Board punts on Edgewood decision
It looks like fifthgraders will continue to be taught in Pottstown Middle School for at least the next two school years.
When the time came for a decision on the matter Thursday night, the majority of the Pottstown School Board members present said they are not ready yet.
Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez told the board if it is truly ready to decide to open the former Edgewood Elementary School as a fifth-grade center in the 20202021 school year, the decision
needed to be made Thursday night.
“You can’t tell me in August, because that will be too late,” he said.
But they were not ready to commit to the effort and for the most part, money was the reason.
Battered by complaints about behavior and bullying in the middle school, the board and administration have been bandying about the possibility of opening the former Edgewood Elementary School building as a fifth-grade center as a way to extract the building’s youngest students from the middle school environment.
Edgewood was closed in 2015 and the four remaining elementary schools renovated and expanded, made possible by the decision to move the fifth grade into the middle school, which has the space.
As the bullying complaints mounted — making a media splash in March when shots were fired into a West Street home, allegedly as the result of an ongoing dispute among eighth grade girls — the district offered up several options.
In 2018, one idea floated by School Board member Raymond Rose was yearround school for middle school students, but a district-wide survey found very little community support for the idea.
In it’s place, the administration floated the idea of moving the fifth grade out of the middle school and into the Edgewood building, which is currently occupied by two tenants.
A series of “town hall” type meetings were held and there seemed to be support for the idea, despite its $6.5 million price tag.
Having just passed a budget minutes earlier that night that will raise property taxes by $111 for the average homeowner, it’s not a price the board majority present is ready to pay.
With Vice President Katina Bearden and members Susan Lawrence and Kim Stillwell absent, Rose was the only member present ready to press ahead.
“We’ve talked about it ad nauseam and my instinct is to go ahead with the fifth grade center,” said Rose. “It’s the best option to move forward. We have to think about the good of our students over the money issue.”
Board members John Armato and Bonita Barnhill both said they disagreed with the decision to turn the middle school into a grade 5-8 school when it was made.
Calling it “ill-conceived,” Armato said nevertheless, “it’s what we have now. And given that we still haven’t answered the question of ‘where does the money come from?’ I’m not prepared to say open the doors in 2021.”
Board member Kurt Heidel, who only secured the Republican line in the May 21 primary and said he is a longshot to win reelection in November, said he was unwilling to make a decision that other board members would have to deal with.
“I’m not in favor of moving forward,” said Barnhill. “We just raised taxes 3.3 percent, and the Legislature is not taking action on fair funding. How much more can we strap the public?” she asked.
“I thought it was a bad decision to put them into the middle school, but at this point I can’t see us jumping into another fire,” Barnhill said.
“I can’t believe we’re even considering it,” said board member Thomas Hylton, who first proposed the grade alignment at the middle school as a way to save money and reduce the cost of renovating five elementary schools.
“We just raised taxes to the max,” Hylton said of the budget vote on which he provided the only no vote.