Amazing.
Another summer has come and gone. The
staff is now meeting for in-service presentations, and many have come in prior
to this in order to prepare their rooms for the opening day on which their
students arrive. The campus has been buzzing with many activities taking place:
football camp, band practice, cross country training sessions, distribution of
supplies and many other final building preparations. All the buildings have been thoroughly
cleaned and arranged, the field house and the surrounding grounds look great
for our fall sporting events, thanks to Greg Shaffer and his crew of hard
workers.
While
there have been some changes over the summer to prepare for this school year, one of the
most notable changes is a newly hired transportation coordinator. Kim
Bednar has been working very hard to organize bus routes, pick up points and
drop off times. With respect to transportation concerns, I ask parents to
be patient as we work through the first couple weeks. If there are issues
or questions, Mrs. Bednar can be reached at 472-8870, ext. 306.
Another change is we have migrated our Food Service
System into Skyward. We will no longer be using Food Service Solutions as the
Point of Sale system in our cafeterias. All transactions will take place
through Skyward. This also means we will no longer be using Myschoolaccount.com to
process online payments. A new online payment system will be setup and a link
will be made available directly through Skyward. We feel having everything in
one system will make it easier for parents; they will log into one area and see
everything that is associated with their children. They will still see a
detailed record of what was purchased, account balances and payments. In
addition, students will experience no change as they go through the lines; they
will still use their student ID numbers or badges to go through the line.
Media
night is this Friday, August 19. The boosters/coaches/parents have done a great
job in organizing and promoting this event to recognize our athletes and
coaches and to introduce them to the community. This is a great way to
generate enthusiasm for upcoming sports events.
In personnel news, we have 17 new staff members. Each building has several new teachers. The
middle school welcomes Rita Tinik as the new secretary, CES has added another
Life Skills classroom, and the High School has added a Multi Disabled classroom.
A yearly reminder for all who use our campus roads during the school
day: following the same schedule as last year, the gate will again be closed
during the school day. The gate is used to protect the campus while
school is in session and to reduce the amount of traffic on our road system
during the school day.
I wish to offer my congratulations to all students and staff on the PSSA and
Keystone test preparation this past year; their scores are the direct result of
a shared effort toward academic excellence. We at Central Cambria are
truly blessed with a caring, devoted, professional staff!!
Speaking
of sports (of course), the Steelers seem poised to have a great season even as
they deal with issues off the field (LeVeon Bell, James Harrison), as well as
the injury bug afflicting several players.
I am hopeful that they make a strong run at the SuperBowl this year and
that the injuries are minimal. Big Ben
will do his part, but he can’t do it alone.
The Pirates seem to be imploding this year as the bull pen has been a
letdown. With only a month and a half left of play, I don’t have high hopes for
any Pirate post season play. Sports are
a great way for me to enjoy every season of the year—despite my outbursts aimed
at the TV when my armchair coaching is ineffective, sports are a source of stress
release for me. As this football – er, fall – season
approaches, I hope you enjoy all that autumn has to offer.
DR. D
