The Neshaminy School District’s Facilities and Ad Hoc Committee will meet Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The committee will likely recommend a school for closure, officials told LevittownNow.com Tuesday.
While the decision to close a school will have to be reviewed and voted on by the school board after a series of public meetings, the ad hoc committee’s recommendation is an important step in the consolidation process.
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The ad hoc committee will meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the board room at the administration offices at Maple Point Middle School in Middletown.
The school board on Tuesday voted to hold a special meeting Monday at 7 p.m. in the district board room. The meeting would likely feature the ad hoc committee’s school closure recommendation. If that happens, the board would vote to authorize legal advertisement of a public hearing to gather testimony on the proposed school closing.
Board member Steve Pirritano and president Scott Congdon both said the process has to go into motion now so the school closing decision can be made by the end of June. If the board voted to close a school after June 25, “effected staff must be paid their yearly wage,” Pirritano said.
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Board member Irene Boyle appeared frustrated and voiced her concerns at Tuesday night’s meeting. The long-serving board member said she wished more warning of the special meeting was given.
Pirritano, who made the motion for the special meeting, said he had just received a draft of the motion from the solicitor Tuesday.
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Plans to consolidate the nearly 9,000-student district have been talked about for years. Those on both sides of the issue have stated their cases, many very passionately.
A previous effort to consolidate the school district was halted last year. Under those plans, Samuel Everitt in Levittown, Oliver Heckman in Langhorne and Lower Southampton in Feasterville were slatted for possible closure. A new, larger school would be built on the site of the former Tawanka school site in Trevose and additions would be made to Pearl Buck Elementary School in Middletown. One of the main reasons cited for that move to scrap the plan was changing finances.
Data has shown that Neshaminy elementary schools have roughly 600 vacant seats throughout the district.
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The Facilities and Ad Hoc Committee will be presented with new demographic information on the district prior to having the chance to make their recommendation.
