Parkland School District has received recognition from the College Board with a listing on the Advanced Placement Honor Roll for expanding opportunities and improving performance for advanced placement students.

The fourth annual honor roll commended 477 U.S. public school districts that achieved increases in access to AP courses for a broader number of students and maintained or improved the rate at which AP students earned a grade of three or higher.

After receiving a framed certificate from District Superintendent Richard Sniscak at the Dec. 3 board meeting, high school Principal James Moniz commented on the award.

"This is a great honor. I'm really proud of the faculty," Moniz said. "This is significant. More kids are taking AP exams, and we're still getting the high performance. This is huge. We will be offering more AP courses next year."

Twenty-five AP courses are available at the high school. In the 2012-13 school year, 596 students were enrolled in the AP program.

At Parkland, 87.2 percent of students received a grade of three or higher, which qualifies for credit at most colleges.

The Pennsylvania average is 68.3 percent, and the national average stands at 60.9 percent.

In other business, the board accepted the resignations of Debra Barhight, speech therapist at Parkway Manor Elementary, who is retiring after 29 years in education; Nancy Alpago, art teacher at Ironton Elementary, who is retiring after 21 years; and Diane Mucellin, autistic support teacher at Kernsville Elementary, retiring after 23 years. The board approved an agreement between Parkland and Bloomsburg University in which the district will provide opportunities for qualified students to participate in field studies, internships and student teaching.

Sniscak said Parkland has a similar agreement with Kutztown University to enable college students to obtain first-hand experience in the schools.