Great Valley School District

The Great Valley School District is located in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia suburbs, specifically in the Delaware Valley region known as the Main Line, in eastern Chester County. The district provides public education for students in Charlestown, East Whiteland, and Willistown townships, as well as Malvern borough. The district is located in the general area known locally as the Great Valley. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the District is currently offering a virtual option to both students and teachers.

Great Valley School District
Location
47 Church Rd.
East Whiteland Township (Malvern address), PA 19355
United States
District information
TypePublic
GradesPre-K–12
Established1923
SuperintendentDaniel Goffredo (since 2020)
Budget$84.4 million (2014–2015)
NCES District ID4210870[1]
Students and staff
StudentsApprox. 4,000 (2014–15)>
Athletic conferencePIAA Ches-Mont League
Other information
Teachers unionGreat Valley Education Association (GVEA)
Websitewww.gvsd.org
Map of Chester County, Pennsylvania Public School Districts. Great Valley School District is in orange in the eastern part of the county.

Its headquarters are in East Whiteland Township.[2]

District Administration

Superintendent

The district superintendent is selected solely by the nine-member school board. On September 17, 2007, then-Superintendent Dr. Rita Jones, serving her 16th year in the position, received a new four-year contract, the result of a 5–4 school board vote. On April 2, 2009, Dr. Jones announced her retirement, effective in August of that year. Dr. Melody Wilt served as interim superintendent until Dr. Alan Lonoconus was appointed to fill the position on October 20, 2009. On December 1, 2014, Lonoconus announced his retirement, effective at the end of the 2014–15 school year. Dr. Regina Speaker Palubinsky joined the Great Valley School district as the new superintendent in July 2015. In May 2020, Dr. Speaker Palubinsky announced her resignation. On June 1, 2020, the Great Valley School Board announced Dr. Daniel F. Goffredo, then Assistant Superintendent, as the permanent replacement effective July 1, 2020. Following protests against his COVID-19 protocols, he resigned November 2021. No replacement has been publicly announced.[3] [4] The following people have served as Superintendent since 1975:

  • John Jones (1975–1991)
  • Henry Schrader (1991–1992)
  • Rita Jones (1992–2009)
  • Melody Wilt (2009–2010)
  • Alan Lonoconus (2010–2015)
  • Regina Palubinsky (2015–2020)
  • Daniel Goffredo (2020–2021)

School board

The nine school board members are elected publicly; one non-voting student representative is appointed by Great Valley High School. The members are:

  • David Barratt, Region 2 (President)
  • Amy Chain, Region 1 (Vice President)
  • Bryan Paluch, Region 3 (Treasurer)
  • Jennifer Armstrong, Region 3
  • Stephen Dittmann, Region 3
  • Rachel Gallegos, Region 1
  • Samantha Jouin, Region 1
  • Wendy Litzke, Region 2
  • Neha Mehta, Region 2
  • Hope Semar, Student Representative

District funding

The majority of the district's funding comes from property taxes. The budget is prepared yearly by the current superintendent and then must be approved by the nine-member school board. The Great Valley School District millage rate is the second lowest among Chester County school districts.

District schools

The district includes four elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school.

Charleston Elementary School

Charleston Elementary School is located in Malvern, Pennsylvania, within Charleston Township. Student hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 3:38 p.m.

The school enrolls about 378 students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade per year, and the student–teacher ratio is approximately 14:1. The school building was renovated in the early 2000s, when students and faculty were temporarily relocated.

Wayne Kerr is the school principal. [5]

General Wayne Elementary School

General Wayne Elementary School is located in Malvern, Pennsylvania, within Willistown Township. Student hours are from 8:55 a.m. to 3:33 p.m.

The principal is Bonnie Citron .

Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School

The Kathryn Donahue Markley Elementary School, named after a former long-time principal, is located in Malvern, Pennsylvania, within East Whiteland Township. Victoria Morris is the current principal. Kindergarten through fifth grade students attend the school.

Sugartown Elementary School

Sugartown Elementary School is located in Malvern, Pennsylvania, within Willistown Township.

Mr. Kyle Hammond, former assistant principal at the Great Valley Middle School, was named Sugartown principal in July 2016.

Great Valley Middle School

Great Valley Middle School is located in East Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania,[6] on the same campus as Great Valley High School. The school enrolls about 950 students per year in the sixth through eighth grades. The student to teacher ratio is about 16:1.

The regular student schedule is 7:40 a.m. to 2:29 p.m. The school also operates on a six-day (1-6) cycle. The principal is Dr. Edward Souders and the assistant principal is Dr. Jack Kinnòf

Great Valley High School
Main article: Great Valley High School

The high school serves students in ninth through twelfth grade. The high school is located on the same campus as the middle school. The principal is Dr. Heidi Capetola and the assistant principals are Mr. Pat Connors and Mr. Henry McCloskey. Mr. Michael Semar, serves as Athletic Director for Great Valley.

School organization

By the 1990s, when the school had three functioning elementary schools, district population growth necessitated construction of a larger middle school and addition of a fourth elementary school. Once the new middle school was completed, the General Wayne facility was closed and converted into the fourth elementary school. Thereafter, Sugartown students temporarily used the renovated General Wayne school to allow for Sugartown's renovation and expansion. Thereafter, the high school underwent a four-year renovation that was completed during the 2006/2007 school year.

After Sugartown's elementary renovation, reassignment of students to schools within the district was necessary. This process began in June 2004 and was implemented in time for the 2006–2007 school year.. Some students throughout the district from the other three elementary schools were relocated to Sugartown.

Former schools

Two older elementary schools — Greentree Elementary in Willistown Township and Malvern Elementary in Malvern Borough — were closed in the early 1980s and the buildings sold. Greentree was renovated and enlarged to become a commercial office building while the Malvern school was renovated and enlarged to become the Malvern borough town hall, police station, and public library.

References
  1. "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for Great Valley High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  2. "Zoning Map". East Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  3. https://www.gvsd.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=74&ModuleInstanceID=19942&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=41697&PageID=15055
  4. "Letter from the Principal (6/3/2021)".
  5. "Yepremian, Erika - ESL / Home".
  6. "Zoning Map". East Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania. Retrieved March 31, 2021.

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