Thursday, August 18, 2016

Amazing


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!!

         Our High School gym is still being worked on; we have been told there are about two weeks of work left.  It will be quite an impressive facility and well worth the wait.



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