Making their mark: Penn Cambria School District adapts to year of change
Penn Cambria School District adapts to year of change
- Penn Cambria Primary School is at 400 Main St., Lilly. Mirror file photo by Patrick Waksmunski
- Penn Cambria building enrollments 2024-25

Penn Cambria Primary School is at 400 Main St., Lilly. Mirror file photo by Patrick Waksmunski
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series showcasing the area’s school districts.
CRESSON — The Penn Cambria School District is in a state of change, development, improvement and excitement, according to school board President Michael Sheehan.
Superintendent Jamie Hartline said the 2024 portion of this school year “came with some challenges to get started.” But the district got off to a great start, thanks to “a great group of students, teachers and staff members,” he said.
“We know that our district is probably in a different position than most districts,” Hartline said, noting Penn Cambria could face potential building closures and consolidation measures with a new building project at the high school campus in 2025.
“We’ll just look to keep persevering the way that we have been and continue the great success that we’ve had so far in 2024,” Hartline said.

Penn Cambria building enrollments 2024-25
A year of change
Last year was a year of change and shake up for the district as former Superintendent Bill Marshall retired, former high school principal Kaitlyn Kalwanaski resigned midway through the school year and a board vacancy was filled.
Then assistant middle school principal Ben Watt was appointed by the board in January 2024 to become the high school’s new principal. At the same meeting, Jennifer Gmuca, a Mount Aloysius history professor, was selected out of 12 candidates to fill the board’s vacancy.
Both Watt and Gmuca said the past year with Penn Cambria has been nothing short of fantastic.
Gmuca said her fellow board directors and the school’s administrative staff have been “excellent facilitators and mentors” while she learned the nuances of the position.
“When I was first awarded the position, a fellow director described the learning process as ‘trying to drink water from a fire hydrant.’ While I find this metaphor humorous, it is also very accurate,” Gmuca said, adding Penn Cambria is a great school district because of its “loving, supportive and encouraging” faculty, staff and administration.
‘Bring back excitement’
Watt said one of the first things he did as principal was to create a student advisory committee to gain student input on what they thought of their school.
“As a former Penn Cambria graduate, it was a little disheartening because they said that school wasn’t fun,” Watt said, adding he and his assistant principal, Kristen Blackburn, have made it their goal this year to “bring back that excitement” through offering quarterly incentives for improved attendance and displaying positive behavior in school.
For Hartline, the school year so far has been rewarding, he said.
As a graduate of Penn Cambria who resides within the district, Hartline said he’s “vested in what happens here.”
“I take a lot of pride in what we do here,” he said.
Hartline said many of Penn Cambria’s challenges — staffing, safety, enrollment and funding — are not unique to the district.
“Most parts of our state are going through a decline in enrollment and how we handle that and maintain efficiencies with what we’re doing is certainly a challenge,” he said. “It’s something most districts haven’t been through before.”
Hartline said the district’s principals review their available staff daily and devise a plan for their buildings when substitute teachers aren’t available.
Watt said he credits the district’s faculty who “chip in and do their part” whenever he calls on them to help with staffing issues for any particular day.
“That’s a credit to our staff. Everybody is willing to do their part and beyond,” Watt said of Penn Cambria’s teachers.
Above state standards
Watt also credits Penn Cambria’s faculty for the district’s performance on state assessment exams last year.
At the intermediate school in Lilly, 58.5% of students placed proficient or advanced in English language arts, 4.6% above state average; 46.2% placed proficient or advanced in math, 6% above state average; and 74.3% placed proficient or advanced in science, 15.1% above state average.
At the middle school in Gallitzin, 56.1% of students placed proficient or advanced in English language arts, 2.2% above state average; 32.8% placed proficient or advanced in math, 7.2% below state average; and 61.2% placed proficient or advanced in science, 2% above state average.
At the high school in Cresson, 79.3% of students placed proficient or advanced in English language arts, 25.4% above state average; 67.1% placed proficient or advanced in math, 26.9% above state average; and 61.6% placed proficient or advanced in science, 2.4% above state average.
“Our staff are committed to working with the students and doing their job to provide quality education,” Watt said. “That’s what I think accelerates our scores above the rest. It’s our faculty. It’s the people who we have in our positions.”
Hartline said Penn Cambria has traditionally performed well on state assessments, and he’s hopeful the district will continue to improve this year.
“We are always looking to see how we can improve. If there is an area where we can improve in certain subject areas or how we present materials to students, we are going to do that,” Hartline said.
“Our teachers practice flexibility and they’re innovative in ways they find to reach our students, and I think that’s reflected in our scores,” he said.
Sheehan also commended the district’s staff, noting, “Every person who is involved in the day-to-day operations of educating our students is the key to the success of the district.”
He said parents and community members contribute to the district’s success, too.
“Education doesn’t start or stop within the walls of a school building. It begins in the home with the parents and families, and it extends to the classroom with our teachers,” Sheehan said.
Facing challenges
The district’s “improvement project” is one of the biggest challenges facing the Penn Cambria School District, which includes five buildings with deteriorating conditions in some of the buildings, Sheehan said.
The declining enrollment within the area put Penn Cambria in a position where it has to turn to a capital improvement strategy, he said.
In 2023, Marshall told the Mirror the district’s enrollment — 1,545 students at the time — was expected to decline 11% by 2027. In 2008, when Marshall started his first year as the high school’s principal, Penn Cambria’s enrollment was 1,803. The district’s current enrollment is 1,450 students.
“This most likely will include consolidation and closure of buildings, new construction, relocation and restructure of grade levels and movement of staff to support the restructured footprint,” Sheehan said of the improvement project.
Vote scheduled
The board revised its committee of the whole and regular session meeting dates to consider a vote to close the primary school in Lilly this week.
While the board will consider closing the school during a committee of the whole meeting tonight, the board won’t vote on the matter until Wednesday’s regular meeting. Both meetings take place at 7 p.m. in the high school library in Cresson.
Sheehan said the board recognizes that financial status varies throughout the district and any decisions made will impact community members differently.
The board has held several meetings, invited community members to express their concerns and used their feedback to explore potential options, Sheehan said.
Sheehan said the district’s No. 1 goal for 2025 is to have a safe and successful year in education.
“Building projects, budgets (and) financial decisions may be part of the business and need to be treated as such. However, we can never let any goals related to those types of items make us lose sight of the reasons we are all here,” Sheehan said. “Here is to a great year.”
School officials
Administration:
Jamie Hartline, superintendent of schools
Jeanette Black, assistant to the superintendent
Jill Francisco, business administrator
Carrie Conrad, director of special education
Jane Burkholder, school psychologist
Lewis Hale, director of technology
Scott Sherry, facilities director
Justine Hrzic-Smith, food service
Jacquelyn Mento, secretary to the superintendent
Crystal Thomas, administrative assistant
Carrie O’Neill, fiscal assistant
Beth Fulton, payroll & benefit specialist
Heather Farren, special education office coordinator
John McDonnell, computer technician
Board of Education:
Michael Sheehan, president
Rudy McCarthy, vice president
Matthew Kearney, secretary
Jeffrey Stohon, treasurer
Caleb Drenning
Guy Monica
Anthony Dziabo
Cindy Sheehan-Westrick
Jennifer Gmuca