Space utilization committee recommends closure of Village Park, top-to-bottom elementary redistricting
PENNSBURY – Faced with declining birthrates and enrollments, the district’s Elementary Space Utilization Committee on Thursday night recommended the closure of the Village Park Elementary School in Falls Township beginning with the 2013-14 school year and the redistricting of students at the district’s 10 remaining elementary schools.
A public hearing will be held on the school closing on Jan. 31 inside the Pennsbury High School West auditorium at Queen Anne Drive and South Olds Boulevard in FDiUOHVV HiOOV wiWK DQ RIfiFiDO school board vote scheduled for May 9.
The recommendation comes after several months of extensive investigation by the 25-member committee, made up of representatives from each of the district’s elementary schools, administrators, support staff, community representatives and school board members.
The committee was tasked with the job of developing a space utilization plan for the district and possible consolidation as a way to save “ViJQifiFDQW GROODUV” IRU WKH school district, according to Superintendent Dr. Kevin McHugh.
“No one took this mission lightly. We understand that the decisions we make will affect children in the VFKRROV,” VDiG DGPiQiVWUDWRU Sherwood Taylor, who co- chaired the committee with Michael Blundi.
The committee based its recommendation on declining birthrates, dropping elementary enrollments and a shift in enrollments from the northern part of the district to the southern end, trends that are projected to continue RYHU WKH QHxW fiYH yHDUV.
Birthrates in the district have been on a steady decline since 2005, dropping from 743 in 2005 to 479 in 2011, while enrollment has dipped from 5,174 in 2006 to 4,529 in 2013, according to the committee’s report.
BHyRQG WKH fiYH yHDU SURjection, Taylor said there is no way of knowing or projecting birthrates. “It takes one ice storm, it takes one hurricane and the popula- tion can explode. But we’re YHUy FRQfiGHQW WKDW RuU EiUWKrates are declining and they will continue to decline for WKH QHxW fiYH yHDUV. 7KHUH iV nothing to say that our popu- lation is going to grow in the QHxW fiYH yHDUV. ,W DFWuDOOy wiOO UHPDiQ OHYHO,” KH VDiG.
Even still, committee members said their recommendation is not to sell the EuiOGiQJ, EuW WR “PRWKEDOO” it so that if the need arises it can be reopened.
In selecting a school for closure, the committee only considered buildings that have not undergone major renovations – Edgewood, Village Park and Fallsington.
According to the report, due to capacity size and the QHHG IRU SRWHQWiDO RYHUflRw within the district, Edgewood was not considered a viable option, which left Village Park and Fallsington.
Crucial to the decision, said school board and committee member Gary Sanderson, is the projected capacity
listening of the district’s elementary schools, with 85 percent occupancy being the ideal number.
The closure of Village Park would move the district’s remaining schools closest to that number, at 84 percent.
Conversely, if Fallsington were closed, the report projects capacity at the remaining schools at 81 percent. And if Edgewood were closed, it would be 88 percent.
Sanderson said if everything remained status quo, the district’s elementary schools would be at 77 percent of capacity.
“To me, that is very under utilized. It is not an effec- tive way to run a district. We had to do something to get us close to that 85 percent,” said Sanderson.
Other factors taken into consideration included the current state of the facilities, safety, tangible cost savings, future expenditures, transportation costs, future facility use, layout, performance (test scores, etc.), the potential for redistricting, the year the buildings were built and the number of walkers.
“The challenge that we had here are both schools are very good schools and both are very important to their particular community,” said Sanderson.
The report says that a major factor in the committee’s decision-making was WhH SURMHFWHG fivH yHaU Hxpenditure, with Fallsington estimated at about $4.7 million and Village Park at between $6 million and $6.4 million.
Committee member Mike Sorenson said the commitWHH haG a “ORQJ, GLIfiFuOW, detailed discussion” before reaching its recommendation. “It’s not that we’re picking in any way a bad school. This is picking between two very, very good schools. “
Sorenson added that given the volatility of the enrollment numbers, the committee also recommends redistricting across the school district “to help level out the number differences.”
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the recommendations, school board member Howard Goldberg, who went through the redistricting SURFHVV whHQ hH fiUVW MRLQHG the board, said he’d like to see the redistricting plan in place before a vote is taken to close a school.
“This is not just a Village Park decision. This is an 11 school redistricting. It’s kids from Afton, MakefiHOG, 0aQRU, :aOW DLVQHy. I want the public to understand that,” said Goldberg. “I don’t want the public to think this is just Village Park and then all of a sudden, the day before the vote, 4,000 parents rain down on this building.
“From my point of view, before I vote on this plan … I need to understand the impact to the entire district,” he said.
Goldberg asked that the planned redistricting be laid out months before the May 9 meeting “so that parents throughout the district have a chance to come in and express their concern.”
But McHugh, in response to Goldberg’s timetable, said “there’s no way” a redistricting plan could be ready by March with the detail involved. At the earliest, it would be ready in early May.
“These are very elaborate complex scenarios. We couldn’t do that over the next three or four months. It’s just not feasible,” he said.
McHugh also pointed out that redistricting will be taking place whether a school is closed or not, it’s just a matter of when.
If the decision is made to close Village Park, redistricting would occur at the start of the 2013-14 school year under a 10-school scenario. If a school isn’t closed, redistricting would take place the following year under an 11-school structure.
“We have some buildings being used at 50 percent,” said Taylor. “There are other buildings being used at 85 percent. To be fair and in order to give some of these schools room to grow, we, as a group, decided we would have to redistrict from top to bottom.”
McHugh also noted there are several schools that are slotted to go above 100 percent capacity in the next few years if nothing is done.
The superintendent said the administration plans to move forward with the formation of a redistricting task force by February or March to begin developing scenarios and recommendations under a 10-school scenario.
“If the board in May decides not to close a school, we would stay with our existing structure for next year and we would have time next year to look at redistricting with 11 schools,” said McHugh.
*** To read the committee’s report and minutes from its work sessions, visit www. pennsbury.k12.pa.us > Quick Links > Elementary Enrollment and Space Utilization Committee. The public may also email comments to eesu@pennsbury. k12.pa.us.