Communities grapple with needs, expenses

By The Daily Item

March 24, 2008 11:26 am

— FREEBURG — Lisa Neff was among many residents in this tight-knit community who feared losing the heart of the neighborhood when Freeburg-Washington Elementary School closed.
“There was a loss when the school closed. The school was the hub of Freeburg,” said Neff, a parent of four children who attended Freeburg-Washington school.
Today, 10 years after the two-story brick school house was shut down, it’s been converted into a community center and still thrives as a main gathering place for residents to play basketball, host parties and organizations such as the Girl Scouts.
“We were fortunate the building was sold and that it still is the hub of the community,” Neff said.
The debate raging now in the Danville Area School District is similar to discussions that have occurred in several area districts, including Selinsgrove.
School directors in the Line Mountain School District recently ended a long and emotional debate when school directors voted to renovate community elementary schools. The Milton Area School District has retained community elementary schools through the years, but shifting populations could put the building issue back on the school board’s agenda.

Consolidation in Selinsgrove
Selinsgrove Area School District has closed four neighborhood schools in the past 25 years, beginning with the Shamokin Dam Elementary school off Eighth Avenue in 1983.
Three more elementary schools followed in 1997, Chapman-Union School off Routes 11-15 near Port Trevorton; the former Monroe Township school building on a site now occupied by the Pet Smart store; and Freeburg-Washington school.
Only the closure of the Freeburg school prompted an outcry since it was the only true neighborhood school, said Elementary School Principal Lorinda Krause, who was also a parent of children attending Monroe Township elementary school when the closures occurred.
Unlike the Freeburg school, the other buildings lacked the close-knit neighborhood atmosphere primarily because students couldn’t walk to the schools located along a busy road.
“Monroe Township was a lovely little school, but I wasn’t that concerned about it closing,” Krause said.
Superintendent Frederick Johnson didn’t take over as school leader until 2001, long after the debate was settled, but said money was at the heart of the closures and the voting board felt having all students on the Selinsgrove campus was a more efficient way for the 205 teachers to deliver education to about 2,700 students.
Neff, who’s now employed as a first-grade teacher at Selinsgrove Elementary, said two of her children were still attending the grades K-4 Freeburg-Washington school when it closed in 1997.
“My daughter was in the first-grade and my son was in fourth-grade and I just thought a small, intimate setting where teachers and staff know all the kids was the best,” she said. “It was nice and convenient to send kids out the door to walk to school.”
Neff still prefers a small neighborhood school environment for elementary students, but said there are many advantages to having all the district’s students in a campus environment.
“Kids don’t have to be bused for programs, they can mingle with kids of other ages on the playground and teachers can share ideas with one another,” she said.

Line Mountain retains schools
On the other end of the spectrum, Line Mountain School District ended years of emotional debate in December 2006 when the board voted against consolidation in favor of renovating the three remaining elementary schools in Trevorton, Dalmatia and Leck Kill.
That decision comes at a steep price — about $14.1 million — with Trevorton taking up the biggest chunk at cost of $9.3 million, Dalmatia at $3.4 million and Leck Kill at $1.4 million. Combined, the schools serve more than 600 students.
From a financial standpoint, said Josh Bower, project manager from Crabtree, Rohrbach and Associates Architects of Mechanicsburg, one new elementary school building would be the best option.
He dubbed the $14.1 million renovation price tag as “the bare minimum” and said it would mainly cover mechanical, electrical and security upgrades, roof replacement and flooring replacement and painting only in areas of demolition.
A moderate renovation would run the district $24.7 million, Bower said. This “middle of the road” plan would include the same renovations as the bare-minimum plan, as well as aesthetic upgrades, such as new flooring and ceilings and equipment upgrades.
A brand new school that would have consolidated Trevorton, Dalmatia and Leck Kill elementary schools in kindergarten through sixth grades would cost the district about $19.6 million, Bower said.
That amounts to about $5.5 million more than basic renovations to the schools, but about $5.1 million less than moderate upgrades.
“A new building, in the long run, is going to be more cost effective,” Bower said.
As it is, taxpayers in the Line Mountain School District are likely facing a 5.85 mill tax increase in the coming fiscal year and subsequent tax hikes in the future to help pay not only for renovations to the elementary schools, but also for an expansion at the junior-senior high school. The tax increase will result in an extra $76 tacked on to the average homeowner’s bill.
It’s a price Line Mountain district residents are willing to pay, board president Troy Laudenslager said.
“There’s definitely going to be a lot of people that will struggle,” he said. “People are willing to pay the taxes to keep the local schools.”
Line Mountain’s elementary buildings are old. Trevorton was built in 1901, Leck Kill in 1925 and Dalmatia in 1934. The long history the community has with the schools made consolidation a very emotional discussion, school director David Keim said.
“When it comes to our children it becomes personal real quick,” he said. “If you don’t give all three consideration, you’re not treating it fairly.”
Laudenslager said residents value a small, local school.
“A lot of people that do agree with (keeping the satellite schools open) say it will give a better education in a small school environment. The proponents will say you can get a better education centralizing. It’s just somebody’s feeling. There’s no way to argue one thing against the other,” he said.
Bower said it’s hard to say whether one plan is better than another, but he stressed that districts that decided to keep satellite schools open should be sure to maintain equity at all buildings.
“It’s a challenge,” Bower said. “Boards are making a decision that’s going to last a long time. There needs to be equity at all schools.”

Shifting patterns in Milton
Milton Area School District has kept its three neighborhood elementary schools, but shifts in student population may prompt a public discussion about their fate.
So far, though, they are considered an important facet of the district’s educational planning, according to Superintendent William Clark.
James W. Baugher Elementary School is just outside the borough in Turbot Township; Montandon Elementary School is on the outskirts the village in West Chillisquaque Township, and White Deer Elementary School is in New Columbia, in White Deer Township, Union County.
Clark said the neighborhood buildings give the local communities a sense of ownership of the schools, since children attend classes near their homes.
Deb Mathinos, curriculum coordinator at Milton, said the adults who work in the neighborhood schools “are invested in the educational success of every kid in their school.”
“In the smaller schools, every teacher knows every student by name,” she said. “They make every student feel important.”
On the other hand, Mathinos added, smaller schools can’t always provide supplemental programs every day.
The Montandon and White Deer schools share a guidance counselor, librarian, art, physical education and music teachers. Even the principal travels between the two buildings.
At James Baugher Elementary, she noted, the five second-grade teachers work together to offer a wide variety of teaching styles. That’s much harder when there is only one teacher of a particular grade.
“Collaboration is much more difficult,” Mathinos said.
If changes in student population force a decline in neighborhood schools, Clark concedes the community will have to consider consolidating.
Of course, such a plan would take time and require careful study of teacher, staff and busing requirements, and likely include plenty of emotion from the community.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.