Conestoga Valley School District

Conestoga Valley School District

Character. Community. Commitment.
Location
2110 Horseshoe Road
Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17602
United States
District information
Type Public school district
Grades K-12
Established 1958 (1958)[1]
Superintendent Gerald G. Huesken[2]
Schools Conestoga Valley High School
Conestoga Valley Middle School
Brownstown Elementary School, Fritz Elementary School, Leola Elementary School, Smoketown Elementary School
Budget $55,814,667
District ID 4206480
Students and staff
Students 4354[3]
Teachers 321
Staff 571
Student-teacher ratio Grades K-2 - 19:1
Grades 3-12 - 21:1
Athletic conference Lancaster-Lebanon League
District mascot Buckskin
Colors           Red and blue
Other information
State District ID 113361703
Website www.conestogavalley.org
Map of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Public School Districts. Conestoga Valley School District is in light blue in the center of the map.

The Conestoga Valley School District is a school district covering East Lampeter Township, Upper Leacock Township and West Earl Township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is a member of Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit (IU) 13. The district operates one High School, one Middle School and four Elementary Schools.

History

In 1958, East Lampeter Township, Upper Leacock Township, and West Earl township merged their school systems to form the Conestoga Valley School District. Its original high school was dedicated on present-day Smoketown Elementary School as East Lampeter High School. Sometime after 1970, the high school was moved to another location along Horseshoe Road, renamed Conestoga Valley High School, and built completely new while the old building was dedicated as Smoketown Elementary School.[1]

Penn Johns Elementary School

Located in Bird In Hand, Penn Johns Elementary School was the previous fifth elementary school of Conestoga Valley. It was the last remaining school for the Plain community that over time lost its original purpose and transitioned into a regular elementary school that served all local residents. It was established around 1953 as an Amish and Old Order Mennonite school, but the Amish community no longer attended the school. In 2007, the Conestoga Valley school board voted to close the school for good, citing new teacher certification requirements, operating costs, and new curriculum requirements. The school served around 35 students at the time of closing taught by only two teachers, one for grades 1-4 and one for grades 5-8. The 35 students then matriculated into the four remaining elementary schools.[4]

Recent developments

For the 2009-2010 school year and beyond, the school board voted to change the school hours of all schools in the district. In previous years, elementary school hours went from 8:20 a.m. to 2:25 p.m. and middle and high school hours went from 7:50 a.m to 3:10 p.m. These hours were changed to 8:50 a.m. to 3:25 p.m. for the elementary schools, 7:35 a.m. to 2:40 p.m. for the middle school, and 7:35 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. for the high school.[5]

For the 2012-2013 school year, Conestoga Valley received a $985,891 state grant to establish two pre-kindergarten classes, expand full-day kindergarten to more students, and added teachers to its ESL program. The grant was part of Pennsylvania's "Keystones to Opportunity" initiative that distributed $36 million to school districts in the state.[6]

Academics

Conestoga Valley School District has been named one of the "Best Communities for Music Education" multiple times by the NAMM Foundation.[7] A survey is made available every year for school districts to fill out, of which schools are selected based on several criteria, including funding, music class participation, instruction time, and facilities. Conestoga Valley has achieved this recognition six times, which required the district to score in the 80th percentile or higher out of all of the other applicants.[8]

Comparison to other Lancaster County school districts

2012 SAT: average scores
Lancaster County schools
School District Verbal Math Writing Total
Cocalico 498 515 491 1504
Columbia Borough 463 471 431 1365
Conestoga Valley 508 523 492 1523
Donegal 501 488 476 1465
Eastern Lancaster County 490 506 468 1464
Elizabethtown Area 510 522 486 1518
Ephrata Area 508 523 477 1508
Hempfield 519 547 499 1565
Lampeter-Strasburg 526 542 512 1580
Lancaster 415 426 402 1243
Manheim Central 510 514 496 1520
Manheim Township 537 557 524 1618
Penn Manor 497 516 479 1492
Pequea Valley 479 494 466 1439
Solanco 487 489 460 1436
Warwick 522 532 499 1553
County average 498 510 479 1487
Pennsylvania average 473 481 450 1404
U.S. average 497 514 489 1500
Possible on each test: 800 points
Source: Public School SAT Scores, PA Department of Education
U.S. Average Source: 2011 SAT Report, CollegeBoard
Pennsylvania System of School Assessment
2011-2012 PSSA proficiency levels for Lancaster County schools
School District 3-5 Reading 3-5 Math 6-8 Reading 6-8 Math 11 Reading 11 Math
Cocalico 82.7% 86.1% 85.8% 89.5% 68.1% 61.4%
Columbia Borough 60.9% 72.4% 53.2% 67.3% 46.8% 45.3%
Conestoga Valley 76.3% 84.9% 83.9% 90.0% 82.7% 75.0%
Donegal 73.1% 82.5% 71.5% 82.9% 62.3% 51.8%
Eastern Lancaster County 72.5% 81.7% 79.9% 84.0% 74.4% 68.1%
Elizabethtown Area 70.8% 80.3% 76.6% 85.4% 72.2% 67.3%
Ephrata Area 77.4% 87.7% 79.1% 85.4% 72.3% 75.7%
Hempfield 85.5% 89.8% 86.5% 88.8% 76.6% 73.8%
Lampeter-Strasburg 89.0% 91.0% 86.9% 90.7% 86.1% 81.0%
Lancaster 50.5% 63.5% 46.4% 55.4% 43.9% 32.6%
Manheim Central 76.6% 83.7% 84.3% 90.1% 64.6% 64.5%
Manheim Township 80.1% 90.2% 85.9% 88.0% 77.7% 72.1%
Penn Manor 75.5% 86.4% 80.7% 85.6% 76.3% 69.7%
Pequea Valley 77.7% 86.4% 68.9% 74.4% 72.2% 52.0%
Solanco 82.9% 88.5% 85.6% 87.9% 69.6% 56.5%
Warwick 79.5% 83.7% 86.6% 87.1% 77.8% 72.8%
Source: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/school_assessments/7442

Demographical snapshot

Source: School Newsletter (January 2014)[3]

Asian students 222
Hispanic students 675
Black students 309
White (non-Hispanic) students 2987
Other (including multi-racial) 161

Schools

Notable alumni

References

  1. 1 2 "East Lampeter Township History" (PDF). Conestoga Valley Chapter of the Lancaster County Bicentennial Committee.
  2. ↑ "Superintendent's Corner". Conestoga Valley School District.
  3. 1 2 "School Newsletter". January 2014.
  4. ↑ "Penn Johns supporters make plea to keep school open". Lancaster Online.
  5. ↑ "Conestoga Valley considers new school hours". Lancaster Online.
  6. ↑ "CV schools awarded $1 million grant". My Conestoga Valley News.
  7. ↑ "Not in NAMM only". Lancaster Online.
  8. ↑ "NAMM Foundation Survey Reveals 'Best Communities for Music Education' In the United States". National Association of Music Merchants.
  9. ↑ "Kim Glass Profile". University of Arizona.
  10. ↑ "Jonathan Groff Biography". Jonathangroff.org.
  11. ↑ "Floyd Landis". Topend Sports Network.
  12. ↑ "Kevin Shaffer". NFL.
  13. ↑ "Ryan Manelick". The Observer.
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