Conestoga Valley School District

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.

Conestoga Valley School District
Location
2110 Horseshoe Road
Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17602
United States
District information
TypePublic school district
MottoCharacter. Community. Commitment.
GradesK-12
Established1958 (1958)[1]
SuperintendentDave Zuilkoski[2]
SchoolsConestoga Valley High School
Conestoga Valley Middle School
Brownstown Elementary School, Fritz Elementary School, Leola Elementary School, Smoketown Elementary School
Budget$55,814,667
NCES District ID4206480
Students and staff
Students4354[3]
Teachers321
Staff571
Student–teacher ratioGrades K-2 - 19:1
Grades 3-12 - 21:1
Athletic conferenceLancaster-Lebanon League
District mascotBuckskin
Colors    Red and blue
Other information
State District ID113361703
Websitewww.conestogavalley.org
Map of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Public School Districts. Conestoga Valley School District is in light blue in the center of the map.

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
2016 SAT: average scores
Lancaster County schools
School district Reading Math Writing Total
Cocalico 514 524 495 1534
Columbia Borough 460 448 427 1335
Conestoga Valley 515 511 479 1505
Donegal 515 508 492 1515
Eastern Lancaster County 526 524 493 1544
Elizabethtown Area 529 532 495 1556
Ephrata Area 525 526 496 1546
Hempfield 535 556 505 1595
Lampeter-Strasburg 524 533 511 1567
Lancaster 425 436 407 1268
Manheim Central 507 510 483 1501
Manheim Township 539 553 515 1608
Penn Manor 516 523 483 1521
Pequea Valley 531 526 492 1549
Solanco 509 512 471 1492
Warwick 537 539 507 1584
County average 513 516 484 1514
Pennsylvania average 481 485 458 1424
U.S. average 494 508 482 1484
Each test section is out of a score of 800 points.
Source: Public School SAT Scores, PA Department of Education
U.S. Average Source: 2016 SAT Report, CollegeBoard
Pennsylvania System of School Assessment
2016-2017 Average PSSA exam scores for Lancaster County schools
School district Elementary Reading Elementary Math Elementary Science Intermediate Math Intermediate Reading Intermediate Science
Cocalico 78% 53% 91% 74% 38% 62%
Columbia Borough 50% 35% 80% 41% 15% 29%
Conestoga Valley 72% 52% 81% 71% 46% 60%
Donegal 69% 51% 79% 60% 41% 66%
Eastern Lancaster County 67% 49% 87% 69% 49% 60%
Elizabethtown Area 72% 62% 86% 66% 48% 63%
Ephrata Area 73% 60% 85% 61% 46% 51%
Hempfield 76% 62% 88% 73% 48% 70%
Lampeter-Strasburg 82% 67% 86% 74% 56% 61%
Lancaster 55% 44% 70% 36% 16% 31%
Manheim Central 73% 57% 88% 63% 51% 72%
Manheim Township 83% 75% 91% 79% 57% 71%
Penn Manor 73% 65% 86% 68% 46% 64%
Pequea Valley 71% 57% 89% 57% 27% 50%
Solanco 57% 50% 86% 62% 35% 56%
Warwick 74% 44% 82% 73% 44% 71%
Source:

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. "East Lampeter Township History" (PDF). Conestoga Valley Chapter of the Lancaster County Bicentennial Committee.
  2. "Superintendent's Corner". Conestoga Valley School District.
  3. "School Newsletter". January 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2014-02-26.
  4. "Penn Johns supporters make plea to keep school open". Lancaster Online. Archived from the original on 2013-04-11.
  5. "Conestoga Valley considers new school hours". Lancaster Online. Archived from the original on 2013-04-11.
  6. "CV schools awarded $1 million grant". My Conestoga Valley News. Archived from the original on 2013-04-11.
  7. "Not in NAMM only". Lancaster Online. Archived from the original on 2013-04-11.
  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. Archived from the original on 2012-09-06.
  10. "Jonathan Groff Biography". Jonathangroff.org. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15.
  11. "Floyd Landis". Topend Sports Network.
  12. "Kevin Shaffer". NFL.
  13. "Ryan Manelick". The Observer.
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