Message from the Superintendent

Spring may be starting today, but you would never know it with the weather we enjoyed last week.  After a mild winter, Mother Nature decided to challenge us with quite a storm.

With all winter storms, there are many questions about how the decision is made to open school, close, or delay.  This is certainly one of the most important decisions the District makes and there are many factors that are considered.  First and foremost, the District must consider the safety of students.  

In making the decision to open, close, or delay, District officials drive across roads throughout the District to assess their readiness for bus navigation as well as walkers.  The bus company is consulted and it is important to the District that they have confidence in the drivers’ abilities to be safe.  Finally, we consider whether or not school property is safe for parking and walking.  

The most frequent question that is asked: Why is York Suburban the only school in the county that remains open on a snowy day?  York Suburban School District is unique in many ways.  We are a very small geographic district and we have no rural roads for our buses to navigate.  It is often the rural roads in other districts that pose challenges for them that we do not face.  

This week provides a great opportunity to give a shout out to our bus drivers.  They are a terrific group of people who work very hard to serve our students.  Once again, they did a fantastic job of ensuring safe travel for our students!

Thank you for working with the District to support the education of our students!

 

YSHS SAT Results: A Culture of Excellence

The Class of 2016 helped once again to emphasize our district’s Culture of Excellence.  With the recent release of scores, York Suburban High School was able to compare results to other local and state results.  The Class of 2016 had the highest scores of recent years, with a composite score of 1627 which ranked 44th in the state, 3rd in south-central Pennsylvania, and was the highest in Adams, York, and Lancaster counties. While the results are something to be very proud of, they are an imperfect comparison.   The results do not represent the average of every student in the school, rather it is only the average of those that take the SAT.   YSHS traditionally has 80-85 percent of students take the assessment while other schools may have as a few as 50 percent or as many as 100 percent.

These results represent the last year of the current SAT format.   The Class of 2017 has taken the new SAT.  Information on the changes is available at the College Board website. For the last few years the high school staff has been modifying their own assessments to help prepare students for the changes and in October, the entire junior class (Class of 2018) took the new PSAT.   The PSAT gives a great indication of how our students rank nationally. The results showed that the top 20 percent of YSHS students fell in the top five percent nationally, and the top 80 percent of YSHS students all fell in the top 50 percent nationally. The SAT and PSAT results are yet another example of #BeYSProud!

 

MathCounts Team Adds Up Success

On Saturday, February 25, 2017, eight students from the middle school represented York Suburban at the Lincoln Chapter Regional MathCounts Competition held at Millersville University.   York Suburban competitors included, eighth graders Steven File, Riley Trout, Jack Ports, Devlin Ravegum, and Nick Aparicio, seventh graders Noah West and Leo Chen and sixth grader Edward Lulo.  

The competition consists of four components.  The Sprint Round (40 minutes) is an individual test with 30 questions focusing on accuracy.  Calculators are not permitted.

The Target Round consists of eight problems presented in four pairs (six minutes per pair).

The Team Round (20 minutes) consists of 10 problems that the team of four works together to solve.

The Countdown Round is a fast-paced oral competition where students go head to head.  This round is reserved for the top 10 competitors based on total scores from the three previous rounds.

This year’s competition included 184 students and 25 teams from Lancaster, Lebanon, York, and Adams Counties.  

Individually Jack Ports finished sixth, Devlin Ravegum 21st, Noah West 25th, Nick Aparicio 27th, Riley Trout 49th, Edward Lulo 56th, Leo Chen 66th, and Steven File 71st.

The team of Ports, Ravegum, West, and Chen finished fourth.

Congratulations to our Mathletes!

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York Suburban Science and Engineering Fair Champions

Zoe Prats (left) Elizabeth Huh (right)

On March 8 at the York County Science and Engineering Fair Awards Ceremony, several York Suburban High School and Middle School students earned recognition for their science fair projects. 

Senior Elizabeth Huh received the Grand Champion honor for  “The Regulation of ATF4/CHOP by c-Myc in NSAID-induced Chemoprevention” . Elizabeth will move on to compete at the Intel International Science Fair in Los Angeles, California, in May.

Zoe Prats, tenth grade, was named Reserve Grand Champion  for her project,  “Enhancement of Radiation Cytotoxicity by Gold and Iron Oxide Nanoparticles”.

Steven File, eighth grade, earned Junior Reserve Grand Champion for “The Effect of Hydroponics vs. Traditional Methods.”

Steven File

The following middle school students earned a first place:

Emma Salazar

Steven File

Ben Farah

Caitlin Springer

Daisy Pflaum

Macie Brown

Eli Smith

Emma Tibbett

Leon Bellenbaum

Estelle Hackos

The following middle school students scored in the top 10% of middle school students:

Emma Salazar

Estelle Hackos

Steven File

Additonal awards were given as follows:

Emma Salazar, American Psychological Society

Logan Zeiders, RICOH Americas Corporation

Daisy Pflaum, US Women Geologists

Sophia Guyer, Eisenhart Memorial Award

Dermot Pogson, Engineering Society of York Award

Robert Quan, Society of Manufacturing Engineers Award

Lucas Strickland, York Township Award

 

National Merit Finalists

York Suburban High School is proud to announce that the Class of 2017 has two National Merit Finalists.  Elizabeth Huh, daughter of Chulhaeng Huh and Eunae Ma, and Molly Sargen, daughter of Jeff and Braquel Sargen, are among nearly 15,000 finalists nationally. This prestigious honor is presented to less than one percent of the seniors in the country.  

Elizabeth Huh

Molly Sargen

 

Representative Hill-Evans at Indian Rock

State Representative Carol Hill-Evans, serving the 95th Legislative District, visited Indian Rock Elementary on Thursday, March 2. In addition to touring the building and visiting classrooms, Representative Hill-Evans completed a read-aloud, If I Were President, to Mrs. Nolte’s fourth grade students and then donated the book by Catherine Stier to the school library.

 

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Read Across America Week

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Valley View Elementary celebrated Read Across America week and Dr. Suess’s birthday with a special week-long celebration known as B.E.A.R. Week.  B.E.A.R. stands for Be Excited About Reading.  Students enjoyed the special events throughout the week that included special dress days like Wacky Wednesday and Pajama Day!  Kindergarten students enjoyed green eggs and ham in the classroom (and they LIKED them, Sam I Am!!)

 

Students Rewarded for Middle School PRIDE

Recently the students of Mrs. Peterson’s LIU Autism Support Class at York Suburban Middle School were treated to a pizza lunch and special seating in the cafeteria by the custodian Mr. Jeff Murray. This was a reward for the student’s participation in taking care of the school building.

Everyday the entire class helps to clean the cafeteria tables and chairs. Mr. Jeff reports that this is a great help to him and also shows that students care about their environment.

Twice a day a student does “hall duty” by picking up trash, pencils, and other objects from the floor in the hallways. The trash is thrown away, the pencils are sanitized and then used by the classroom, books and other items are taken to the office. Three times a week a student dusts the locker tops. Students wear  badges with the job title when performing these duties just as they would in an actual worksite. These jobs help to provide critical pre-vocational training for the students, help to teach them to take care of their environment and provide a valuable service to the school. As the students recently found out, it also sometimes ends in a tasty reward!

Yorkshire Elementary Families Dance the Night Away

Submitted by Kathy Pavoncello

On February 10, the  Yorkshire PTO sponsored a Family “Sock Hop” Dance. Admission to the dance was simply a pair of socks to be donated to the Bell Family Shelter. By the end of the evening, a total of 525 pairs of socks were collected and ready to be donated to folks who might need the extra warmth this winter. Our Yorkshire gym was decorated to provide a festive atmosphere for students and parents as they danced the night away. Yorkie Bear came out to celebrate as well, leading everyone in song and special dance moves throughout the event.  A photo booth provided extra laughter. It was a fun evening, and families felt good knowing they helped many members of their community!

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Video link:

https://animoto.com/play/km1ELBhTUz77ewtb1CGzCg

York Suburban Kindergarten Registration

 

It’s Time to Register! 

 

 

All kindergarten and first grade students planning to attend York Suburban School District in the 2017-2018 school year must register now. 

Kindergarten/first grade registration for Valley View Elementary students will take place by appointment only Wednesday, April 5 and Thursday, April 6 at Valley View Elementary, 850 Southern Road, York, PA 17403 (717-885-1220).  

Kindergarten/first grade registration for Yorkshire Elementary students will take place by appointment only Monday, April 3 and Tuesday, April 4 at Yorkshire Elementary, 295 Mills Street, York, PA 17402 (717-885-1230).

The following information explains age requirements and how to register.  (NOTE: If your child is already attending York Suburban as a kindergarten student, it is not necessary to register him/her as a first grader.

Age Requirements:

Children who are now five (5) years old or will have reached their fifth (5th) birthday before September 1, 2017, are eligible to enroll for kindergarten in the coming school year.

Children who are now six (6) years old or will have reached their sixth (6th) birthday before September 1, 2017, are eligible to enroll for first grade.

More information for:

Valley View Kindergarten Registration

Yorkshire Kindergarten Registration