SV Middle School earns national acclaim
JACKSON TOWNSHIP — The Seneca Valley Middle School faculty and students on Tuesday celebrated their achievement of earning the title of Pennsylvania Don Eichorn Schools: Schools to Watch for 2011-2014.
The Schools to Watch Program is a national organization that recognizes 100 middle schools in 17 states which meet 37 criteria of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform. These criteria include academic excellence, social equitability, developmental responsiveness, and organizational arrangements to sustain excellence.
“Earning this designation is not something that happens overnight because of the actions of a few people,” Principal Sean McCarty said.
“It's all predicated upon the team principle,” he said. “The whole is always stronger than the sum of its parts.”
The school is divided into 10 teams, establishing a close-knit environment to transition students from elementary school to high school and to allow personal interaction between students and teachers.
“Every teacher has a very close relationship with every student,” Assistant Principal Andrea Peck said.
She said teachers also take additional opportunities to bond with individual students.
Student Council President Teresa Leatherow said, “They motivate us, and they are phenomenal at what they do.”
The school has more than 1,200 students.
Paul Meck, director of the Pennsylvania Schools to Watch program, said that the ability of the middle school to meet the criteria of this program with a large student populace is significant.
Meck described the award as “a mark on the trajectory of a school's journey to improvement.”
The school remains a School to Watch until 2014 when it will be re-evaluated to determine whether it has continued to improve.
Curt Johns, dean of students, said the program enables the school to examine itself by establishing a framework of expectations.
“It helps us address places that might need work as well as improve areas where we are already strong,” he said.
Joseph Maddalon, a Horace Mann representative, congratulated students on their accomplishment. Horace Mann, which is an insurance company, is a sponsor of the Schools to Watch program.
“We have a vested interest in public education,” he said.
The ceremony ended with a student choir performance of “We are the World,” accented with solos, rapping, and waving cell phones in rhythm as the lights were dimmed.
“This is the pinnacle of success,” Superintendent Donald Tylinski said. “When you are recognized as one of the top schools in the nation, what else can you say?”
