County schools ready for students

Welcome back to school.

Monday is the first day of school for Centre County school districts, but those other districts out of the county, but serve residents in Centre County, will also be underway this week.

Places like Tyrone Area School District, which serves people in Taylor Township already started on Thursday, and St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy in Boalsburg started Tuesday.

Keystone Central School District starts Wednesday. It serve residents in Curtin and Liberty townships and has an elementary school located in Blanchard, which is in Centre County near the Clinton County border.

Philipsburg-Osceola Area also begins Wednesday.

Its middle school in Chester Hill, Clearfield County annually holds a first day of school program that helps bridge the gap between teachers and students.

Assistant Principal Kelly Rees said the kids will participate in small group activities in the morning, and a larger group activity by lunch time. The highlight of the day will come in the afternoon with a tug-of-war contest with students and staff.

“The activities focus on team-building and communication skills,” Rees said.

At State College Area School District, spokesman Chris Rosenblum said there are new enhancements to its schools and programs provided to students.

Mount Nittany Elementary School will welcome Principal Mark Feldman who replaced Deb Latta. She retired in June.

He comes to the school from Mount Nittany Middle School as assistant principal.

“I’m looking forward to working in the district more, and move to a different venue,” Feldman told the CDT after he was named the school’s leader. “What’s nice is that the elementary (school) feeds into the middle school, so it’s nice to stay on the same campus and be a part of priming students for the next step to the middle school.”

Mount Nittany Middle and Elementary schools are located on Brandywine Drive across the street from each other.

At Park Forest Middle School, sixth-grade students will be a part of the world languages program that Rosenblum said will “take them though high school and (prepare) them for life in a globally-focused society.”

And construction will continue at State College Area High School as the new facility inches closer to completion slated for the 2019-20 school year.

According to a release from the district, there are some traffic pattern changes.

The South Building traffic loop is now a one-way lane from O’Bryan Lane to Westerly Parkway.

The road to the South Building rear parking lot was two-way during the summer because of construction closing the normal exit, the release said.

But despite disruptions in patterns, Rosenblum said State High is “poised to give its students a wealth of enriching experiences.”

“Principal Curtis Johnson and his administration are committed to keeping students safe, engaged and learning throughout the year as the State High project moves toward an exciting future,” Rosenblum said.

This story was originally published August 28, 2016 at 10:49 PM with the headline "County schools ready for students."