What’s new at Centre County school districts? See the latest policies and plans
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- State College’s district is rolling out new security and safety policies this school year.
- Penns Valley is shuffling students after closing a school and launching a new AI program.
- Some Centre County schools will begin the 2025-26 year with new principals.
After an eventful summer, students are returning to classrooms across Centre County this week to begin another school year.
Most county school districts are scheduled to begin classes Tuesday, Aug. 26. The Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District, which typically starts its year earlier, began classes Thursday.
From major updates on construction projects to new principals and administrators, here’s a look at some news you may have missed for each Centre County public school district this summer.
Bald Eagle Area School District
Those visiting Bald Eagle Area Junior/Senior High School will likely notice a new wood carving of a bald eagle, which was installed over the summer and donated by an anonymous graduate. The district paid for the stone pedestal the eagle sits atop, which was voluntarily constructed by a Clearfield-area masonry contractor.
The new carving “will watch over the campus and the valley and remind visitors that they are in Eagle Country,” Superintendent Christopher Santini wrote on Facebook.
Bald Eagle’s district also announced new features available through its mobile app, including two-way messaging with teachers, staff and coaches and quicker communications for classroom announcements. The app already provides live feed updates for district news, event calendars, breakfast and lunch menus and push notifications for urgent updates.
Back in April, Bald Eagle’s school board approved Chad Packer as the district’s next director of secondary education. Packer, a Bald Eagle graduate and former teacher within the district, will also serve as Bald Eagle Area Junior/Senior High School’s principal. He previously served as principal of Tyrone Area High School and Our Lady of Victory Catholic School in State College.
Bellefonte Area School District
Major renovations and construction projects across Bellefonte’s district are underway as the 2025-26 school year begins.
The district’s $55.3 million project to construct a new elementary school remains on track for substantial completion in December in time to open for the 2026-27 school year. It will replace Bellefonte Elementary School, the district’s oldest school, but open with the same name.
Pleasant Gap Elementary School received substantial infrastructure improvements over the summer, including new heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, fire alarms and lighting improvements. The school, whose new systems were activated last week, will function normally once classes begin.
Penns Valley Area School District
The closure of Miles Township Elementary School, finalized just two weeks before the first day of school, has created some major shake-ups for Penns Valley’s district.
All students who were scheduled to remain at Miles Township Elementary are scheduled to begin classes at Penns Valley Elementary and Intermediate School, Superintendent Brian Griffith said. Families impacted by the closure received updates on their students’ classes, bus routes and more shortly after the school’s closure was approved.
Penns Valley’s district is expected to retain all Miles Township Elementary staff following its closure. The district has not yet publicly shared plans for the future of the longtime Rebersburg school building.
Penns Valley’s school board approved in June a five-year contract for David Romanyshyn, who now takes over as Penns Valley Junior-Senior High School’s principal following the departure of Zachary Wynkoop. Romanyshyn returns to the district after previously serving as the principal of Centre Hall-Pottery Elementary School.
Penns Valley is introducing ParentSquare as its core communications platform starting with the 2025-26 school year. Griffith described the program as a “one-stop shop” providing back-and-forth communications between students, parents, teachers, administrators and coaches throughout the district.
On top of regular curriculum reviews, Penns Valley’s district is launching a pilot program that will provide an artificial intelligence-fueled tutor to some high school-level algebra classes. Griffith said the AI program will interpret student work, provide questions and deliver feedback without spoiling answers.
Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District
Philipsburg-Osceola students started the school year on Thursday.
In a letter to the school community shared Aug. 6, Superintendent Daniel Potutschnig said the Philipsburg-Osceola district will review “the overall structure of how educational services are delivered” within its schools. That process, which will examine past and current educational trends and the district’s finances, hopes to help improve the district and community’s long-term success, the superintendent wrote.
Philipsburg-Osceola also announced plans to introduce ParentSquare as its central communications platform starting this school year.
State College Area School District
State College’s district is rolling out a number of new security and safety protocols this year, including random searches and updated entry procedures.
All students between the sixth and 12th grades will need to wear new school ID cards while on school property, and most will scan those badges to enter buildings. State College’s district will also conduct random searches at its middle and high schools throughout the year.
The new policies come just a few months after a Mifflin County man was arrested and accused of planning a mass shooting at State College Area High School.
This school year will feature the debut of Delta Middle School and Delta High School now that the former Delta Program has officially split into separate schools within State College’s district. The program has operated as a democratically run alternative schooling option since 1974.
As official schools, Delta Middle School and Delta High School will receive their own academic testing data and school climate surveys without getting lumped together with the rest of the district’s middle and high school students. Delta’s schools recently unveiled new logos and branding materials and had their separation approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Education this summer.
“It’s finally giving us the opportunity to shine,” district director of educational alternatives Jon Downs said in a statement. “Now we’ll have our own academic data and people are going to see our culture and climate data, that our kids are achieving and they’re happy and they like coming to school. So for me, it’s going to reaffirm all the great things we have.”
State College’s school board approved assistant principal Tina Chambers Green to serve as interim principal of Park Forest Middle School. The school’s principal, Karen Wiser, is on approved leave “for the foreseeable future,” a district spokesperson said.
This story was originally published August 22, 2025 at 5:17 AM.
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