School proposals reviewed
BUTLER TWP — Butler School Board members Wednesday night had the opportunity to discuss potential district consolidation plans with existing plans reviewed and alternative plans discussed.
More than 400 residents attended the meeting at the Intermediate High School auditorium.
Thomas & Williamson Program Management on Oct. 15 recommended three consolidation plans, which included closing six or seven of the 11 elementary schools and reconfiguring grades into a K through 3 or 4, 4 to 5 through 6, 7 through 9 and 10 through 12 model.
Board member Neil Convery said he's wearing multiple hats when mulling over the consolidation decision.
“I have a fifth grader and a third grader, so I'm looking at this not only from the position I have here on the school board, but also as a parent who will be immediately effected by these changes,” he said.
“As I looked at the recommendations we had, I prefer the idea of K through 4 staying together.”
Board President Don Pringle said he also favors the K through 4 plan over the other plans. That plan would keep Center Township, Connoquenessing, McQuistion, Northwest and Summit elementary schools open.
Other school board members emphasized that they haven't made up their minds yet and are open to suggestions during the process.
“I don't have a specific plan in mind, but I do have some criteria which will help me make a decision here, regardless of the configuration that is selected,” said Al Vavro. “I'm concerned about the quality of the education. I don't want to just keep it the same. I want it to improve.”
He added his biggest concerns would be with staff, curriculum, resources and technology.
“I do think this consolidation is a little more painful and a little larger than it should be,” said Jim Keffalas. “I think some of this should've happened 10 years ago. The decline in enrollment hasn't happened over the last handful of years. It's gone on for many years. And I think going into the future, we should watch enrollment and maybe take smaller consolidation steps rather than a massive one that's before us now.”
School board member Karen Callihan was absent from those discussions.
Jon Thomas of Thomas & Williamson also discussed alternatives that were brought up during the previous special meeting, such as adding full-day kindergarten and closing the junior high school.He also addressed a plan the Butler Residents for Quality Education put together, which was mailed to school board members and community leaders over the weekend.That plan suggests closing the junior high and three elementary schools in different demographic regions. Representatives said there could be as much as a $4 million savings with their plan.Thomas ran the numbers in each geographic cluster highlighted in their proposed plan, hypothetically closing Connoquenessing on the west side of the district, Broad Street in the city, and Clearfield on the east end of the district.“The problem is when you spread out that enrollment. When we look at it as a whole, it looks good. But when we look at it in parts, we have some overloading,” Thomas said. “This, again, is what happens when you have a low number of sections per grade. You're going to run into this kind of problem. It makes it kind of tricky.”He said the Quality Schools plan would have an upfront construction cost of $6.7 million to add classrooms to overloaded schools. Staffing cost reductions would amount to $1.4 million in savings, and total cost reduction would be $2.5 million per year.Kris Paserba, a spokesman for the Quality Schools group, pointed out that redistricting had not been factored into the numbers being presented.“All of those numbers that you are showing there are based on several key assumptions. Redistricting could solve some of the issues,” Paserba said.None of the firm's plans involved redistricting schools, with the exception of Meridian Elementary.Meanwhile, Thomas said closing the junior high would save about $1.1 million per year with $440,000 savings in staffing costs and $642,000 in utilities, supplies and repairs.The junior high building would become an intermediate elementary school in the firm's plans.All-day kindergarten would require $1 million in additional costs under the district's current operations, factoring in bigger classrooms and cafeteria space and more staff.The school board hired Thomas & Williamson last year to recommend how to make more efficient use of the district's schools, which have an average occupancy rate of 55 percent.There are 11 elementary schools among the 14 total buildings in the district.
Superintendent Dale Lumley reviewed cuts and increased costs in the budget over the past five years during his presentation. However, he also laid out various improvements that could be made in the district through consolidation savings.He proposed technological improvements that would account for $2.6 million in the district.“I'd like to see every classroom with the latest technology. Updated computers, interactive whiteboards in every classroom, projectors. Every classroom should be a smart classroom, and we'll have trained teachers,” Lumley said. “Kids respond really well to technology.”Another $1 million in improvements, like adding two playgrounds at the junior high school for $195,000, adding drop ceilings and lighting to that same building for $400,000, and replacing carpeting and sidewalks throughout the district could be done within a year through consolidation savings.With those purchases being one-time costs, it allows for more flexibility in the following school year's budget.Another plan Lumley introduced was to transition one of the closed elementary buildings, with Center Avenue specifically in mind, and make it into a district-run alternative school like Clarence Brown.“Clarence Brown is a very good program, but we would want to match the quality of that program. We could also use that building as an alternative education program. We have a program for at-risk students. It's kind of an after hours program here at the intermediate school,” Lumley said.He continued: “We can house both of those programs at Center Avenue, and in addition to that, continue to have rooms right now for Head Start and Pre K Counts. We believe that could be a very viable program, a way to keep that building in use, if you will, and not putting it on the market.”Doing that could save the district more than $700,000 because of the money the district loses by students leaving the district to attend Clarence Brown.Another Butler School District consolidation meeting is set for 6 p.m. Nov. 24 at the intermediate high school auditorium. A community advisory committee will be involved with discussions, and specific questions and concerns from residents about the consolidation process will be addressed.School board members need to decide on a plan by January for it to be implemented in the next school year.
