State Sen. Judy Ward (left), Claysburg-Kimmel Superintendent Mark Loucks (right) and high school Principal Charles Kassick (center left) talk with business and computer education teacher Steven Walter (center right) during a tour of Claysburg-Kimmel High School on Tuesday. Mirror photo by Rachel Foor

CLAYSBURG — Test scores, a college-style lounge, e-gaming and a potential wellness center were highlighted by Claysburg-Kimmel School District administrators to showcase the district’s progress in a post-pandemic world.

The discussion came as state Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair, toured the district’s combined middle and high school Tuesday afternoon.

Following the tour, High School Principal Charles Kassick told Ward that there were learning deficits from the pandemic that the district had to make up for, especially in “core reading and math areas.” To combat this, double periods in English and math were implemented at the middle school level.

“It wasn’t to stress more content, it was to stress content mastery,” Kassick said. “So, don’t move forward until you have it — and really stress that part.”

Claysburg-Kimmel also implemented a rotating class for seventh and eighth graders to meet once a week to go over core concepts. An assessment-based class, students go over a topic and then present information on which they’re assessed immediately.

In one year, seventh and eighth grade reading scores have gone up 18%, Kassick said, with 10th grade Keystone scores being the highest in the building.

“In this previous spring, the scores have gone up, and it’s a slow process,” Kassick said. “You can’t build Rome in a day. We know it gets built; it just takes some time.”

Kassick touched on a project the Claysburg Education Foundation played a large role in by creating a class with the Penn State entrepreneurial program. A total of 16 students — four groups of four — went through the program and pitched ideas, with the top pitch being funded.

“Steve Sheetz was a part of that, and he decided one wasn’t enough so he basically said, ‘We’re going to fund them all somehow,'” Kassick said.

One of those pitches was for an incentive college-style lounge that will be put into the old library, Kassick said. It includes things like movable seating, charging stations and “screens to look over things.” There will also be items for purchase such as smoothies, coffee and healthy snacks.

The lounge will give students “a reason to achieve,” Kassick said, because to be admitted, students will have to be upperclassmen and meet certain grading, discipline and attendance criteria.

The incentive lounge will also be the e-gaming area, which is already in place, he said.

“This is now going to promote some opportunities for our kids to go to college — some of those kids who would never pick up a baseball or maybe they’re not going to be the valedictorian,” Kassick said. “This is another way for them to get to college and have their education paid for.”

Ward expressed her admiration for the changes and their results, saying, “It makes them want to come to school — it makes them want to learn and to do well.”

During the visit, Superintendent Mark Loucks showed a view of the ongoing athletic project behind the middle and high school building. He expressed the need to have someone “translate for us the process of grants, the navigation of grants and availability” because the community and kids are owed “the best possible opportunities.”

“What we’ve done is we’ve essentially connected some exterior buildings beyond the project itself,” Loucks said. “One of them we’re extremely proud of is the wellness center.”

The district has previously stated that it would not raise taxes to fund the athletic project. Therefore, to pay for the construction, the district is fundraising, issuing bonds and exploring grant options.

While the original focus of the wellness center was to be physical fitness, Loucks said the district is keeping its options open.

“If a grant allowed us to open to the community, that would certainly be something that we would consider,” Loucks said. “If the grant allowed us to limit it to physical education class usage only, that would be something that we would consider.”

Ward’s Constituent Outreach Specialist Michele Ivory brought copies of a funding and resource guide for the district administration and went over options it might have, including the Community Facilities Program, Local Shares Account and a Community Development Block Grant.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.