BUTLER TWP — The building consolidation plan of the Butler School District will not be a simple task if the school board approves it next month.

Five elementary schools would close and grades would be reconfigured at all 10 of the remaining buildings in the district before the next school year.

However, district and building administrators have been working on transition plans since February in anticipation of the plan being approved.

While school officials have discussed the potential for consolidation over several years, the plan to close several schools and reconfigure grades was not presented to the public until October.The district has faced increased pension and health care costs for several years and a decline in student enrollment. Enrollment has gone from a high of 12,000 students to 7,000 students now over many years.Educational programs and teaching positions have been cut in the past five years to curb rising costs, yet the district would still face a projected $5.2 million deficit in a $102 million budget next school year with consolidation plans in place, said Debbie Brandstetter, business manager.In a presentation at the school board meeting Wednesday, she said the consolidation would save money over time, but not immediately. She estimated a $1.5 million savings with consolidation, including incoming money from a proposed district-run alternative school at the Center Avenue Elementary building.One-time improvement costs for the consolidation next school year would amount to $2.2 million, including $1.9 million in technology improvements as well as setup costs at Center Avenue.Jon Thomas of Thomas and Williamson Program Management had initially quoted a potential $3.5 million savings with the consolidation plan.An estimated nine teachers would be furloughed under the plan, along with eight part-time custodial staff, four crossing guards, three health technicians and several food service staff. Other positions would be eliminated through attrition.However, several positions would be added, including two librarians, two language teachers at the proposed middle school, a gym teacher, and several staff members for the proposed alternative school at Center Avenue.Critics of the plan have argued that closing five of the district's 11 elementary schools and reconfiguring grades at primary and secondary levels over the summer is too quick and too drastic.Most of the school board members said Wednesday that they support the consolidation plan, but Bill Halle and John Conrad said they want more time.Conrad said Wednesday that the board should listen more to parents' concerns. He made the situation analogous to buying a vehicle.“I think our customers want to go slower in respect to consolidation,” he said. “Our customers are the parents … We need to give the customers what they want. They have a choice” on where to send their children to school.

Broad Street, Center Avenue, Clearfield, Meridian and Oakland elementary schools would close if the board approves the plan. The remaining elementary schools would become kindergarten through fourth grade buildings.The intermediate high school would house seventh through ninth grade students, and the high school would house 10th, 11th and 12th graders.A middle school for fifth and sixth graders has been proposed at the current junior high building downtown, and the role of that building has been particularly emphasized at community meetings.Jason Huffman and Josh Hundertmark would be the principals at that school. Huffman is a principal at the junior high school, and Hundertmark is principal at Connoquenessing Elementary School.Twenty-one fifth grade and 22 sixth grade classrooms are anticipated in that building. Using a “school within a school” approach will help make the school feel more intimate, they said, while also improving STEAM education, which stands for science, technology, engineering, art and math.Craig Wetzel, a junior high school teacher, would spearhead that curriculum. Hands-on problem solving is at the core of the curriculum, he said earlier this week.“At the fifth grade level, we plan to introduce students to basic concepts and processes of problem solving and design, along with the foundational skills needed to work with these various tools, technology and the media that, in the end, will be applied inside and outside of the classroom. There is a focus that will include the design process, computer skills and programming,” he said.“In the sixth grade STEAM program, concepts covered in fifth grade will be enhanced in advanced lessons on problem solving while applying tools and technologies such as 3D printers, computer programming and robotics.”Meanwhile, at the high school, Jeff Schnur, principal, said there will be benefits to bringing sophomores now at the intermediate high school over to the high school. Particularly, there will be more opportunities for those students to attend Butler vo-tech and to take advanced classes.The high school also will switch to an eight-period class day from a seven-period class day if the consolidation plan is approved.At the elementary level, class sizes will be more consistent, technology will have a greater emphasis, and other enrichment-based classes will have more dedicated time, said Jeff Mathieson, principal at Emily Brittain Elementary School.Many of those programs have been trimmed over the past few years to save money.“We are spreading our art, music, gym, library services thinner and thinner so that staff members can travel to all of the buildings. We've shaved time off those services. ...“With the consolidation, we can give that time back to those areas. And we can give time back to technology education at the elementary level, which right now, has been taken away, again, from trying to be fiscally responsible,” Mathieson said.On technology, he added: “We are trying to educate them for a world we don't even know yet. We can't educate them for the world that we live in. We have to educate them for the world that's coming.“And the world that is coming we know is going to be technologically driven, and yet, we don't have that in their hands, and I think that's a shame.”In addition to those proposed changes, there are expansion plans in other areas.

Converting Center Avenue Elementary into an alternative school with two distinct, specialized programs is in the consolidation planThose programs would be a kindergarten through 12th grade Emotional Support Program with an initial capacity of 40 students, and a seventh through 12th grade Alternative Education Program with an initial capacity of 60 students.The district could save $1 million on a reduction in Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV educational services and tuition costs. This would occur because many special needs students at Butler now attend the MIU IV-run Clarence Brown School and they could switch and come to the Center Avenue school.Aaron Royhab, supervisor of special education in the district, said Wednesday, “This particular option at Center Avenue School is something we're excited about.”The alternative school also would provide a better learning environment for students who would thrive with more individualized attention and a more structured classroom.“This is a program designed to bring students closer to home in the least restrictive environment,” Royhab said.The school would have sensory rooms and quiet areas, an updated computer lab, updated technology, a family and consumer science classroom with a kitchen, washer and dryer, and a fitness room.Five new full-time special education teachers would be hired for the new Emotional Support Program, plus a new alternative education teacher, a new transition liaison to aid students coming in and out of the school, and six new paraprofessional positions.The board's next meeting is at 7:30 p.m. Monday.Board members will meet May 6 to take a final vote on the building consolidation plan.