The Neshaminy School District’s Facilities and Ad Hoc Committee recommended Wednesday night to close Walter Miller Elementary School in Levittown and make the middle schools fifth through eight grade buildings.
The full school board will now hold a special meeting on Monday at 7 p.m. inside the district headquarters to vote whether to authorize legal advertisement of a public hearing to gather testimony on the proposed school closing.
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Board members said this week that the process to close a school has to go into motion now so the 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,” board member Steve Pirritano said on Tuesday.
District officials said closing the school would save the district between $680,000 and $800,000 a year. They added the district is not currently looking sell the Miller building if closing plans come through.
Students from Miller would be sent to Samuel Everett Elementary School in Levittown. In order to give administration more time to plan, a full redistricting would come later.
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The recommendation to move fifth-graders to the district’s three middle school will benefit the kids, school board president Scott Congdon said. He added the better physical education facilities, a departmental teaching structure and science labs will help students move their education forward.
The first of two state-mandated meetings in order to close a school will take place in mid-March, according to Pirritano. The first meeting will allow the district to enter evidence on their choice into the record. A three-month period of public review of the evidence will then follow. A final state-required Act 34 hearing will take place in June and then the final decision on the school will then be made by the school board.
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“It’s hard to close a school and no one wants to do it,” board member Anthony Sposato, who voted to recommend closing Miller, said. “I’m taking a lot of hit for my position.”
Sposato, Levittown resident, went on to say he felt closing Miller was the best choice.
District Superintendent Dr. Robert Copeland said savings from the school closing are expected to help maintain programs that may be threatened due to budgetary issues.
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Pirritano said he hopes to “reinvest” the savings in the students.
The committee came to their decision after weeks reviewing data about the district and it’s schools’ usage. Overall, there are hundreds of empty seats at across the district’s elementary and middle schools.
