Connellsville Area School District administration outlines possible school closing plan
Rebecca Devereaux|蘑菇视频
Connellsville Area School District board of directors held a public hearing Tuesday night regarding the closing of four elementary schools.
Rebecca Devereaux|蘑菇视频
Connellsville South Side Elementary School teacher Maryann Hensel voices her concerns regarding specific elementary schools in the Connellsville School District, to the Connellsville Area School District Board of School Directors during a public hearing on Tuesday held at Connellsville High School.
Connellsville Area School District Superintendent Phillip Martell presents information regarding the furture of Connellsville school district to those in attendence of the public hearing at Connellsville High School on Tuesday.
Connellsville Area School District teachers and residents were in attendance of the public hearing held at Connellsville High School Tuesday evening. Kelly Reynolds, a fourth-grade teacher at one of the four closing elementary schools in the area, Connellsville Township Elementary School, listens for the future of the district during the public hearing.
Director of Athletics and Transportation at Connellsville Area School District, Richard Evans explains to those in attendance the future plans regarding transportation of students during the public hearing Tuesday night.
CONNELLSVILLE 鈥� School district administrators outlined a plan to close four elementary schools in a mandated hearing Tuesday.
About 40 people attended the second of three hearings the district has scheduled to meet the Pennsylvania School Code requirement that school boards conduct hearings at least 90 days before voting to close schools.
A possible scenario involves closing Dunbar Borough Elementary School and sending those students to Dunbar Township Elementary School; closing Clifford N. Pritts Elementary School and sending those students to Springfield Township Elementary School; closing South Side Elementary and sending those students to West Crawford Elementary; and closing Connellsville Township Elementary and sending those students to Bullskin Township Elementary.
Projected elementary enrollment for the 2017-18 school year is 964 students in kindergarten through second grade and 1,012 students in grades 3-5. The average number of students in each class in kindergarten through second grade would be 22.41 and the average class size in grades 3-5 would be 23.5.
A PowerPoint presentation that detailed the number of students and staff and changes in busing that would be impacted by the consolidation would be posted on the district website today, said Superintendent Phillip Martell.
鈥淩ightsizing isn鈥檛 a negative term,鈥� Martell said.
The district doesn鈥檛 need the eight elementary schools it currently operates due to declining enrollment, he said during the presentation.
Curriculum is fragmented and not aligned to state standards, and class sizes vary widely from as small as 15 to as large as 31, Martell said.
The district produces low scores on some state performance assessments, he said.
Consolidating schools would balance class sizes, help ensure all the schools have access to the same learning materials and the same level of instruction, said David McDonald, assistant to the superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
Personalized learning opportunities, collaboration with secondary schools, more technology and expanded science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs also would be another result, McDonald said.
Martell said the district has started preparing to open the Connellsville Area Early Childhood Learning Center pre-school program for the 2018-19 school year.聽
He said more special education services would be available in each building after the consolidation.
Maryann Hensel, an 18-year teacher at South Side Elementary and a district resident, said the school is in poor condition and it should be repaired or closed.
鈥淲e feel our students have been left out,鈥� Hensel said.
The next hearing is scheduled for Dunbar Borough Elementary School at 7 p.m. Dec. 12.