The end of summer

       Summer will soon be a memory and school will be in session once again – and once again we are ready!!

       Congratulations on a very successful media night on Friday August 16.  I was unable to attend due to the birth of my fourth grandchild, Elijah Zayne DiLeo.  The boosters did a great job organizing and promoting this event to recognize our athletes and coaches and to introduce them to the community.  Adding to the excitement for the coming football season is the new scoreboard. Donated by Sheetz and Pepsi, it is an impressive addition to the program!

          Classrooms and furniture in all the buildings have been thoroughly cleaned and arranged; many thanks to Greg Shaffer and his crew of hard workers.  Inshore has been busy updating and installing new programs on district servers and laptops throughout the summer. First Student and Becky Klezek have modified bus routes, times and stops to ready our buses for safe pick up and drop off throughout the school year, regardless of the weather. Speaking of which, I believe fall may come early this year; hopefully that is not a harbinger of the winter to come.

In addition to the items named above, which relate directly to the arrival of students, there are numerous other summer tasks that have been completed.  Suffice to say that summer is a busy, busy time for all those involved in getting the District ready for the upcoming year. I’m repeating an earlier reference to an old song: for year-round public school employees, summer is not lazy or hazy—but it certainly can be crazy.

           A reminder that the gate we installed last year will again be closed during the school day, following the same schedule as last year.  The gate is intended to protect the campus while school is in session and to reduce the amount of traffic on our road system during the school day.

          Once again, I wish to offer my congratulations to all students and staff for making AYP again this year.  Students did well on the PSSA and Keystones.  I personally witnessed how hard our staff worked to prepare our students for the rigors of both tests; it was impressive and thorough.  We at Central Cambria are truly blessed with a caring, devoted, professional staff!!

          Finally, no blog of mine is ever complete without mention of sports.  Although the Steelers look lackluster after their first two preseason games, my fanhood dictates that I hold high hopes that things will improve.  As I had said last year at this time – “for me, the anticipation of the season is in some ways better than the season itself: once it starts I know it will end in a couple months.” But I am nonetheless thankful that it is finally here. 

On a more positive note, the Pirates look to shake off their 20-year record of having a losing season.  The pitching crew has been excellent, as well as the defense.  However, they need more bats to play into October. 

I look forward to another wonderful opening day this year as we begin the 2013-14 school year.  I wish each student and staff member a wonderful, productive and safe school year. 

                                                  DR. D