On Monday Butler School Board members are expected to take a preliminary vote on a consolidation plan that could close several schools and reconfigure grades starting in the fall.

Forty miles south of Butler at the Woodland Hills School District, board members also are expected to do the same thing next week.

Alan Johnson, Woodland Hills superintendent, explained the consolidation process in that district, which has been a long time coming.

“I’m trying to support buildings that were designed to house in excess of 7,000 students, and I’m using them to house 4,000 students. It’s clear and it’s been clear for some time that there was a need to consolidate and look at some closures,” he said.

Regarding the Butler schools, Jon Thomas of Thomas and Williamson Project Management has said that roughly 7,000 Butler students are housed in buildings with a combined capacity of more than 10,000 students.

His consulting firm was hired by the Butler School District to recommend plans to close and consolidate school buildings.

In contrast, Woodland Hills did not hire a consultant.

Improved service

Woodland Hills has five elementary buildings that serve kindergarten through 6th grade; one school serving kindergarten through eighth grade with a lottery-based admission; a junior high serving grades 7th and 8th; and a senior high school for grades 9th to 12th.

Woodland Hills has just one consolidation plan, introduced in September, that would close three of the five of the elementary schools, while reconfiguring remaining buildings to a kindergarten through third grade set up, and a fourth through sixth grade transition.

The Woodland Hills board is expected to vote Wednesday on the plan.

Johnson explained his rationale behind the closures and reconfiguration design, despite concerns of leaving vacant buildings in some neighborhoods.

“We are going to lose some of these neighborhood schools. I understand that hurts,” Johnson said. “But we’re going to be able to provide a much better level of service to you.

“We’re going to be able to offer to you more standard curriculum offerings. We’re going to be able to do more things with the resources we have in this new configuration where we don’t have as many schools.”

Butler’s options

Butler’s board Monday will deliberate on three plans recommended by Thomas:

n A kindergarten through 3rd grade reconfiguration for elementary schools and the closing of six of the 11 elementary schools, Broad Street, Center Avenue, Clearfield, Emily Brittain, Meridian and Oakland, with a $4.3 million annual savings;

n A kindergarten through 4th grade configuration, closing five elementary schools, Broad Street, Center Avenue, Clearfield, Meridian and Oakland, with a $3.5 million annual savings; and

n Maintain the current kindergarten through 6th grade configuration, closing three elementary schools, Broad Street, Center Avenue, and Clearfield, and closing the junior high, with a $2.4 million annual savings.

The kindergarten through 3rd and kindergarten through 4th grade plans would send intermediate elementary students, potentially grades 4th, 5th, and 6th to the current junior high school.

All three plans reconfigure secondary schools the same way: 7th through 9th grades would attend the intermediate high school, and 10th through 12th grades would attend the senior high school, compared to the current 9th to 10th and 11th to 12th setup.

Butler administrators have stressed that by closing schools and reconfiguring grades the district will bring more focus on specific grade levels, more consistency, and better technology to classrooms.

Johnson agreed with that sentiment.

“I would be sympathetic to the school there if they’re look at moving a K to 3, 4 to 6 alignment. I think there’s lots of arguments to be made for that, and I think it makes a lot of sense given the way states measure school accountability these days,” he said.

Population decline, lack of consistency across schools, and increasing costs are cited as contributing factors to consolidation considerations at Butler.

Charter school impact

Woodland Hills has fewer students than in the past in part because of the introduction of charter schools about 10 years ago that drastically dropped student enrollment in the district.

“I have over 1,100 students (living in the Woodland Hills School District) in charter schools. That takes $14 million out of my budget. My budget is only about $80 million, so $14 million out of an $80 million budget is very, very handsome chunk of change,” Johnson said.

He called it “a classic case of white flight,” since Woodland Hills, just east of Pittsburgh, has a diverse population from municipality to municipality.

“Basically, what the charter schools have done, in my view, they’ve allowed schools to become resegregated,” Johnson said.

“We’ve reversed Brown versus Board of Education through the charter school act because most of the white parents put their kids in charters and African American parents have their kids in the public schools.”

At Butler, the student enrollment decline that includes students leaving and going to cyber charter schools has contributed to officials considering consolidation plans. Last school year, Butler lost about $1.8 million from its $100 million budget due to students going to cyber charter schools.

But some Butler parents and board members have also addressed socioeconomic consequences of closing schools.

Bill Halle, a Butler board member, said the closure of city schools will affect parents who may not have cars and so may not have a way to actively participate in their child’s education if that child goes to a school that is farther away.

Johnson pointed out it is important to consider the gravity of changes, and he has a message for Butler board members and administrators:

“You have a duty to do the right thing for the school district,” he said.

“The board and the superintendent of Butler all have to look at this from the standpoint, not of the politics of it, and not how I keep my job security, but really, is this the right thing to do for Butler School District for the next 50 years, and if it costs my position, am I willing to accept that because it’s the right thing to do.

“If you’re not willing to say that, you may want to reconsider what you’re doing.”