Danville Area School District

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Danville Area School District is a rural school district found in Montour County, Pennsylvania. It consists of 4 Elementary schools (Liberty Valley Elementary, Danville Elementary, Mahoning Cooper Elementary, and Riverside Elementary), 1 Middle school (Danville Middle School), and 1 High school (Danville High School). Though medium-sized in student population (its only high school is Class AA for athletic purposes), the district is quite large geographically. It covers almost all of Montour County along with Riverside and Rush Township, both of which are in Northumberland County. The district's school colors are Orange and Purple and its mascot is the Ironmen. The other school districts bordering Danville Area are Southern Columbia, Milton Area, Warrior Run, and Shikellamy.

[edit] History

Around the turn of the 20th Century, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania called for special districts acting as their own local government units to run the state's public school system, wheras counties and boroughs had previously been allowed to run schools. In 1900, it commissioned Danville School District. Originally, the district covered only Danville, but it was granted more and more jurisdiction as the state decommissioned surrounding districts. It expanded to cover all but the very northernmost townships of Montour County. Later, with the annexation of South Danville School District, it took up part of Northumberland County as well. In 1957, Danville School District was awarded the designation of "Area" in its name. In 2007, a US News and World Report study rated Danville High School in the top 5% as one of the best public high schools in the United States of America. Danville Area is a very old school district but still more than alive and well. It was commissioned in 1900. For the sake of comparison, neighboring Shikellamy was commissioned in 1958. The Danville Area Class of 2008 has more than 200 members, most of whom will go on to college after Graduation. The class has had 12 highly eventful years. Danville Area has many more meaningful achievements than simply being 58 years older than its neighbor to the south, but this section is a fair summary of the district's history from its formation to the present.