Liberty-Valley backers bash principals' new proposal

By Karen Blackledge
The Daily Item

February 25, 2009 05:53 am

— DANVILLE -- If some vocal residents have anything to say about it, consolidation will be back on the Danville school board's agenda soon.
Most of a standing room-only crowd at Tuesday night's directors meeting favored a consolidated elementary over a recent proposal that included converting Liberty-Valley Elementary School into an intermediate center.
"The district needs to make a decision now," said David Connuck, father of two Mahoning-Cooper Elementary School students. "This is only temporary. We need to start fixing it now instead of keeping open three energy-inefficient schools with the costs going to go up and up."
Because of increasing enrollment and no elementary project on the horizon, elementary principals proposed Liberty-Valley become an intermediate center for third- through fifth-grade students and Riverside, Mahoning-Cooper and Danville elementaries be primary centers for kindergarten through second grades.
During the nearly three-hour discussion, one mother said she'd rather pay more taxes to add five teachers and buy two modular classrooms instead of the grade realignment plan.
When board member Dawn Koons-Gill said adding teachers would cost $300,000 and the modulars would cost $80,000, one man replied that an increase in busing for grade realignment might offset that cost.
Chris Huron, who has four children at Liberty-Valley, said the board "needs to lay out clear district goals. The rhetoric has got to stop. At some place, decisions need to be made. There is passion in the audience and real families to consider. You need to map out and make the hard decisions." He received applause as did many of the speakers.
Heather Williams, mother of five, said the grade plan will disturb every child in kindergarten through fifth grade.
"Every child will be disrupted," she said. "I don't know if you can put a cost on it."
President Allan Schappert said the board could make a decision at its March 10 meeting but may not have all the information it needs by that time to make a decision.
Superintendent Susan Bickford said the district's busing plan for the realignment is probably one-quarter complete. Staggering school start times for elementary and secondary students may be an option.
"We don't want the students to travel any longer than they already are traveling," she said. "We feel we can shorten some runs."
Bickford noted that if additional buses are needed, transportation costs are reimbursed by the state.
Phil Amarante, father of Liberty-Valley students, was concered about more traffic in Riverside and that there will be more latchkey kids.
"I believe the taxpayers are willing to foot the burden for the care of the children," he said. Amarante also requested another town hall meeting before the board votes on a plan.
The past five years, Schappert said, the composition of the board has changed, while considering various consolidation plans and keeping neighborhood schools open.
"There is an endless parade of people as soon as it looks as if their bull is going to be gored," he said. "The basic problems are they are reluctant to support individual desires for the greater good and the board's indecision. If you think you're frustrated, we have been dealing with this for years."
"We've taken five years and are back running in circles," director Megan Raup said.
Resident Anthony Conmy, who has a son in kindergarten at Liberty-Valley, urged the board to decide on a long-term plan.
"Our children's education is too damn precious for crisis management every five years," he said.
Resident Dave Betts asked if the borough, state representatives and state senators could get together and find a piece of land to build a consolidated school. "It's not rocket science. You're never going to please everybody," he said.
After Conmy asked about land the state gave the district, Bickford said it the state legislature would have to change the deed restriction for a consolidated school.
"It's extremely complicated," she said. "People have been working on it a long time, and we're still trying to get a decision."
One woman felt the proposals discussed would offer no savings because added buildings will still have to be upgraded.
"You have to make a decision whether to build a new school," she said. "The community wants a stable decision. Taxes will go up no matter what."
Director Barb Boyer said she favored a consolidated school in Riverside while director Gill opposes it because it's near a chemical plant. When someone asked about Liberty-Valley becoming a consolidated school, Boyer said there were sewer issues there.
Dan Feldman, father of five in the district, asked the board "to get a real district with a real campus" and keep up-to-date with other districts.
E-mail comments to kblackledge@thedanvillenews.com

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