SUMMIT TWP — Butler School District students who normally would attend Summit Elementary School will start the next school year at Broad Street Elementary, acting superintendent William Pettigrew confirmed today.

Pettigrew said that he expects work connecting the school to the public water system run by Pennsylvania American Water to be finished in time for the district's August start date. But he believes it's prudent to keep students at Broad Street while the district follows up on post-construction tests and line-flushing at Summit.

Pettigrew said he's recommended the district conduct lead and copper tests on the school's water after it is connected to the public supply, as a “precautionary measure.”

“We'd be quite foolish not to,” he said. “It's a no-brainer to do that.”

Those tests and the potential for unforeseen delays with construction to extend an 8-inch water line from the school to the intersection of Bonniebrook and Brinker roads made Pettigrew wary of approving a summer move back into Summit Elementary. If construction does fall behind schedule, he said, that would require teachers to pack up and move back to Broad Street.

“I've got everybody there (at Broad Street), and I hate to have them move two more times,” he said. “It would be a total inconvenience to the parents of Summit school, and it would be disruptive educationally.

Pettigrew said a timetable for moving students back into the school hasn't been set, but he anticipates it will occur sometime in September.

“We're doing this to keep the educational process going in a positive way,” he said. “We don't want to have another disruption.”