MANDATA - Line Mountain School Board is set to decide the fate of Leck Kill and Dalmatia elementary schools later this month. They would close starting with the 2013-14 school year if a consolidation plan is approved.
It turns out, however, that Leck Kill could close before the 2012-13 school year starts on Aug. 27.
Due to low enrollment and retired or resigning teachers, the board will discuss the option of an immediate closure of Leck Kill at a special meeting 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 23 - four days before school starts - at the junior/senior high school in Mandata, Superintendent Dave Campbell said.
There were only four students enrolled in kindergarten at Leck Kill, but they will be moved to Trevorton, a change already approved. Furthermore, there are 11 students enrolled in third grade, and the Leck Kill teacher for that grade level resigned and moved out of the area.
Also, a fifth-grade teacher at Trevorton retired, and teachers were shuffled around to fill the positions. If the board decides to combine grades next year, some positions may be cut.
"If you hire someone back, then close the building, you have to let them go in a year," Campbell said in a recent interview.
Masser opposed
Region 1 Director Lamont Masser, who represents Herndon, Little Mahanoy Township, Upper Mahanoy Township, Lower Augusta Township and Washington Township, is not only opposed to closing the schools, but also closing Leck Kill a year early.
"I don't think it's right for us to close the school just a day or two before school starts," he said.
Masser, who has been against consolidation because Leck Kill was completely renovated two years ago, said the district can't expect teachers to pack and move their classrooms with such little notice nor expect parents to find new accommodations for their children if schedules change.
"To tell the teachers, students and parents that they're going to a different school, this is not the way to do it, for the sake of the kids and their education," he said.
Moving with one week day and a weekend will not be enough time to have classrooms ready by Aug. 27, he said.
If the school board votes to close both elementary schools, he would much rather see the construction completed so the teachers can move their classrooms in a more orderly fashion, he said.
Hearing in May
In May, a public hearing was held to discuss whether to consolidate the elementary schools in order to save at least $500,000 in operational costs and staff reduction. At the meeting, a petition with 415 signatures was presented to the board in favor of keeping Leck Kill open, and, in January, a petition of 80 signatures was presented in support of a one-campus school system.
According to law, the school board must wait 90 days after the public hearing to close the schools; that vote will come at the special meeting Aug. 23.
Projected enrollment at Leck Kill shows 20 students in first grade, 19 in second, 11 in third and 14 in fourth. At Trevorton, there will be two classes for each grade, with enrollment of 23 and 22 in kindergarten, 23 and 22 in first grade, 20 and 21 in second, 20 in both third-grade classes and 24 in both fourth-grade classes. At Dalmatia, there will be 15 and 16 in kindergarten, 22 in both first-grade groups, 19 in both second-grade classes, 23 in each third-grade classroom and 22 and 23 in fourth grade.
Student shift
The current $5.6 million plan - provided that Leck Kill stays open for the upcoming school year - would close the two schools in the summer before the 2013-14 school year. All students in kindergarten through fourth grade would be sent to Trevorton Elementary School and fifth- and sixth-grade students would join seventh- and eighth-graders at the high school.
A four-classroom addition costing $1.9 million would be built at the northwest corner of Trevorton Elementary School, and a nine-classroom addition costing $3.7 million would be built at the southwest corner of the high school in the seventh- and eighth-grade wing.
The plan has drawn concerned parents and residents to public meetings to criticize the board about sending fifth-grade students to the high school and mixing younger students on buses, among other concerns.
Why the 'rush'?
Cheryl Lesher, of Klingerstown, who had been circulating flyers against the consolidation, has been adamant in saying this is not the time to follow through on these plans.
"I fail to understand why everything has to be a rush. No matter what they do, it's rush, rush, rush. They're going to end up regretting that they did this," she said in a recent interview.
She added, "They have money in their pocket and they feel like they have to spend it."
The board had originally planned to renovate Dalmatia after Leck Kill was finished. By closing the schools and adding onto Trevorton and Mandata, the district would save $90,000 each year in loan payments.
Lesher prefers the three elementary school model, but if anything needs to happen, she wants the school to be centralized at the high school campus.
"It makes the most sense," she said.
Josh Bower, project manager with Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates Architects, will be presenting the bids for the project in September.