Selinsgrove Area School District

Selinsgrove Area School District is a school district centered in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Enrollment has declined to approximately 2700 students clustered on a campus located in Selinsgrove borough. The Pennsylvania Department of Education projects a continued decline in enrollment to 2500 in 2010. [PreK-12 Statistics July 2007 Enrollment Projections ] The district serves eastern Snyder County. It is headed by a [http://extras.altoonamirror.com/ForTheRecord/Documents/selinsgrove.pdf superintendent] .

Selinsgrove Area High School has about 960 students in grades 9-12.The school uses a block scheduling program. The Selinsgrove Area Middle School serves students in grades 6-8 using a team teaching approach. The school's test scores have been consistently higher than the region and the state scores. Selinsgrove Area Intermediate School serves students grades 3-5. Concern has arisen about the lagging reading and math scores at this school. They were below both state and regional averages for several years. In 2007, the Intermediate School students' math and reading scores rose above the State and region's averages.

SASD employes approximately 350 people in 2007. Two hundred of the employees are teachers. The median teacher salary in 2007 is $58,000 plus benefits. This exceeds both the state average teacher salary of $55,262 and the State median of $54,550. [ Pennsylvania School Board Association report of salaries October 2007.] Seventy percent of spending is allocated to employee costs. The district reports spending $9800 per pupil in 2007. [Jeffrey Hummel, District Business Manager, WKOK Leaders and Lawmakers Show, July 19, 2007.] Jeffrey Hummel, district business manager, cites costs for building projects coupled with salaries, transportation costs and increased charges for energy, as necessitating continued substantial property tax increases.

According to Pittsburgh Business Times, which ranks Pennsylvania school districts based on test scores, in 2007 Selinsgrove Area School District was ranked 235th out of 499 public school districts in the state. The Daily Item reported that in 2007, Selinsgrove School District reached adequate yearly progress standards for the first time since the progress analysis began during the 2002-03 school year.

Primary grades are provided at Selinsgrove Elementary School. Kindergarten is located at Jackson Penn School, in Penn Township. The district began providing All Day Kindergarten in the 2007-2008 school year in an effort to improve its lagging student performance. Officials used this as an opportunity to further consolidate the district by renovating and enlarging Selinsgrove Elementary School with the intent to close Jackson-Penn Elementary School. Enrollment in the district is declining and is projected to continue to decline for the next decade. [http://home.ptd.net/%7Ecohora/dacreport.pdf SASD Demographic report] [http://www.pde.state.pa.us/k12statistics/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=120942&pp=3#S PreK-12 school statistics Enrollment Projections]

In 2005 Selinsgrove Area High School was ranked 306th out of 601 Pennsylvania high schools on the annual state testing. The 3rd grade, located at the Intermediate school, ranked 1215th out of 1779 Pennsylvania third grades.

In December 2007, the school board adopted a new six year Strategic Plan that seeks to strives for the academic success of each student. [Selinsgrove Area School District Strategic Plan 2007 http://www.seal-pa.org/dnn/Administration/Curriculum/StrategicPlanningInformation/tabid/159/Default.aspx.]

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