district which serves to operate the local public primary and secondary schools.-United States:...
includes residents of both Lower Merion Township
Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania
Lower Merion Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and part of the Pennsylvania Main Line. As of the 2010 census, the township had a total population of 57,825...
and the Borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
of Narberth
Narberth, Pennsylvania
Narberth is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,282 at the 2010 census.-History:Narberth is located on a parcel of land originally deeded to Edward Rees , who arrived from Wales in 1682. A portion of this original tract became the farm of Edward R...
. Established in 1836, LMSD is one of the oldest districts in Pennsylvania. It is the wealthiest school district in the state, and one of the wealthiest school districts in the country.
Schools administered
Ten schools comprise the district:- Lower Merion High SchoolLower Merion High SchoolLower Merion High School, is an American public high school in Ardmore, a community on the Pennsylvania Main Line.It is the larger of the two high schools in Lower Merion School District, which serves both Lower Merion Township and the Borough of Narberth. It was ranked among the top 60 U.S. high...
- Harriton High SchoolHarriton High SchoolHarriton High School is a public secondary school located in Rosemont, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania.Harriton is one of two high schools in Lower Merion School District; the other is Lower Merion High School. It used to be a comparatively small high school, containing 889...
- Bala Cynwyd Middle SchoolBala Cynwyd Middle SchoolBala Cynwyd Middle School is located on 510 Bryn Mawr Avenue, in Bala Cynwyd, a community within Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, United States with a ZIP code of 19004....
- Welsh Valley Middle SchoolWelsh Valley Middle SchoolWelsh Valley Middle School is a public middle school located in Penn Valley, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania.Welsh Valley hosts grades 6, 7, and 8. Students filter to Welsh Valley primarily from Gladdwyne Elementary and Penn Valley Elementary schools...
- Belmont Hills Elementary School
- Cynwyd Elementary School
- Gladwyne Elementary School
- Merion Elementary School, the site of the April 4, 1991, plane crash that killed Republican U.S. Senator John Heinz. The plane crash also took the lives of six others, including two first grade students playing at recess.
- Penn Wynne Elementary School, the elementary school that Alex ScottAlex Scott (Alex's Lemonade Stand)Alexandra "Alex" Scott was an American cancer patient who operated a lemonade stand to raise money for research into such childhood cancers as the strain that ultimately killed her at the age of 8.-Personal life:...
attended. - Penn Valley Elementary School
Class action
In February 2010, a class actionClass action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
lawsuit was filed against the school district, alleging that Harriton High School had been secretly using remotely activated webcams built into laptops issued to their students to spy on the students in their homes, thereby infringing on their privacy rights. The suit was filed by the parents of a student who had been warned by an assistant principal that he had been engaging in "improper behavior" in his bedroom. The schools admitted to secretly snapping over 66,000 webshots and screenshots, including webcam shots of students in their bedrooms.