December 18, 2024

We extend our heartfelt wishes for a warm and joyful holiday season.

Congratulations to Cumberland Valley High School students Mansoor Ahmad, Charles Grove, Kareem Daniels, and Emily Schempp, whose photography was selected to appear on this year's district holiday card. The students are part of Mr. Shaun Bollinger's photography class and club.

We are thrilled to announce that Eagle View Middle School 6th Grade ELA Teacher, Mr. Brewer, has been selected as one of only 12 teachers nationwide to be named a 2024-2025 Scholastic Teacher Fellow! This prestigious recognition highlights his exceptional dedication to professional development, collaboration, teaching expertise, and innovation.

Here's a look at Mr. Brewer's impressive teaching journey:

• 19 years of experience as a PA educator

• Grades taught: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th

• Pursuing a doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction

• Passionate about literacy

• Scholastic National Teacher Advisor in 2018

We are incredibly #CVProud of Mr. Brewer's accomplishments and are thrilled to see him recognized as a Scholastic Teacher fellow. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor. Your dedication to education continues to inspire us all!

On Saturday, December 15, 2024, Cumberland Valley's Science Olympiad teams competed in The Battle at Valley Forge Invitational at Conestoga High School. Two teams from CV participated among 46 teams from 33 schools, including those from Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.

Cumberland Valley earned impressive results, with both teams finishing in 1st and 2nd place overall. Awards were presented to the top seven teams in each event. Below are the CV medalists:

CV Medalists:

1st Place

• Experimental Design – Sahana Sudarsan, Ashwin Sarode, & Aadi Patel

• Optics – Neil Peter & Puma Sao

• Geologic Mapping – Levy Le & Siddharth Dendukuri

• Material Science – Levy Le & Neil Peter

• Microbe Mission – Suhas Kothuru & Akpandu Ekezie

• Tower – Pranav Havre & Jeremy Hou

2nd Place

• Fossils – Levy Le & Anushka Naruka

• Optics – Suhas Kothuru & Claudia Lal

• Write It Do It – Sahana Sudarsan & Suhas Kothuru

3rd Place

• Codebusters – Levy Le, Laakshitha Mittapalli, & Neil Peter

• Disease Detectives – Ashwin Sarode & Suki Chen

4th Place

• Dynamic Planet – Sameeha Gaind & Siddharth Dendukuri

• Forensics – Jeremy Hou & Anushka Naruka

• Helicopter – Jeremy Hou & Laakshitha Mittapalli

5th Place

• Anatomy & Physiology – Sai Nidhi Mogilineedi & Suki Chen

• Bungee Drop – Dhruv Lochan & Fiyin Orekoya

• Helicopter – Omkar Mamidpalliwar & Aklavya Kumar

6th Place

• Codebusters – Ashwin Sarode, Sibi Shanmugam, & Claudia Lal

• Disease Detectives – Deeksha Rajesh & Shreemayi Kumaresan

• Experimental Design – Rachana Perachi Raja, Sameeha Gaind, & Laakshitha Mittapalli

• Entomology – Deeksha Rajesh & Siddharth Dendukuri

We are #CVProud of all our participants and their incredible achievements at this event! In January, the CV Science Olympiad team will compete in tournaments at Penn State (1/18/25) and MIT (1/25/25). Additionally, the Eagle View and Mountain View teams will participate in their first in-person tournament of the year at Penn State on January 18, 2025.

Top left: Silver Spring Elementary staff kicked off the holiday season with a fun and festive team bonding activity last week. They made clay ornaments and were all amazed by the creativity and craftiness within their team!

Top center: The winners of Shaull Elementary's 4th-grade "Ugly Sweater" Design and Essay Contest showcased their creativity and writing talents. Their unique designs and essays were truly impressive!

Top right: The Winding Creek Elementary Wolfpack Singers kicked off the recent Barnes & Noble book fair event with an amazing performance. Their uplifting music set the perfect tone for a day of community support and celebration of reading. It was a wonderful way to start the event!

Bottom left: CV Police Officer Shoemaker made a special guest appearance at Green Ridge Elementary this week, serving holiday meals to students. It was a festive and fun way to spread some cheer as everyone enjoyed a delicious meal together!

Bottom center: Middlesex Elementary School got into the holiday spirit this week by decking the halls! Students and staff worked together to decorate the hallways with creative, festive displays and kind-hearted projects.

Bottom right: Mr. Yanity's Biochemistry class at CVHS recently took part in a lab activity called "The Nose Knows." The experiment focused on creating "esters," organic molecules that contribute to the taste and fragrance of fruits, herbs, and flowers. Students were responsible for ensuring lab safety, handling various chemicals, and documenting their observations.

We are #CVProud to share that Penelope Shaw, a 7th grader at Eagle View Middle School, is one of the winners of the 'Oh Say, Can You Sing?' contest! After competing against 40 other talented entries, Penelope will perform the National Anthem live at the 2025 PA Farm Show in the GIANT Expo Hall on Saturday, January 11th at 8 AM. Congratulations, Penelope!

Over the weekend, we were thrilled to learn that CVHS Senior, Brent Gaspich, has been selected for the All-Eastern Honors Mixed Choir as a Bass II.

Brent is one of only 200 students chosen from across the Eastern U.S. and beyond who will perform at the prestigious National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Eastern Division event in Hartford, Connecticut in April. He'll be singing under the direction of world-renowned conductor, Dr. Anton Amstrong.

Congratulations, Brent - what an incredible achievement! We are #CVProud of you!

Last weekend, we had an amazing time at our 10th annual Shop with a Cop event at the Mechanicsburg Walmart! Students started their day with a delicious breakfast cooked by the New Kingston Fire Department, then teamed up with officers to check off their Christmas lists.

With flashing lights, the officers escorted the students to Walmart where they spent time picking out gifts for themselves and their families. After shopping, volunteers wrapped gifts while everyone enjoyed lunch courtesy of Chick-fil-A.

A huge THANK YOU to all the local police departments, fire departments, local businesses, and volunteers who made this special day possible! You all helped create memories that will last a lifetime.

Due to hazardous weather conditions or unforeseen circumstances, the Cumberland Valley School District may need to close schools to ensure the safety and well-being of our students and staff.  Please review the following information regarding how CVSD will operate for the 2024-2025 school year.

Rationale and Background:  Act 56 (HB 1507) made the following changes to school operating requirements during the winter of 2024.

Old Requirement: School districts were required to provide both 180 instructional days AND 900 hundred hours of instruction at the elementary level and 990 hours of instruction at the secondary level.

New Requirement: School districts now have the option to meet ONLY ONE of the two requirements: either 180 days of instruction OR 900 hundred hours of instruction at the elementary level and 990 hours of instruction at the secondary level.

The Cumberland Valley School District calendar currently has 183 scheduled student days. In previous years, we scheduled additional days to ensure we met the required instructional hours for certain grade levels. This year, we will focus solely on meeting the 180-day requirement in the following fashion:

The first three (3) days of unexpected school closures will be considered a “day off” for students, with no synchronous or asynchronous instruction provided. On these days, Professional Staff will participate in remote professional development activities.  

The next five (5) days of unexpected school closures will follow the Flexible Instruction Day (FID) framework, as in past school years. The Pennsylvania Department of Education has approved the Cumberland Valley School District to use up to five (5) FID days. During Flexible Instruction Days (remote learning), students will receive learning activities and assignments at home to ensure continuity of instruction. On these days, families should look for communication from principals and/or teachers regarding specific school and class schedules for the day.

If more than eight (8) days of closure are needed, the district will likely add additional student days to the calendar, making up the missed days during scheduled holiday breaks or at the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

UNEXPECTED 2 HOUR DELAY SCHEDULES

Due to hazardous weather conditions or unforeseen circumstances, the Cumberland Valley School District may delay the opening of school (with modified kindergarten) to ensure the safety and well-being of our students and staff. This precautionary measure allows time to properly assess road conditions. The 2-hour delay schedule for each building is listed on our website https://www.cvschools.org/page/back-to-school-resources. Scroll down to “Schedules by Building (including 2-hour delay schedules + Planned Early Dismissals).”

UNEXPECTED EARLY DISMISSALS

If inclement weather is forecast after students have already arrived, an unscheduled early dismissal may be necessary. Please make sure to listen to any messages in full to confirm the schedule for that day.

COMMUNICATION REGARDING CLOSURES, DELAYS, OR EARLY DISMISSALS

The district uses various methods to communicate delays, cancellations, and closures to our community and staff. Once a decision is made, notifications are typically sent out within about 15 minutes. Current notification systems include:

• District website (www.cvschools.org)

• Automated calling & text alert system (For parents/guardians and staff only - you must register to receive text alerts.)

• Email blasts (For parents/guardians only based upon email address(es) provided in Skyward.)

• X (@CVSDnews) and Facebook (facebook.com/CVschools)

• Media (if time permits and typically only in cases of unscheduled early dismissals)

Please make sure that the contact information for your child(ren), including both home and emergency contacts, is up-to-date in Skyward. This information is used to notify families in the event of an emergency, schedule changes due to weather, transportation delays, and more. You can update this information as needed throughout the school year.

If you do not receive a phone call, text message, or email but believe there may be a delay or closure, please check our website or official district social media accounts. Unless there is a major outage, our website will be updated first.

Cumberland Valley School District is partnering with The Peyton Walker Foundation to offer a heart screening at Mountain View Middle School (30 Bali Hai Rd, Mechanicsburg, PA). This free clinic is for children and young adults (ages 10-22) in the Central PA region who aren't under a cardiologist’s care or haven't been screened by the Foundation. Echocardiograms will be available for those who need further testing.

Pre-registration required: https://bit.ly/4ixxhiI

For more info: 717-695-1917 / info@peytonwalker.org

From Our Transportation Department

Like many other schools locally and nationally, we are experiencing a significant shortage of school bus and van drivers at Cumberland Valley School District. This shortage has affected, and will continue to affect, the transportation services we provide to our students. Our contractors are actively working to hire new drivers, and we are committed to ensuring that all students receive a ride to and from school. However, please be aware that this may require last-minute modifications to routes and stop times, which we will communicate to parents as quickly as possible.

Notifications of delays will be sent via text and email to the contact information listed in Skyward. To ensure you receive these notifications, please verify that your phone numbers and email addresses are up to date in Skyward.

When we have information about delays exceeding 20 minutes, we will notify you as soon as possible. Please understand that our Transportation Office is often overwhelmed with calls and may not be able to answer all inquiries immediately. We kindly ask that phone calls be reserved for emergencies, such as a missing child. For non-urgent matters, please email us at transportation@cvschools.org.

If you know anyone interested in becoming a school bus or van driver for Cumberland Valley School District, please encourage them to reach out to one of our Transportation Contractors. There are great part-time opportunities available!

Transportation Contractors:

• Kauffman Bus: 717-737-3396

• Miller & Sons: 717-258-3371

• Rohrer Bus: 717-958-3811

Thank you for your understanding and support!

Join the dynamic team at Cumberland Valley School District! We're looking for talented, dedicated people to become part of our incredible team!

We offer competitive pay, outstanding benefits (like paid time off, health insurance, and retirement plans), and a safe, and fun work environment.

Learn more and apply today >> www.cvschools.org/jobs

Upcoming School Board Meetings

Unless otherwise advertised, all meetings begin at 7 p.m. and will take place in the District Office Board Room (6746 Carlisle Pike, Mechanicsburg)

• Monday, January 6, 2025

• Tuesday, January 21, 2025

• Monday, February 3, 2025

A full list of School Board and committee meeting dates is available by clicking here.

Quick Access

• Board Agendas - Posted a minimum of 24 hours in advance of the meeting.

• Committee Assignments - 2024 Board committee/advisory group assignments.

• Meeting Minutes - Posted to BoardDocs approved by the Board of School Directors.

• Watch Live - School Board meetings are live-streamed to our website.