Three Fox Chapel Area School District publications won awards in the 39th Annual Pennsylvania School Boards Association Educational Publications Contest.

The district received Awards of Excellence, the highest honor, for the Dorseyville Middle School promotional brochure and for the "2006-2007 Annual Report & State of the Schools." The district also received an honorable mention for the high school course description guide.

More than 240 entries were submitted in the contest.

The Mars Area High School marching band will play songs by the Beatles this school year.

In addition to halftime shows, the band will perform at the following high school band competitions: Norwin High School, Sept. 13; Elizabeth Forward High School, Sept. 27; Mars Area High School, Oct. 4; and Beaver Area High School, Oct. 18. The band also will take part in the Butler Band Festival, Sept. 17; and Pennsylvania Interscholastic Marching Band Association Championships at Gateway High School, Oct. 25.

The band season opened with a performance in the Fall Fantasy Parade at Kennywood Park Saturday.

• Mars Area High School has been awarded a $190,000 Classrooms for the Future grant by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

The grant includes $160,000 to incorporate technology into the school's core curriculum in English, mathematics, science and social studies. The grant also includes $30,000 for a teacher who will help other teachers to learn how to use the technology effectively.

The initial funding will be used to buy laptop computers that students can use in the classroom and additional interactive white boards.

• Two Mars Area School District publications received awards in the 39th annual Pennsylvania School Board Association Educational Publications Contest.

The quarterly newsletter, iN Mars Area magazine, received an Award of Excellence in the community newsletter category. The 2007-08 activities and information calendar received honorable mention.

Registration for the North Hills community swim program will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 9 in North Hills Junior High School large-group instruction room.

The district is offering a 10-week program, including swimming and diving lessons for children and adults, aqua aerobics and an instructor aide class. Participants in the instructor aide class must be at least 14 years old by Dec. 30.

Children's lessons will be held on Saturdays, beginning Sept. 20. Adult lessons are scheduled for Monday evenings, beginning Oct. 6. The cost is $50 per student for youth swimming and diving lessons and $45 per adult for swim lessons and/or aqua aerobics. The instructor aide class is $50.

All lessons will be conducted in the North Hills Senior High School pool, 53 Rochester Road. For more information, contact the Athletics and Activities Office at 412-318-1437 or e-mail Sue Stein, program coordinator, steins@nhsd.net.

The school board approved a study of the feasibility of expanding the district's high school. Superintendent James C. Manley will seek proposals from selected architectural firms for the study.

A report from the high school expansion committee, a 44-member group that includes community members, staff and students, was presented to the board in July. The committee report encouraged a study on how to accommodate the expected 48 percent growth in high school student enrollment over the next 10 years.

St. James School, in Sewickley, will start the year with a new principal. Jeanne Riley, a teacher for 16 years, is a 2007 recipient of the prestigious Golden Apple Award, presented annually to 10 outstanding Catholic school teachers in the Pittsburgh Diocese.

Mrs. Riley's career spans nearly two decades, both as an elementary school teacher at St. James, and as director of the Friendship Nursery School, Sewickley.

Mrs. Riley is working on a program for parents with their toddlers. In addition to the Carnegie Mellon University's C-Mites programs and Johns Hopkins programs, she is working to add outreach programs with Robert Morris College and Northwestern University for upper-grade students.

She also plans to add a literary magazine for grades 3-8, Junior National Honor Society for grades 6-8, Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science and a geography bee.