District invites residents to discuss facilities

South’s needs will likely affect the district as a whole. Presented options include building a new school, renovating/upgrading the existing building, or closing South and redistricting students in a variety of different ways. No decision has been made yet with regard to any of the options.

Participants are invited to register in advance to attend the Nov. 28 meeting: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RN6K5DL A separate registration link will be provided for the Dec. 11 meeting.

Initially, the district had planned to select a small group of residents to serve on a steering committee that would help further evaluate each of the options. But an overwhelming response from the community led to a change in the approach.

“Following a survey link that we sent, we received nearly 300 responses from people interested in serving on the steering committee. We could see no fair way to narrow down the pool of applicants to a much smaller group, so we are inviting anyone who is interested to attend the first two scheduled Community Facilities Committee meetings. These meetings will be work sessions where we will convene and collaborate for the purpose of addressing the issues and preparing recommendations,” said Superintendent Dr. Barbara Russell. “I look forward to engaging with our residents in this purposeful work in the weeks to come.”

During the community committee meetings, participants will be invited to work in small groups to identify the educational values they want the district to uphold, and how the various options presented to address South’s needs reflect those values. The intent is to determine how to address South’s facility needs while keeping an eye toward key points, such as providing a safe learning environment, providing equity of experience for all students, maintaining respect for the sense of community that exists at South, and demonstrating fiscal responsibility.

Some of South’s deficiencies came to the forefront at the beginning of this school year, when work was performed to address air quality concerns in several classrooms. The work to improve the air quality prompted questions about how to prevent moisture from getting into the building and led to discussions about the need to replace windows, doors, and carpets.

However, South was built in 1955, whereas most of the other elementary school buildings in the district were built much later (Evergreen in 1996, Skippack in 1998 and Schwenksville in 2003) and are not facing similar facility needs. Other options to address South’s needs began to emerge as the district considered making upgrades to its oldest school, given declining student enrollment.

It will be the work of the Community Facilities Committee to further evaluate each option.

The Facilities Ad Hoc Committee (made up of School Board members and administrators) will then review the information and feedback provided by the committee.

A feasibility study is also being conducted for South by an outside architectural firm and a report is expected in early December. With information from the community meetings and the study, the Ad Hoc Committee will then make a recommendation to the School Board.