New consolidation options arise

By Kate Malongowski Eagle Staff Writer

December 13, 2014 Last Updated: December 13, 2014 11:31 AM Local News

Plans will be listed Monday

BUTLER TWP — A few new school consolidation options will be unveiled at the Butler School District's meeting Monday night.

One new plan would keep one of the city's three elementary schools open, and another would keep the kindergarten to sixth grade elementary school model intact.

Dale Lumley, superintendent, said the options are based on community feedback that school officials received.

He said, “The goal would be in that meeting on Monday to present three potential plans, have the board ask questions, and get reaction from the audience members.”

Lumley said Jon Thomas with the Thomas and Williamson consultant firm of Pittsburgh has been revising one of the plans that would leave one of the city elementary schools open, most likely Emily Brittain.

Thomas has crafted another plan that would keep the elementary schools kindergarten to sixth grade, based on meetings with Butler Residents for Quality Schools group.

The district hired Thomas and Williamson to draft recommendations about how to make the 14 school buildings more efficient as a way to save money.

The buildings have an average occupancy rate of 55 percent.

In October, Thomas recommended three consolidation plans to the school board, which included closing six or seven of the district's 11 elementary schools and reconfiguring grades into a kindergarten through 3 or 4, 4 to 5 through 6, 7 through 9 and 10 through 12 model.

Those plans include closing all three of the city's elementary schools: Broad Street, Center Avenue and Emily Brittain.

Lumley has said board members will not vote on a consolidation plan yet. That likely will occur in January or February, and the closings would take effect next fall. A final vote to approve any closures likely will be in May.

Each of the three recommended consolidation plans would close the Broad Street, Center Avenue, Clearfield, Emily Brittain, Meridian and Oakland elementary schools, while one plan also would close Summit.

Two plans move fourth, fifth and sixth graders to the junior high school, while one would keep fourth graders at the elementary school level.

Under each plan seventh, eighth and ninth graders would attend the intermediate high school and sophomores, juniors and seniors would attend the high school.

Residents have expressed several concerns with the consolidation plans, including class sizes, long bus rides and repurposing the junior high building downtown for elementary-age students. Also, parents, business and community leaders have expressed concerns about the potential impact of three vacant elementary school buildings in the city.

The meeting on Monday also will include the results of a district survey from the public about the closing plans and anonymous comments from principals regarding the plans.

At the Nov. 24 consolidation meeting, administrators reviewed a number of reasons why school closings are needed. Debbie Brandstetter, business manager, reviewed district cost trends over the past several years.

As an example, she said a statewide issue is the escalating cost of the Pennsylvania School Employees' Retirement System. State subsidies only cover about half of the cost.

In the 2009-10 school year, the district paid $931,897 to the retirement fund. It paid more than $3.9 million this school year, and the district is projected to pay more than $6.4 million by the 2018-19 school year.

Costs are going up with retirements, pensions and money paid to cyber charter programs, while the percentage of state reimbursements and other funds, like for new textbooks, have been going down over the past five years.

Mary Wolf, assistant superintendent of elementary schools, said splitting the grades from a kindergarten to grade 6 model into primary schools of kindergarten through 3 or 4 grades and intermediate centers schools of 4 or 5 through 6 grades will be good for consistency and equity.

“You have some elementary buildings where you walk in, and the computers boot up and run, ready to go. You have other buildings where you walk in, the computers are turned on, and — 20 minutes later, they're ready to go,” Wolf said. “Is that equitable?”

Technology, enrollment and curriculum all vary from school to school, and she said there's not much that can be done to equalize that under the current community school system.

Some classes have as few as 12 students while others are teetering at 30 students. Fewer schools grouped together would provide equality by allowing more classes to hit the optimum class size of about 18 to 19 students.

“When you have 11 buildings, and you have 11 different ways of doing things, it can cause 11 major issues,” Wolf said.

There would be benefits at the secondary level, too.

Brian Slamecka, assistant superintendent of secondary schools, said more sophomores could have the option to enter the Butler County Vocational-Technical School if that grade moves to the senior high school building.

More joint efforts among teachers, more Advanced Placement courses, and a consistent class schedule with longer breaks in between classes are all improvements that can be made with intermediate and senior high school adjustments.

Currently, the junior, intermediate and senior high schools run on different class schedules, making it difficult to work between schools.