Transportation and busing were top concerns for parents at a Broad Street Elementary community meeting Monday evening at the school.

About 80 parents and residents attended the second in a series of five meetings that Butler School District officials are hosting before school board members take a final vote in May on a district consolidation plan.

Dale Lumley, superintendent, said transportation issues occur at every school, not just at Broad Street.

“There are parents that don’t have vehicles or don’t have transportation, and here, especially, over the years you’ve probably built a network of people that help you, and that’s what we’d expect you’d have in emergencies,” he said.

The proposed district plan would close five elementary schools and reconfigure grades after this school year ends.

Broad Street, along with Center Avenue, Clearfield, Meridian and Oakland elementary schools, would close in proposed consolidation plans. The remaining elementary schools would become kindergarten through fourth grade buildings, and fifth and sixth graders would attend a middle school together.

Under the proposal, 80 percent of Broad Street students would attend Center Township while 20 percent would attend Emily Brittain.

For parents to get to Center Township about four miles away from Broad Street, Lumley said there would be shuttles during major events.

“We can help some of the parents get out to Center Township,” he said. “We’ll try to help out with that as much as we can.”

Building administrators each talked about features of the schools.

Roger Snodgrass, Center Township principal, talked about students who promote safety on buses.

“We do have safety patrols on the bus, since this will be the first time that many of your children are riding the bus,” he said.

Select fifth and sixth graders are in those roles, Snodgrass said, but he can see fourth graders doing the same job if the elementary schools are reconfigured to kindergarten through fourth grade next year.

Jeff Mathieson, Emily Brittain principal, also talked about features of that school. He will become principal at Center Township next school year because Snodgrass is retiring.

Meanwhile, Jason Huffman, junior high assistant principal, and Josh Hundertmark, Connoquenessing Elementary principal, reiterated points about the proposed fifth and sixth grade elementary building that were discussed a week ago at the Center Avenue School community meeting.

Huffman and Hundertmark would become principals at the middle school building, which is now the junior high school, if preliminary consolidation plans are approved.

Classrooms there will be separated into pods, with three or four classrooms near one another for easy switching among them.

Special classes, like art and music, might be a longer walk, but teachers will always be with students. Also, technology and an elementary school atmosphere would be emphasized.

Hundertmark said students will not be separated by elementary school at the middle school, but by ability.

“The kids need to be blended together. That’s how we want to do that,” he said. “We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure they find old friends but most importantly, that they make new ones as well.”

Many parents also were concerned about what’s going to happen to displaced teachers. In the most recent estimates, about six teachers would be furloughed in proposed consolidation plans.

Lumley said, “There’s contract language with how teachers are displaced, will be replaced or reassigned. We’re working with the union to do that slowly and accurately. I don’t want to violate any language in the contract.

“I would like to see teachers following students to those buildings, and I’ll be working in my own way in trying to ensure that happens.”

The consolidation plans in total are estimated to save $3.5 million.

MEETINGS SLATED

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Informational meetings are being held at each of the five Butler School District elementary schools expected to close at the end of the school year. The remaining meetings will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on these dates:

• Clearfield — March 23

• Meridian — March 30

• Oakland — April 6

They will include information from principals and a discussion for parents to ask about plans for the new school year.