BUTLER TWP — Six or seven elementary schools in the Butler School District would close and the remaining elementary and secondary schools would be reconfigured under recommends made Wednesday night by a school consulting firm.

District officials will consider these recommendations to improve efficiency at the district’s schools.

More than 600 teachers, parents and residents gathered at the intermediate high school auditorium to hear the consolidation plans presented by Thomas and Williamson Program Management of Pittsburg.

Jon Thomas, president of Thomas and Williamson, outline a dozen consolidation options. Out of those, he recommended three with several elementary closures and major grade reconfigurations as the best options.

“I want to make it clear as we go through all of this: I’m not ignoring the secondary schools,” Thomas said.

“We are extremely focused on the elementary schools, even though you’ll see that the secondary schools play a very large part in our recommendations. The biggest challenge we had was dealing with the elementary schools.”

One of the firm’s three recommended plans would shutter seven of the district’s 11 elementary schools: Broad Street, Center Avenue, Clearfield, Emily Brittain, Meridian, Oakland and Summit.

The remaining four elementary schools, Center Township, Connoquenessing, McQuistion and Northwest, would be configured for kindergarten through third grade, with fourth through sixth graders attending the junior high school, seventh, eighth and ninth graders attending the intermediate high school, and sophomores, juniors and seniors attending the high school.

“One of the problems we have with (this option) is that we’re creating some long bus rides,” Thomas said.

The maximum ride would be 68 minutes, which he said is too long.

Many attendees scoffed and booed in response.

However, Thomas said it could equal a cost savings of $5.7 million a year, out of a $100 million budget, and maintain a 90 percent efficiency rate of buildings across the district.

The other two recommended plans keep Summit Elementary open in addition to Center Township, Connoquenessing, McQuistion and Northwest, with the same reconfigurations, and the final recommended plan reconfigured kindergarten through fourth grade at the elementary level at the same five schools, with fifth and sixth graders moving to the junior high building. The splits at grades 7 through 9 and 10 through 12 would remain the same.

While efficiency rates and cost savings are lowered in these options, the bus rides had shorter averages and some students wouldn’t have to travel as far.

Cost savings for these plans varied from $4.7 million to $4.9 million per year, Thomas said. Efficiency rates are 87 to 88 percent for these plans.

To compare, elementary school efficiency rates are now about 55 percent.

Elementary redistricting also was reviewed under these potential plans.

With four elementary schools remaining open, Clearfield, Summit and Center Avenue students could be sent to McQuistion, Oakland and Emily Brittain students could be sent to Center Township, some Meridian students can be sent to Connoquenessing and the remainder of Meridian students, along with Broad Street students, could be sent to Northwest Elementary.

If Summit Elementary remains open, Clearfield Elementary students could go there.

Board members would have to decide by January if any of these schools will be closed by the end of the school year.

Superintendent Dale Lumley said it is too early to determine potential job losses under these school closing plans because the district doesn’t know how many teachers are retiring this school year.

He said, “The board needs to digest this information and your feedback, and then decide what course of action they want to take.”

Lumley told the crowd, “There is a problem with any change we make. There is an obstacle for any change we want to make. What I’m telling you though is, whatever decision the board makes, I trust them to make a good decision. We can overcome those obstacles. As an educational group, teachers and administrators, we will overcome those obstacles to make the best schools and the best system that we can maintain.”

The presentation from the meeting will be available on the school district website, basdk12.org, in the next few days.

Lumley said there may also be an online community survey on the website in the coming weeks where people can list their concerns.

The 12-volume Thomas and Williamson facilities study will be available online and at the district administrative office.

More public consolidation meetings with Thomas are planned for November and December, but have not yet been scheduled.