# Conestoga Valley School District

The Conestoga Valley School District is a school district covering East Lampeter Township, Upper Leacock Township and West Earl Township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is a member of Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit (IU) 13. The district operates one High School, one Middle School and four Elementary Schools.

## History

In 1958, East Lampeter Township, Upper Leacock Township, and West Earl township merged their school systems to form the Conestoga Valley School District. Its original high school was dedicated on present-day Smoketown Elementary School as East Lampeter High School. Sometime after 1970, the high school was moved to another location along Horseshoe Road, renamed Conestoga Valley High School, and built completely new while the old building was dedicated as Smoketown Elementary School.

### Penn Johns Elementary School

Located in Bird In Hand, Penn Johns Elementary School was the previous fifth elementary school of Conestoga Valley. It was the last remaining school for the Plain community that over time lost its original purpose and transitioned into a regular elementary school that served all local residents. It was established around 1953 as an Amish and Old Order Mennonite school, but the Amish community no longer attended the school. In 2007, the Conestoga Valley school board voted to close the school for good, citing new teacher certification requirements, operating costs, and new curriculum requirements. The school served around 35 students at the time of closing taught by only two teachers, one for grades 1-4 and one for grades 5-8. The 35 students then matriculated into the four remaining elementary schools.

### Recent developments

Conestoga Valley recently renovated its previous middle school to become the home of Smoketown Elementary as well as the District Offices and the elementary Conestoga Valley Virtual Academy (CVVA). Leola Elementary is in the midst of renovations and will move back into its newly renovated building in the 2026-27 school year. In addition, a brand new middle school, Gerald G. Huesken Middle School, was built and opened its doors for the 2022-23 school year. It now houses grades 6-8; the previous middle school was home to only grades 7-8.</ref>

## Academics

Conestoga Valley is committed to an assessment program reflecting national, state, and local measures. Each year, CV administers the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) math and English Language Arts (ELA) exams in grades three through eight, and science in grades four and eight. High school students take the state’s end-of-course Keystone Exams in algebra, literature, and biology. CV maintains a balance of diagnostic, benchmark, formative and summative assessments at all levels, including locally-developed assessments.</ref>

## Demographical snapshot

Source: School Newsletter (January 2014)
| Asian students | 5.0% |
| Hispanic students | 24.0% |
| Black students | 7.7% |
| White (non-Hispanic) students | 52.6% |
| Unclassified(including multi-racial) | 3.5% |
| Multi | 6.9% |
| Other(including multi-racial) | 0.3% |

## Schools

* Conestoga Valley Senior High School (9th-12th), Lancaster
* Conestoga Valley Middle School (7th-8th), Lancaster
* Brownstown Elementary School (K-6th), Brownstown
* J. E. Fritz Elementary School (K-6th), Lancaster
* Leola Elementary School (K-6th), Leola
* Smoketown Elementary School (K-6th), Lancaster

## Notable alumni

* Kim Glass is an American indoor volleyball player who joined the U.S. national team in the Olympics and won a silver medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
* Jonathan Groff is a singer and stage, television, and film actor who worked in the musical Spring Awakening, voiced Kristoff in the Disney movie Frozen, and starred in television series Glee and Looking.
* Floyd Landis is a professional cyclist who won several events including the Tour of California in 2006, and the Tour de France in 2006 of which he was convicted of a doping case.
* Kevin Shaffer is an American football offensive tackle who played for the Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, and Chicago Bears.
* Ryan G. Manelick was an American defense contractor who worked in Baghdad, Iraq.