The Butler School District’s consolidation overall went smoothly, but there are some areas where officials know the district must improve, including student busing and the availability of technology.

The consolidation, which was approved by the school board in May 2015, reconfigured the elementary schools to house kindergarten to fourth grade rather than up to sixth grade.

The fifth and sixth grade students now attend the new middle school in the previous junior high school downtown.

The intermediate high school houses seventh to ninth grade students, and students in 10th to 12th grade attend the high school.

Five elementary schools were closed, with Center Avenue reopening as an alternative and special needs school, leaving Broad Street, Clearfield, Meridian and Oakland elementary schools permanently closed.

[naviga:h3]Busing changes[/naviga:h3]

The most significant challenge was busing students efficiently with so many redistricting changes, Superintendent Dale Lumley said. This was particularly difficult at the middle school since all fifth and sixth graders had to be bused to one building from all over the district’s 150 square miles.

“I would say the biggest challenge is probably the middle school, those fifth sixth grades ... trying to shorten those routes up,” Lumley said. “It was new routes for everyone, drivers included ... but that’s the area we know we need to continue to improve on.”

While the targeted bus ride length was 45 minutes, some runs are over that, reaching close to an hour, Lumley said.

The students who attend the middle and secondary schools can have longer bus rides because their buses must run to the ends of the district. However, students in the outskirt areas of the district, like Clearfield and Oakland townships, already were used to longer bus rides than other students, Lumley said.

For the new school year, bus routes will be revisited by Debby Croft, the supervisor of transportation. Croft was new to the position this year and is spending the summer looking for ways to reroute buses in a more efficient and cost-effective manner.

“I’m going to concentrate a lot on the middle school runs,” she said. “There were some longer runs that went to the outskirts of the district, and I’m going to try to see if I can get those down.”

This past year, 74 percent of the district’s busing routes were less than 45 minutes. For the coming year, Croft has a goal of reaching 78 percent of runs at that target time.

[naviga:h3]Technology a priority[/naviga:h3]

Another major concern, specifically from the teachers, was the availability of technology and related training, school board President Nina Teff said.

While the consolidation improved technology with an $850,000 update, there are plans to further improve the technologic equity.

This includes a $1.5 million technology budget for the new school year with adding printers and expanding smart boards to all classrooms in kindergarten to third grade.

The wireless network will be upgraded to have improved access to the Internet, according to Bill Raley, director of technology.

This year the district also plans to increase training for teachers regarding new technology, Raley said previously.

[naviga:h3]Better food[/naviga:h3]

Through the parent survey done by the After-Action Review committee, it became clear that regardless of the consolidation food options for students needed to improve, Teff said.

She said there was unhappiness over how many food options students had and their nutritional values.

In June, the board outsourced its food service management to the Nutrition Group, a company based out of Irwin.

For Teff, that is a step in the right direction to providing healthy but satisfying options for students at all grade levels.

[naviga:h3]Communication needed[/naviga:h3]

From the parent perspective, there is a desire for improved communications, according to Jill Aaron, the president of the Parent Teacher Organization at the middle school.

“We had some issues with communication just because you’re going from a smaller school to a bigger school,” Aaron said.

Mary Wolf, assistant superintendent of elementary education, said the administration was aware of that need and plans to improve communications districtwide in the fall.

One example of faulty communication was that the district did not realize how long some bus routes would take so some parents had unrealistic expectations about bus travel.

Now, the district can provide more accurate information to parents, especially about students in outlying areas of the district who are affected by longer rides.

The principals and teachers at the middle school have made a website to help parents with event planning and procedures at the school, according to Wolf. In the future, the district will have parent-specific events like Back-to-School Night and Curriculum Night in September, she said.

[naviga:h3]Social, cultural changes[/naviga:h3]

The district is working on the cultural and social shifts throughout the district, said Brian Slamecka, assistant superintendent of secondary education.

“At the senior high school, some of (the concern) is just the culture shift, the change that occurred,” Slamecka said.

Because the 10th grade students now are in the same school with the 11th and 12th graders, there are changes in maturity levels that students and staff had to adjust to.

This shift also occurred in the elementary schools that took students in from other schools.

Wolf highlighted Center Township as one school where the culture and social environment changed since that school accepted new students from Broad Street and Oakland.

“The transition went smoothly, but we’ve recognized that we need to continue to work on providing professional development for our teachers and staff in addressing the needs of a variety of learners.”

That includes teaching staff how to teach students of various socioeconomic backgrounds in one classroom.

The changes to the social environment might be the most difficult to adjust to, and Slamecka predicts that it is something the district will continue to adapt to in the coming year.

“I think ultimately, it’s just dealing with change,” Slamecka said. “ ... Change isn’t easy, and it’s hard to work through some of that.”

“Change is very difficult,” Wolf said. “Change is a process.”

For Lumley, the success of the consolidation hopefully will make the community more comfortable, knowing the district will work to address issues.

“Now that we’ve done (consolidation), I hope we’ve alleviated a lot of the fears,” Lumley said. “I think the fear factor or the concerns they’ve had, we’ve tried to address them.”

While the configuration at different grade levels has changed, the mission of the district has not, according to Tom DeGeorge, the president of the Butler Education Association.

“I understand that it’s a change, but I would tell people that the process is still the same,” he said. “It’s still about the connection between the students and the teachers ... that hasn’t changed.”