Few Show Up To Closing Hearings For 6 Bristol Twp. Schools

State-mandated Act 34 closing hearings for six Bristol Township Elementary Schools took place Monday evening.

At the closing hearings for Ralph Waldo Emerson, Clara Barton, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, James Buchanan and John Fitch elementary schools, only a few people filed statements and asked questions on the  proposed closings. The large auditorium where the hearings were held only had about eight residents in attendance.

New 1,300-student schools at the sites of Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School on Mill Creek Road and James Buchanan Elementary School on Haines Road are expected to open in September. The new building at the Mary Devine Elementary School site in Croydon is expected to open in September 2016. The timeline was confirmed by district officials Monday night.

The schools, called by some opponents previously as “mega schools,” were called “regional” elementary schools by School Board President Angela Nober.

The school board will have to vote in the future on whether to officially close the six elementary schools.

Currently, the district is getting assistance from the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority and input from the public on what to do with elementary schools that are closed. Several options have been mentioned but no plan is set in stone. If buildings are sold, the district hopes to use that funding, officials have said.

The new state-of-the-art schools are expected to save the cash-strapped district more than $1 million a year once the nine former elementary buildings are closed.