Claysburg-Kimmel Reviews its Progress With Sen. Judy Ward

State Sen. Judy Ward visited the Claysburg-Kimmel school district recently to hear about the district's recent progress and improvements, especially regarding programs related to STEM.

STEM is an abbreviation for "science, technology, engineering and mathematics." According to the federal Dept. of Homeland Security, "Discussion of STEM-related programs has become a [national] priority because too few college students are pursuing degrees in these fields. The U.S. Department of Labor expects that there will be 1.2 million job openings in STEM related fields by 2028, but there won't be enough qualified graduates to fill them."

STEM programs at schools like C-K are designed to get students interested in the topics, creating more students who are well-versed in these fields as they move on in their careers, whether to college or a trade.

During her visit on Nov. 1, state Sen. Ward toured the school complex and then discussed the school's projects with district Superintendent Mark Loucks and other district officials. Sen. Ward's staffers also presented information to the district about grants available to help the district with its plans for future projects.

"We often look at politicians as distant or not connected to their constituents," Loucks said. "Sen. Ward is passionate about kids and education, which is an attribute that needs to be recognized."

After the tour, Asst. Principal Brannon Raptosh described some of the changes that the district has put into effect recently.

For example, Raptosh said, the district has created a full middle school double period of English and math for 7th and 8th graders. He said that the intent was not to provide just more time on the content, but to help students master the topics, to ensure that they are ready to move to the next level.

"Don't move forward until you have [mastery]," he said.

The result has been that standardized test scores have gone up for the district in those topics but the work is not done.

"It's a slow process," he said of improving student knowledge in the topics of focus. "You can't build Rome in a day. It gets built but it takes some time."

Raptosh said that, for example, the district's focus has resulted in an improvement of 18 percent in 7th and 8th grade student English scores in one year, he said.

Even math scores have improved, although not as much as the English scores, he said.

The improvements happened because students "bought in" after teachers "bought in" to the new arrangements, Raptosh said.

"As the students keep buying in, those scores are going to keep going up," he said.

Charles Kassick, high school principal, told Sen. Ward and her staff that part of the school's improvement in test scores is due to "humanzing the test process. These kids get pounded with testing, testing, testing and how important it is," he said. "We kind of took a different approach last year, in making it important to the student. Not that the school is asking for it or that the teacher is asking for it but they need to do this for themselves."

Kassick said that approach improved the "buy in" of students which helped improve test scores.

Funding help

The meeting also involved a discussion of how the district has been helped by sources of external funding.

Supt. Loucks said that multiple businesses in the Claysburg area have assisted the school district by using the state's Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program.

The EITC program allows businesses to divert part of the tax that they owe to the commonwealth to the school district. The EITC awards tax credits to eligible businesses contributing to qualified organizations.

"Businesses are usually willing to help when they realize that they can divert some of their tax money to [the local school district] under the program," Loucks said.

Present at the meeting to describe the efforts of the Claysburg Education Foundation was foundation board member Rich Allison. The foundation has provided the C-K district with more than $1 million over the past seven years to promote STEM and technology projects of the district.

A discussion of external funding included a possible extension of the district's $1.6 million project to build a combination football and baseball field on the campus.

Loucks said that the district is interested in what is available through state and federal grants to assist in the building of the athletic complex. The project was started in 2020 but was held up by permitting. Due to the hold-ups and inflation, additional funding is needed to complete the project. Without some help, portions of the project might be delayed.

Supt. Loucks said that the district is interested in extending the project and finding additional resources to pay for the project, possibly by creating a wellness center that would be open to the public.

"We are looking for help with a wellness center," Loucks said. "We can go in any direction. It could be open to the community."

Michele Ivory, constituent outreach specialist with Sen. Ward's Hollidaysburg office, provided the district with several sources of state and federal funding.

The C-K administrators did not decide which, if any of the funding options to pursue, but Supt. Loucks took notes during Ivory's presentation and indicated an interest in several of the grant programs that were discussed.

"I am so impressed with your effort you've made with your model," Sen. Ward told the group of C-K administrators assembled for her visit. "It makes students want to come to school and learn."