ADAMS TWP — MHY Family Services is expected to appeal the Mars School Board’s decision to take 17 acres from the agency, according to Lisa Schiller, executive director.

The school board voted Tuesday to use eminent domain to take the MHY property where the soccer fields are situated on Three Degree Road across from Mars Middle School.

The school board wanted to assure that the land would continue to be used for sports fields and had been negotiating with the home for some time.

“I’m shocked and beyond disappointed in their action,” Schiller said Wednesday.

“I expect the (MHY) board will instruct me to proceed with the court involvement,” Schiller said.

She said the MHY board had been in good-faith discussions with Mars regarding the property, and was discussing a potential asking price for the acreage, although it had not intended to sell.

She said the $780,750 that MHY will be paid by the district is low, but she did not have the figure that her board considered the land to be worth.

“We have remained in faithful discussions with them and this is a major disappointment,” Schiller said.

She said district officials at one point told her they would consider allowing Rex Energy to drill under the district property — which would allow MHY to benefit financially from Rex’s horizontal drilling — if MHY sold the district the land.

“For them to proceed in this way is highly disappointing,” Schiller said.

District solicitor Tom King said at the Tuesday school board meeting that MHY has the right to appeal to Butler County court the taking of the land, but he hoped that would not occur.

At the same Tuesday meeting, the school board approved a resolution to encourage the young residents at MHY Family Services to enroll in the district or to use its sports, clubs and activities.

King said at the meeting that while the residents at MHY can enroll at Mars, only two did so in the last school year because the majority of the residents attend Longmore Academy on the MHY campus.

King said the parents or guardians of the residents decide which school their child will attend.

However, in most cases the students have Individualized Education Plans which prescribe what a particular student needs for an appropriate education. In these cases, the school district — with parent involvement — decides which school the student will attend.

Schiller said regular education students who have been placed in the residential program at MHY by the court system have occasionally attended Mars.

“The Mars Area School District has determined that the majority come to Longmore,” Schiller said.

As for the school board’s resolution, Schiller said the district is required to offer enrollment to MHY residents.

“This is just a restatement of the law anyway,” Schiller said of the district’s resolution.

The resolution includes that:

n The Mars athletic director and administrators will meet with MHY and Longmore Academy officials to complete a joint application to the state school athletic entities so MHY residents can compete in athletics at Mars.

n Student athletic and activity fees will be waived for MHY residents, but the MHY students must participate in fundraising associated with club trips, etc.

n Mars guidance counselors and administrators will provide MHY officials with a list of clubs and activities in the district.

n Mars officials will meet with MHY and Longmore Academy leaders to promote enrollment and attendance at the district.

King said the Mars students in athletic programs should welcome students from MHY.

“We will set up a mentoring program that I know our young athletes at Mars will embrace,” King said.

Mars Superintendent Wesley Shipley said he heartily approves of the resolution.

“It’s an important initiative that we should move forward with,” he said. “It’s been (the subject of) discussions since long before I came here.”

For her part, Schiller said MHY and Longmore Academy have one goal.

“What we want to do is do what’s right for the kids,” she said.