District consolidation plan hinges on sale of Gateway Middle School building

Moss Side Middle School in Gateway District could be closed by the 2019-20 school year and a new school built in its place — but that is contingent on selling the district’s other middleschool — Gateway Middle.

Superintendent William Short presented a couple of scenarios for consolidation during a June 14 buildings and grounds committee meeting, “This is all hypothetical,” Mr.Short said.

Mr. Short stressed that “nothing will change” for the 2018-19 school year. Declining enrollment and aging facilities have forced the district to look closely at consolidation.

“Almost every school district in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania hasseen a dramatic decline in enrollment,” Mr. Short said. “Families are not having multiple children, thus enrollmentin schools is declining.”

The superintendent said the scenario involving the closure of Moss Side Middle, which is about 60 years old, is contingent on the sale of the Gateway Middle School property, which has been on the market for severalmonths.

The district has not received any formal offers on the property. If an offer is received and the property is sold, the funds would go toward building a new school.

Mr. Short said if the school board accepts an offer on the Gateway Middle property, Moss Side Middle would close and the configuration of the district for the 2019-20 school year would change. Four elementary schools would become kindergarten through fifth-grade; Gateway Middle would house sixth through eighth grade and the high school would remain the same with grades nine through 12.

In that scenario, Moss Side would be demolished and a new school would be built for the2019-20 school year.

The four elementary schools — Ramsey, Cleveland Steward, University Park and Evergreen— house kindergarten through fourth grade. Fifth- and sixth-graders currently attend Moss Side and seventh-and eighth-graders attend Gateway Middle.

Mr. Short said district enrollment has declined greatly since the 1980s, when ninth grade was moved to the high school. At that time, about 2,400 students attended Gateway HighSchool and district enrollment stood at nearly 8,000 students. This year, the high school has an enrollment of 1,060 students and district enrollmentis about 3,200.

Int he1980s, when Moss Side was known as Monroeville South Junior High and Gateway Middle known as Monroeville North Junior High, each school had an enrollment of 1,200 students in grades seven through nine. Now, Gateway Middle has 490 students and MossSide510.

“We are at a crossroads as a district,” Mr. Short said, with two facilities operating at about 50 percent of capacity. “It’s not fair to the taxpayer to continue to operate two middle schools .”

Mr. Short said if this scenario plays out, savings in the first fiscal year could amount to more than $1 million.

The superintendent also presented another scenario of what could happen if the district does not find a buyer for GatewayMiddle.

Hesaid if that is the case, the district could consider doing a feasibility study to determine the best use for the middle schools for the 2019-20 school year — which still could involve closing one of the schools.

Mr. Short said he is asking the board to commit to a decision by December.