Bellefonte Area School District

The Bellefonte Area School District and Bellefonte Area High School Homecoming Events will be happening in two weeks! The Homecoming Parade will occur on Thursday, September 25th. The Homecoming Football Game will be on Friday, September 26th versus Bald Eagle Area. The High School Homecoming Dance will happen on Saturday, October 4th.
We hope to see you at some of these events!

Good morning!

Please enjoy the Friday Coffee Break newsletter for September 12. Today's newsletter features Bellefonte Elementary, Marion-Walker Elementary, BAMS, BAHS, and Youth Volleyball night. Our spotlights highlight Erika Kinley and Avery Milanese! Lastly, the Event Calendar contains school picture days, health screenings, college visits at BAHS, Homecoming events, and much more!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

At Bellefonte Elementary, Miss Port’s fifth grade class completed a Book Buffet. The students were able to sample different books from our classroom library. They became critics and rated each book after reading a few pages. Many of the students found books that they couldn't put down once they started!

At Bellefonte Elementary, students in Ms. Brown's fourth grade classroom did an inference activity where they brought 5 items from home in a bag to tell about themselves while their peers had to make inferences about why the object was in their bag. Students learned that it is easy to make the wrong inference when we don't have a lot of evidence while also learning a lot about each other!

The Volleyball team hosted a Youth Clinic Night last week for grades K-6. They had a great turnout and loved teaching the sport to the younger athletes!

Every year, the Centre Daily Times newspaper hosts a Centre County Favorites contest. People all over Centre County, the State, and the Nation can vote on their favorite Centre County establishments. One of these categories is Education, and the Bellefonte Area School District earned gold and bronze medals in three of these Education categories! The Bellefonte Area High School earned gold, the Bellefonte Area Middle School earned bronze, and Bellefonte Elementary earned bronze. The district is so excited that the community has recognized the amazing work that our educators and staff are producing for our incredible students.
Bellefonte Area School District is grateful for these achievements and for its community! We continue to look forward to our school year and the amazing work that our students and staff will accomplish.

To read the full article, click here:
https://www.basd.net/article/2408373

The third grade classes at Bellefonte Elementary started their first unit of Arts & Letters (the new ELA curriculum) with a trip to Talleyrand Park! Students were encouraged to draw pictures of what they observed in nature and create a caption for their pictures.

We are looking for many different types of substitutes to fill positions within our district!
These positions range from substitute teacher, cafeteria staff, custodial staff, van drivers, paraeducators, to nurses.
If you are interested in any of these substitute positions, please apply here:
https://www.applitrack.com/basd/onlineapp/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

At Marion-Walker Elementary, second graders tackled a fun STEAM challenge at the beginning of the school year! With help from Allison D’Ambrosia, students created "All About Me" sculptures to share at Back to School Night.
The goal: follow the design code and build a sculpture at least 6 inches tall! A creative way to show off who we are while practicing problem-solving and engineering skills. The students did an amazing job!

Last week, the Bellefonte Area Middle School held their 7th and 8th grade Back to School night. This wonderful group of people were the welcoming committee for our parents!
Left to Right: Brianne McDaniel, Secondary Instructional Coach; Sommer Garman, Principal; Ethan Runk, Vice Principal; Emily Bunk, School Counselor; Holly George, School Counselor

Thank you to everyone for making it a successful evening!

Meet our School Resource Officers! We are grateful for their presence in our buildings. They help keep our students and staff safe and act as mentors and guides for those that need it.
From left to right in the photo:
Officer Shawn Luse, Officer Mike Lyons, Officer Brett Hanlon, Officer Frank Gaus, and Officer Scott Rossman.

On Wednesday - Sept. 10, the high school and Jr. high cross country teams will be hosting their only home meet this season! The meet will be held at Governor's Park beginning at 4:00 - and they want you to Pack the Park! We hope to see you there!

Please enjoy the first Friday Coffee Break newsletter of the 2025-26 school year! What can you find in this newsletter?

-Articles about all parts of the district.
-Athletics Scorecard - last week's varsity scores and the upcoming week's home event schedule.
-2 spotlights - one of a district employee and one about a Class of 2026 student.
-Seasonal Literature📚
-Event Calendar - Building events occurring all over the district for student, staff, and community knowledge.
-Local Town Photography

Hope that you enjoy it! Have a great weekend!

At the High School, the Raider Revolution student team hosted Kick-Off Assemblies to welcome students to the new school year. They reviewed our school-wide expectations: Respect All Individuals, Demonstrate Excellence, Responsibility, and Safety. Members also visited all 9th grade homerooms to help with daily tasks and to create a smooth transition to high school.

The Bellefonte Area School District is hosting another round of Walk-in Interviews! If you are interested in being hired as a Custodian, Cafeteria Worker, or Paraeducator - we want you! Please share with others who could also be interested! No experience is needed. Will help with job application and will train.

Walk-in interviews will be held at Central Office building located at 318 N. Allegheny Street in Bellefonte. The first one is scheduled for September 10th.

At BAMS this past week, Miss Waite’s Spanish 1 students played a Get To Know You Game with Cognates, some repeat vocab from 7th grade, and a small glossary in which they were using Spanish throughout the game. Depending on which space they landed on, they would individually answer a question or the entire group would have to answer! The students had a blast and it was amazing that they were so willing and receptive to using the target language this early in the year! Miss Waite is so excited for the rest of the year and to see how much they will grow in the language!

The Bellefonte Area School District is hiring!

Listed below are some of the highlighted positions:
1. Utility Assistant Positions - BAHS, Benner Elementary, Marion-Walker Elementary
2. Intervention Paraeducator - Bellefonte Elementary and Pleasant Gap Elementary
3. Health Room Assistant - District Wide
4. Mechanic - BAHS
5. Weekend Custodian - District Wide

There are many more listed on our website, which can be viewed here:
https://bellefonte.schoolspring.com/
Please share with family and friends - a fully employed school district is what our children deserve!

Photos of kindergarten students at Bellefonte Elementary, using their Chromebooks for the first time!

There is a School Board Meeting tonight at 7:00PM at the Bellefonte Area Middle School cafeteria. The public is welcome to attend the meeting!

The next meeting will occur on Tuesday, September 16, 2025.

The fall sports season is in full swing! All of our athletics have been meeting regularly since or before the middle of August and have been participating in competitions for at least over a week now.

Attached is a preview of each of the teams and a look at what each team has done to prepare for this season and some of their goals as the weeks move along.

Have a great weekend, everyone!