CLEARFIELD – On Monday evening, the administration and board of directors of the Clearfield Area School District gathered with community members to dedicate the newly renovated and expanded Clearfield Area Elementary School.
Starting this school year, the district’s students will be consolidated into two campuses. The district has invested approximately $35 million to renovate and expand the former Clearfield Area High School into a junior-senior high campus for seventh through 12th grades. The new Clearfield Area Junior-Senior High School was dedicated on Aug. 18.
The district also invested approximately $11 million to renovate and expand the former Clearfield Elementary School into a kindergarten through sixth grade campus. In the process, it permanently closed the Clearfield Area Middle School, as well as the Centre, Bradford Township and Girard-Goshen Elementary Schools.
Board President Mary Anne Jackson welcomed community members to see the fruit of the labor of so many people. “Through these doors will walk our children, [who are] our treasure and our foundation for the future. In this building, they will be safe and welcome and appreciated for their unique expressions.
“Our children will have the best resources that this community is able to provide to them. They will have teachers who are ready and willing to respect and guide them in the path of learning.”
CAES children, according to Jackson, will have opportunities to develop their talents, as well as their minds. She said school officials, teachers and parents will all rejoice in their children’s successes.
Jackson noted, “It’s been said that a community is only as good as its school system. We, the Clearfield Area School District Board of Directors, are determined that the Clearfield area will be a shining example of all that’s good, wholesome and productive in life.”
Superintendent Terry Struble said the CAES dedication was a celebration of a new beginning. He said it wasn’t a new school but was built from an existing one and will educate approximately 1,200 students. “Today is the beginning of a wonderful opportunity for all of them,” said Struble.
According to him, the CAES was updated with state-of-the-art technology and security entrances, vestibules and cameras. In addition to renovated office and guidance areas, he said its additions allowed for a completely new kitchen, a cafeteria expansion, an instrument practice room and new classroom wings to accommodate the fifth and sixth grade students from the CAMS and the Centre and Bradford Township Elementary Schools.
Struble thanked former and current Clearfield school administrators and board members. He also thanked representatives who attended from Lawrence Township, the Clearfield Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson’s office, along with the district’s architects and construction manager for the elementary building project.
“But today is really about what we will do for our kids,” he said. “. . . We want to see them get excited about learning and provide them with the best teachers and supplies, so that they grow into the best people that they can be. Our mission begins today from the smallest to the biggest of students.”
Struble then turned the CAES over to Principal Mary Michael Sayers. Sayers said she was proud to guide the school into the future during this new and exciting educational change. “With our great faculty and staff and your continued support, great things will happen behind these doors every day,” she said.
After the dedication ceremony, the CAES was open to the public for self-guided tours.
