Schuylkill Valley School District

Currently the district consists of four schools: Fairview Elementary, Rice Elementary, the Middle School, and the High School. The elementary schools are located in townships for which they were named after, while the adjacent Middle School and High School are located on Route 309, also called South Mountain Boulevard. The elementary schools house grades Kindergarten through six, and the Middle School houses grades seven and eight. Also within the district, the parochial school, St. Jude's Elementary School, includes grades kindergarten through eight and contributes students to the ninth grade. The geographic size of the community suggests a diversity of socio-economic groups, and the variety of housing developments demonstrates this diversity. Houses range from below $100, 000 to well above $500, 000. In addition, homes throughout the district that have been inhabited for generations also demonstrate a wide range of value. Obviously, employment opportunities are not limited to the district lines, so many people are employed in nearby locations. However, within the district, the Crestwood Industrial Park provides employment opportunities from the level of executive to semi-skilled worker. Major plants include: Mission Foods, Inc, Certainteed, Office Depot Distribution Center, Quaker Oats and Cornell Iron Works. In 2002-2003, discussions began to capitalize on the presence of productive and vibrant business/industry partners. In the Fall of 2006, preparations were realized with our first cohort of students experiencing a structured job shadowing experience. In conjunction with this initiative, CHS has partnered with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Tech Prep Consortium and Luzerne County Community College (LCCC) to join the Pennsylvania Plastics Initiative. The discussions that culminated in this unique partnership resulted in the creation of a formal internship portfolio and future plans to create Capstone internship (paid) experiences in the Health Sciences, Business Education, Family & Consumer Sciences and Technical Education. CHS maintains the overall goal of creating a comprehensive career development framework to propel well rounded, well educated students into post-secondary transition, bolstering our local economy and ultimately make substantive contributions to society. Finally, with the growth of the area, the service industry and retail stores provide opportunities for employment. Data from the US Census Bureau reports that the Median Household Income for the Mountain Top Area was $51, 655., the Full Market Property Value was $215, 130, and that the percentage of Low Income Households was 14.5%. Students attending CHS have a number of academic, athletic, and co-curricular programs to choose. In general, the curriculum offered includes: humanities, mathematics and science, business, fine arts, and vocational-technical education. Within these offerings, students may prepare for two or four year colleges, the workforce, or military service. Those students who want to pursue college are given a demanding academic load and offered advanced placement courses or Dual Enrollment at Wilkes University, King's College, or Luzerne County Community College. Students who want to enter the business field are offered a variety of courses that will prepare them both for the work force and college work. All students have access to two modern computer laboratories including a lab that is designed specifically for mathematics and reading remediation. Students who are training in technical fields have options both at Crestwood and at Wilkes-Barre Area Vocational-Technical School, located thirteen miles north in Plains Township. Students in grades ten through twelve have the opportunity to pursue their interests by attending Crestwood for most academic classes and then traveling to the Wilkes-Barre Area Vocational & Technical School for courses in specific fields. In addition, students have opportunities to pursue interests' specific to Te