Many in Community Not On Board with Neshaminy Consolidation

Community support to block the proposed Neshaminy School District elementary school consolidation plan appears to be growing.

Angie Manning, a Middletown resident and New Jersey school teacher, said last week that a petition urging the school board to put the $50 million plan up for referendum has over 300 signatures.

Ed Kern, a Levittown resident and former teacher and administrator, told LevittownNow.com that community interest in stopping the proposed plan has grown in recent weeks.

Manning and Kern are among several residents leading the push against the plan.

The district is currently looking at a plan that will close Samuel Everitt, Oliver Heckman and Lower Southampton elementary schools in favor of a $35 million “super” school at the Tawanka site, which could house 1,200 students. A large addition to Pearl S. Buck Elementary School in Middletown and needed renovations to the remaining buildings would round out the $50 million project. If the plan goes forward, redistricting would be necessary.

Some residents in the school district have gone door-to-door in recent weeks to collect signatures for the petition. Also, over 100 signs have been ordered to support the effort.

Click here to see the petition

Manning and Kern both served on a citizens advisory committee that review the proposal in 2012. The duo were only two on the taxpayer committee who voted against the proposal.

While Manning says she is not opposed to entire plan, but she has concerns about closing Heckman, which leaves the northern part of the district without an elementary school.

In a conversation with LevittownNow.com last week, Kern shared concerns over new larger “super” schools.

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“I’m a firm believer in neighborhood elementary schools,” said Kern, who came up through the neighborhood elementary schools in Levittown. “Keeping the neighborhood schools open is the right thing to do.”

Residents at past community discussions on the proposed consolidation have voiced concerns about transportation and what the schools would be used for once they are empty.

District officials said over time the consolidation would save the district, which recently ended a five-year labor dispute with the teachers’ union, cash. Declining enrollment has also been pointed to as a driving force behind consolidation.

Kern said he fears the project will end up costing more than is budgeted. He said he feels the money could be better spent updating the current elementary schools.

The schools set for closure were based on data gathered and a consultants reporter prepared several years ago by architectural firm McKissick Associates. Both Manning and Kern said the district needs a second professional opinion, aside from the reporter prepared by McKissick Associates.

“This is not a done deal,” Webb told community members in May. He said the issue would be discussed at board meetings and in separate public hearings.

Organizers behind the petition say they plan to continue the fight to let the voters decide what is best for the district.

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