The Oswayo Valley School District was able to purchase 20 ukuleles for the elementary school.  Ukuleles offer students the opportunity to become exposed to stringed instruments, without the size of traditional stringed instruments to potentially discourage their interest.  The 4th and 5th grade classes have been using them in class throughout the last month. So far, they have been able to learn 4 open-position chords and play them in a chord progression.  Students have also learned how to draw the chords and how to move their  fingers in between them in rhythm.  Again, the size of the Ukuleles makes it possible for students to move their fingers to the correct position without struggling.  Exposing students to these opportunities at this age, helps increase interest for the music program.  Thank you to Mr. Smith for utilizing the instruments and building our students knowledge base of music.

On March 18, 2021 the Oswayo Valley National Honor Society inducted five new members: Makenzie Mesler, Laya Phillips, Anita Schimp, Brandi Siebert, and Rachael Taylor. The guest speaker was Mrs. Bailey Peinkofer PA-C and the ceremony was followed by a small reception.

Congratulations to the inductees!

Mansfield University’s Early Start Program (ESP) allows qualified high school students to take Mansfield University Courses in online, hybrid, or face-to-face formats and earn college credits while still enrolled in high school.

If your child is interested in taking college courses while in high school, be sure to check out this great program!  Applications are currently being accepted for the Early Start Program.  The cost of tuition is currently only $50 per credit.   Registration for the summer sessions is currently underway and registration for fall courses opens on March 29.

Click on the links below to view additional information, apply to the Early Start Program, and view upcoming course selections.

Early Start Program Application

Summer 1 session begins on May 24 and Summer 2 session begins on July 1

ESP Summer Sessions Course Listings

Fall courses begin August 23

ESP Fall 2021 Course Offerings

Pre-K and Kindergarten Registration for the 2021-22 school year will be held on Friday, April 16, 2021.  Students must be age 4 before September 1, 2021 to enroll in Pre-K and must be age 5 by September 1, 2021 to enroll in Kindergarten.  Please contact the Elementary Office at 814-260-1702 to schedule an appointment on April 16.  As a reminder, please bring along your child’s birth certificate, immunization record, verification of residence, and verification of income for Pre-K Counts.

Please click on the link below for a copy of the 2021-22 PA Pre-K Counts Enrollment Form.

2021-22 PA Pre-K Counts Enrollment Application

COVID-19 relief packages recently passed by the United States Congress contain numerous benefits for families financially impacted by the pandemic. Some of these benefits are available to students who are eligible for free or reduced-priced school meals. If you believe your school-aged child(ren) may qualify for free or reduced-price meals this school year and have not yet submitted the application for free or reduced-price meals to the school, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible.  Please request a paper application be sent home by calling 814-260-1701 ext. 5 or by emailing Sharron Gustin at sgustin@oswayo.com. You can also access an application online at www.compass.state.pa.us.  The application then will be used to determine which benefits your child(ren) and/or household may be eligible to receive. Please be aware that applying for free or reduced-price meals will not impact the free meals that your child(ren) currently receives through the school.

Today, March 1, 2021, Governor Wolf released the revised mitigation order on gatherings and lifts out-of-state travel restrictions.  To view the recent changes, please click on the following link.

Governor Wolf’s Revised Mitigation Order

VACANCIES

Guidance Counselor – The Oswayo Valley School District has an opening for a Guidance Counselor to serve students in grades PK-12 available at the start of the 2021-22 school year.   Applicants must possess current Pennsylvania certification.  Interested individuals should apply online at www.oswayovalley.com and include a letter of interest, resume, transcripts, copy of certification, and three (3) letters of recommendation.  The position will remain open until a successful candidate has been found.

Anticipated Elementary Principal – The Oswayo Valley School District has an anticipated opening for an Elementary Principal available in April 2021.  Applicants must possess current Pennsylvania certification and experience in Federal Programs is preferred.  Interested individuals should apply online at www.oswayovalley.com and include a letter of interest, resume, transcripts, copy of certification, and three (3) letters of recommendation.  The position will remain open until a successful candidate has been found.

The District is continuously in need of substitute employees for the following positions:

Cafeteria Worker, Custodian, Instructional Aide, Secretary, and Teacher

Interested individuals should complete an online application at www.oswayovalley.com

If you have any questions or need assistance with the application process, please contact Mrs. Christi Stedman in the District Office at 814-260-1700.

The OV Heart Heroes do it again!  This year, the Oswayo Valley Elementary School Heart Heroes raised over $5,828 for the American Heart Association during the Kids’ Heart Challenge Event!  Over 43 students participated in this year’s event!  The top sponsors from each homeroom were as follows:

5G – Kaitlynn Costello   $168

5W – Reese Thompson $290

4G – Heidi Schimp $166

4W – Wyatt Willetts $259

3G – Phillip Long $284

3W – Tanner Fetzer $186

Congratulations to Reese Thompson who was the overall top sponsor student!  Way to go, Reese!

This year any student who raised $150 or more had the opportunity to toss a pie at Mr. Dickerson.  Due to the overwhelming support of our community, 20 Heart Heroes had a chance to pie their Principal!  To date, the Oswayo Valley Elementary School has raised over $60,000 for the American Heart Association!  Way to go, OV!

Thank you to all the Heart Heroes, friends, family, and the OV community for your continued support.  We would also like to thank Mr. Dickerson for being such a good sport and to Miss Mashensic for all she does to teach our children about health and wellness and bring awareness to this very important cause.  Thank you, Miss M!  

To view the video of the Kids’ Challenge, please click on the following link!

2021 Kids’ Heart Challenge

Please click on the link below to access Oswayo Valley’s Attestation Ensuring Implementation of Mitigation Efforts.

Oswayo Valley Attestation

Please see attached a revised transportation plan.  The changes are highlighted and will take effect on Monday, November 16, 2020.

Revised Transportation Plan

MSHS Transportation Map

As a reminder, the program is also available to all children ages 0-18. If your child is not currently attending Oswayo Valley and you wish to participate, please contact Mrs. Sharron Gustin at 814-260-1701 to make arrangements to pick up the week’s worth of free meals.

During the morning drop off time at the Elementary School, there should be only one lane of traffic around the building at each drop off point.  No car should go around any stopped vehicle to move up in line.  We understand that this new procedure may add time to the morning drop off routine, but student safety is our number one concern.  Parents should allow more time in the morning to combat any possible issues that would increase their time at the school for the morning drop off.  This procedure is to ensure the safety of all students, parents, and van/ bus drivers.  It is important that everyone follows this procedure to help the school keep everyone safe.

On October 1, 2020, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay order on Governor Wolf’s limits regarding group gatherings, including sporting events. After careful consideration and review, it is in the best interest of the Oswayo Valley School District to comply with the guidelines immediately. Due to our capacity restrictions, each Oswayo Valley athlete will have 4 tickets available for indoor sporting events moving forward starting on Friday, October 9. Outdoor sporting events will continue at the 250 person capacity including all people in attendance. As per the District’s Health and Safety Plan, we are required to comply with legal actions, orders, and recommendations set forth in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Oswayo Valley School District apologizes for all of the changes and reminds everyone that games are being streamed live through our Facebook page.  We thank you for your continued support of our students and schools.

Please review the following for more information:

         Third Circuit Court of Appeals – Stay Order on Gatherings

       Governor Wolf’s Crowd Limits Remain for Weekend’s High School Football Games

Governor Tom Wolf filed a Motion for Stay of the District Court’s Order in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which would restore the 25/250 person indoor/outdoor crowd limitations during the pendency of the appeal. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued an Order this afternoon granting Governor Wolf’s Motion to Stay. This Order restores the 25/250 person limitations at the current juncture. As such, The Oswayo Valley School District must reduce capacities for indoor and outdoor events to 25 and 250 persons respectively until further notice. Unfortunately this means we cannot have spectators at our indoor events effective immediately and must limit our outdoor events to 250. We will continue to livestream our indoor home events when possible.

For the safety of all students at the Oswayo Valley School District, please only send prepackaged snacks for birthdays or any special events. The risk of allergies for students and the current Covid 19 situation have forced us to limit what can be brought into the district for students. This is not saying that we don’t want to be able to celebrate special events for the students, we just have to do our part in limiting the exposure to food allergens and Covid 19 possible exposures.

Good afternoon OV,

Yesterday’s court decision has provided ample amounts of confusion for all of us.  Our goal in the bubble was to preserve educational opportunities for our students.  We did not address spectators at the formation of our bubble, yet now we need to come to a consensus on a direction as this legal battle continues.  Each district’s perspective is important and should be respected.  Bubble administration supports the following:

School Districts in the four-county IU9 sports bubble do not support participating school districts opening sporting events to the general public.  There is support for permitting home teams to allow parents and families to attend events in limited numbers.  School districts reserve the right to cancel participating in a contest that is open to the public.

School districts have worked so hard to open schools.  Mass gatherings promote the (increase risk) spread of the COVID-19 virus.  4 or 5 cases of the virus may result in shut down of our in person learning models, disrupt the educational process and inconvenience all of our families and their daily lives.  We must reduce the risk of a school shut down as much as possible for safety and educational reasons.

Due to the risk of mass gatherings, we will be issuing one (1) ticket per student athlete who would participate for indoor sporting events.  Each ticket will permit two (2) individuals to attend the event.  Students will be issued their ticket today before dismissal.  I am aware that many other spectators would like to attend, but the two (2) person limit will continue and families will have to consider rotating who can attend each of the indoor events. For those who cannot attend, we will also be conducting live streaming of the games on our Facebook page.   Public comments may be made on the Facebook page, but please be advised school policies apply and must be adhered to.  I would regret to be forced to shut down the live feed due to public comments being inappropriate.

Doors will be open for spectators for 25 minutes prior to the start of the game. For example: a 6:00 p.m. game time, doors will be open from 5:30 p.m. – 5:55 p.m.  No other spectators will be permitted to enter the building after 5:55 p.m. due to the screening procedures. Spectators will be permitted to bring only water bottles into the building.  There are designated fountains where bottles can be refilled.  The concession stand will be closed.

Outdoor sporting events will not be issued tickets due to the low number of visitors that are attending our outdoor events. Yesterday’s cross-country meet was at 174 people total in attendance including staff, students, and spectators. We will continue to only allow home team spectators to attend all of our events.

All other mandates still apply:

• Spectators will be prescreened at the door
• Masks are required
• 6 ft. of social distancing is required
• Families will have marked areas to sit together in the bleachers to maintain social distancing.

Jed Hamberger

Superintendent

Please be advised that the Elementary School playground and surrounding fields are closed to the public during normal school business hours.

Please click on the following link to view the CDC’s Back to School Planning for In-Person Classes.

CDC Back to School Planning for In-Person Classes

Following the PIAA’s vote on Friday, August 21, 2020, to allow fall sports to be a local decision and in the absence of a response from Governor Wolf and Secretary Levine, the Superintendents of the public schools in the McKean, Elk, Cameron, and Potter counties will propose to each of their respective School Boards, a regional fall sports schedule with the first week of competition being September 14, 2020.  The athletic directors and high school principals are in the process of revising schedules in preparation for the individual District’s proposals. The pandemic coordinators are revising fall sports health and safety plans and moving those plans forward for approval to each School Board. Per the PIAA’s position, if each school’s coaches, athletes, officials, and parents/guardians strictly adhere to the school district’s health and safety plan for athletics, student athletes and coaches should be reasonably safe to play fall sports.

Regardless of the precautions in place, there is an increased risk of an exposure to COVID 19 for participants in fall sports. Ultimately, it is the parent/guardian’s decision regarding whether their child will participate.  The Superintendents and School Boards wish to provide student athletes with every opportunity to have a fall sports season in the safest manner possible.

We believe the opportunity for students to participate in athletic and extra-curricular activities is important to their overall mental health and well-being and such experiences create an overall positive school climate. We also recognize the balance between physical health and mental health during a global pandemic. School organized events that include strict adherence to protocols, wellness screenings of participants, and district to district communication affords a balance between ensuring physical health and mental health.

Each school district’s pandemic coordinator will carefully monitor the extent of community spread in their counties and school districts and will cancel games in order to ensure not risking an exposure beyond an athletic team’s membership in a specific school district.  School districts will not exceed the participation guidelines per Governor Wolf and Secretary Levine.  Specifically, at outdoor venues there can be 250 participants and at indoor venues there can be 25 participants. Those participants include: student athletes, band members, cheerleaders, coaches, directors, officials, game management/help, and ambulance staff (football). Spectators will not be permitted.  There will be no concessions. Further, senior nights will be planned for very early in the season to ensure that seniors are properly honored. Each District will make every effort to live stream Fall athletic events to their communities, to the extent that they are capable.

Please click on the following links for important information from UPMC Cole physician, Dr. Mary Ann Rigas and the American Academy of Pediatrics Guidance for School Opening.

UPMC Cole Mask Exemption

American Academy of Pediatrics Guidance for School Opening

Due to our changes in transportation procedures at the school, we are going to have to limit public parking for track use to the blacktop parking lot at the Middle/High School. All student transportation vehicles will be using the gravel parking lot and will need the space to make the turn without other vehicles restricting the buses.