SUGAR VALLEY RURAL CHARTER SCHOOL NEWS 570-725-7822 • www. svrcs. org
25 Years of SVRCS
The first line of the introduction, the School Charter reads,“ Sugar Valley Rural Charter School( SVRCS) has been selected as the school name not only because it reflects the schools unique pastoral setting in central Pennsylvania, but also because it suggests the simple, close knit and strong family and community values the school will promote.” As the school celebrates 25 years of serving as a school of choice for families in the Keystone Central, Jersey Shore, and Penns Valley school district communities, the values still stand strong.
Sugar Valley Area School( SVAS) served grades K-12 in one building from 1955 until 1996 when the Junior / Senior High School( grades 7-12) section was closed to form a consolidated school in Mill Hall, PA. After the closure, a grass-roots coalition of parents, educators, and other community members, Sugar Valley Concerned Citizens( SVCC), who shared a deep and abiding interest for the future educational development of Sugar Valley’ s children. After years of legal and organizational steps, Sugar Valley Rural Charter School was opened in the year 2000, starting with an enrollment of 100 students, ranging from grades kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Enrollment today, twenty-five years later, is 475 students, with many waiting anxiously on a waitlist. SVRCS offers a challenging curriculum to their students, as they focus on the content of education. They promote community involvement with programs such as Future Farmers of America, National Honor Society, and students participating in Clinton County Band, some groups earning national awards and recognition. Career readiness programs are growing with agreements with Lock Haven University and Central Pennsylvania Institute( CPI), with many students excelling in Advanced Placement courses.
As SVRCS continues to promote academic achievement, the school does not stray from the unique aspects they were built on in The School Charter when speaking about community involvement. As the charter reads“ Historically, public schools have not been places that invite a strong, active, sustained interaction between the educators who work within them and the family and community members who actually build and maintain them. Indeed, as schooling grows in size and sophistication, the interaction with families and community members becomes more carefully defined and circumscribed. In contrast to this separateness, the SVRCS will operate from the premise that parents bear the ultimate responsibility for their children’ s education, and that a school should be both a community unto itself and an interactive component of the larger community in which it exists. Said differently, a school should be a place that actively interacts with its community and vice versa.” The charter goes on to state,“ The K-12 continuum promotes a sense of belonging, which not only works to engender formal learning, but to strengthen an overall sense of community.“
The school embraces its community involvement and support over the past 25 years and looks forward to continued success in the future of the school. To the founders and parents, thank you for your visions, hard work and dedication for the children. To the administrators and staff, you are the heart and soul of the school, thank you for dedicating your time and energy to our future generations. Finally, to the students and alumni of SVRCS, thank you for choosing our school for your education, it has been an honor to be a part of your life.
Photo courtesy of Bill Deaver
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