Connellsville Area School District

Connellsville Area School District
Address
732 Rock Ridge Road Connellsville , Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 15425 United States
District information
Type	Public
Other information
Website	www.casdfalcons.org

The Connellsville Area School District is a large rural, public school district which covers the City of Connellsville, the Boroughs of Dawson, Dunbar, Ohiopyle, Seven Springs, South Connellsville and Vanderbilt and Bullskin Township, Connellsville Township, Dunbar Township, Saltlick Township, Springfield Township and Stewart Township in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The district encompasses approximately 216 square miles (560 km²). According to 2000 federal census data, Connellsville Area School District serves a resident population of 38,303. By 2010, the district's population declined to 34,453 people.^[1] The educational attainment levels for the Connellsville Area School District population (25 years old and over) were 85.2% high school graduates and 11.6% college graduates.^[2] The district is one of the 500 public school districts of Pennsylvania. Connellsville Area School District was established in 1966. It is considered a Second Class public school district due to its resident population exceeding 30,000, but being less than two hundred fifty thousand (250,000) people.

According to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, 55.7% of the district's pupils lived at 185% or below the Federal Poverty Level [1] as shown by their eligibility for the federal free or reduced price school meal programs in 2012.^[3] In 2013, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, reported that 43 students in the Connellsville Area School District were homeless.^[4]

In 2009, the district residents' per capita income was $15,194 a year, while the median family income was $35,638.^[5] In Fayette County, the median household income was $39,115.^[6] In the Commonwealth, the median family income was $49,501^[7] and the United States median family income was $49,445, in 2010.^[8] By 2013, the median household income in the United States rose to $52,100.^[9] In 2014, the median household income in the USA was $53,700.^[10]

The Intermediate Unit IU1 provides the district with a wide variety of services like specialized education for disabled students and hearing, background checks for employees, state mandated recognizing and reporting child abuse training, speech and visual disability services and criminal background check processing for prospective employees and professional development for staff and faculty.

Schools[]

Connellsville Area School District operates eleven schools including a career-technical school and a cyber academy is available to students in grades 7th through 12Th..

• Connellsville Area Senior High School
• Connellsville Area Career & Technology Center is located above the high school, and was built in 1972. The center serves about 500 students in grades 10-12. CACTC was renovated during the 2008-09 school term.
• Connellsville Area Junior High School (7th-8th)

Elementary Schools

There are eight elementary schools in the district, all facilitate classes for grades K-6.

• Bullskin Township Elementary School is located on Pleasant Valley Road (State Route 982) in Connellsville, PA, and was built in 1956. The last renovation was in 1998, when a 4,000 sq ft (370 m²). addition was added to the structure. About 450 students attend school here.
• Clifford N. Pritts Elementary School is located on Indian Creek Valley Road (State Routes 381/711) in , and was built in 1968. There are about 300 students attending this facility.
• Connellsville Township Elementary School is located on Rock Ridge Road in Connellsville, PA. The school was built in 1963 and also houses the district's administration offices. The student census is around 175.
• Dunbar Borough Elementary School is located off of Pechin Road in Dunbar, PA. The school was built in 1974 and has about 175 students.
• Dunbar Township Elementary School is located on Ridge Boulevard near Connellsville, PA. The school holds a census of about 600 and was built in 1966.
• Springfield Township Elementary School was built in 2004 and is located on School House Lane in .
• West Crawford Elementary School was constructed in 1918 as the Dunbar Township High School. As part of the 1966 district merger, the school became a Junior High School and remained unchanged until 1999, at which time the 1912,1918, and 1942 sections were razed and an addition to the existing 1960 wing was made. The school was converted to an elementary school during the 2012-13 school term and cost $1.2 million^[11] in renovations for its new use.

Closed schools[]

Zachariah Connell Elementary School was located on Park Street in Connellsville, PA and was opened in 1967. The school building closed in 2013 and students now attend school in the former Junior High West building, which resulted in a $1.2 million renovation and the creation of West Crawford Elementary School.^[12] In October 2015 the Board voted to sell the building and associated lot to Highlands Hospital for $207,000. Connellsville Area School Board voted unanimously to use the proceeds from the sale of the building toward technology and software upgrades in the district.^[13]

Connellsville Junior High School West closed in 2012; students shifted to the combined Connellsville Area Junior High School in the Connellsville Junior High School East building.

South Side Elementary School was located on Race Street in Connellsville, PA and was built in 1965, and demolished in 2018. There were about 325 pupils on the SSE Campus. South Side Elementary school was demolished in October 2018. A time capsule located in the cornerstone by Ritenour Demolition was donated to the Connellsville History Museum at the Carnegie Free Library and was opened in a ceremony celebrating the grand reopening of the museum.^[14] There was talk by the mayor of re-opening the basketball court/ice skating surface for community recreation purposes.^[15]

References[]