According to Superintendent Ken Kerchenske, the school board signed a power purchase agreement last year to mount a solar array at the middle and high school campus in Clearfield Township.

The 28-year agreement was approved in April with Envinity and its financial partner, Solar Renewable Energy LLC. Construction for the panel will likely start this year, Kerchenske said, noting the array will provide nearly 100% of the campus’ electricity needs at a reduced and fixed rate.

Kerchenske said the array will save the district over $2 million in electric costs over the next two decades. He stressed the solar panels will not cost the district any money to build.

With the savings from the array, Kerchenske said Cambria Heights is looking to supplement a $1 million Public School Facility Improvement grant the district received in October with a bond to replace the boilers and HVAC system at the elementary school building in Carrolltown Borough.

The existing boilers are original to the building from 1992, he said, adding the classrooms thermostats and master controls, which are also original, have to be replaced because the necessary parts to repair them are not available anymore.

Kerchenske said the elementary school has never had air conditioning, but it will once the upgrades take place this summer. The district also plans to switch all the existing fluorescent lighting with energy-efficient LED lighting, he said.

“We think over time, the lighting will pay for itself because it’s so much more energy efficient,” Kerchenske said.

During a special board meeting Dec. 17, Cambria Heights officials approved an energy services contract with Schneider Electric Buildings Americas Inc. for an energy savings project at the elementary school.

Kerchenske said the special meeting was called in order to have everything in place so contractors can work in the school over summer vacation.

“The last day the kids have school, we’ll clear out the elementary school and they’ll go to work with the hope of having the bulk of the project done by the time the kids come back in August,” Kerchenske said.

At the special meeting, the board also approved a solar assessment at the elementary school as part of the requirements for the Solar for Schools grant application, due at the end of January.

“We’re hoping that we can get basically free solar panels for the rooftop at the elementary school in Carrolltown through that grant,” Kerchenske said.

Although the board prides itself on not micromanaging what goes on in the day-to-day operations of the district, Jerry Brant, the board’s first vice president, said Cambria Heights has “a strong enough group of administrators” who lead the district in the best way possible.

He said it’s the district’s staff, teachers and administrators who make Cambria Heights a strong district.

Science a strength

The district’s state assessment scores from the 2023-24 school year are a good indication of the district’s strength, several administrators said.

At the elementary school, 52.6% of students placed proficient or advanced in English language arts, 1.3% below state average; 48.5% placed proficient or advanced in math, 8.3% above state average; and 84.6% placed proficient or advanced in science, 25.4% of state average and 1.6% above the state’s goal of where all districts should be by 2033.

“Our elementary science has always been strong, and I think it’s the focus and the amount of time we put on science,” Kerchenske said, noting the students are given at least 45 minutes of science instruction every day.

At the middle school, 67.3% of students placed proficient or advanced in English language arts, 13.4% above state average; 38.7% placed proficient or advanced in math, 1.5% below state average; and 75.8% placed proficient or advanced in science, 16.6% above the state average.

Even though the school is slightly below the state average in math, Cambria Heights Middle School earned a 100% academic growth score in math and science and a 99% growth score in English language arts, indicating nearly every student met or exceeded a year’s worth of growth across all three subject areas in the past year.

Jarrod Lewis, the school’s principal, said the growth is a credit to the school’s teachers who individualized students’ needs and to the students who worked hard all year to prepare for the exams.

“That’s obviously something that I’m very, very proud of,” Lewis said. “We are really happy with our scores.”

Innovation in teaching

In 2024, middle school students began managing a hydroponics garden, growing lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers in about 30 days, Lewis said, adding students enjoyed working with the Cambria County Farm Bureau last year.

Seventh graders planted corn in a field adjacent to the school and harvested their crops when they returned as eighth graders in the fall, Lewis said.

“Some of the stuff we’ve been doing has been really innovative and something that our students get to benefit from,” Lewis said of the school’s partnership with the farm bureau.

This year, Lewis said his goal is to continue the school’s academic progress and to develop the students’ educational, emotional and social needs.

“All of that is very, very important to us, and we want to make sure we’re meeting our kids at what their needs are,” he said.

At the high school, 81% of students placed proficient or advanced in English language arts, 27.1% above state average; 57% placed proficient or advanced in math, 16.8% above state average; and 60.9% placed proficient or advanced in science, 1.7% above state average.

Overall, Kerchenske said the 2023-24 school year was “a really positive school year” for the district, despite some challenges facing nearly every public school in the area, like a decline in student enrollment.

Kerchenske said Cambria Heights has experienced a decrease in nearly 200 students from K-12 in the past decade.

“If you just walked through the building, you wouldn’t necessarily know (enrollment is declining) because all of our classrooms are occupied,” Kerchenske said. “We hope that starts to plateau here.”

When asked what he hopes for Cambria Heights in 2025, Brant said, “I would like us to be in a situation where parents in other school districts say, ‘Gee, I wish my kids went to Cambria Heights.'”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.