Candidates Ask Neshaminy Board To Halt Consolidation Plan

The current Neshaminy School Board has no plans of stopping the already in motion consolidation plan.

The controversial plan will see Samuel Everitt Elementary School close in June before being leased to the Bucks County Intermediate Unit, construction of a new elementary school in Lower Southampton, renovations to several schools, up to two more school closings down the road and fifth graders moved to the middle schools starting in September. Officials have said the plan is expected to save money over the next two decades.

At Tuesday evening’s school board meeting, several residents and school board candidates who will be on the November ballot asked the current board to halt their plan until the new board is sworn in this December.

“I implore this board … stop what you’re doing … what you’re doing from now until December can be undone,” candidate Robert Sanna, a Levittown resident, said during public comment.

Sanna said if elected, he hopes to reopen Everitt and reverse the plan to move fifth graders to the middle schools.

Candidate Bob Tull, a former board member himself, made a similar request of the board.

Board President Scott Congdon told LevittownNow.com the district will move forward with the plan.

While he wasn’t sure of an exact date, he said work to take down the Tawanka School in Lower Southampton is expected to commence this summer.

Contractors have been awarded bids for the construction of the new school and have begun staffing up for roughly $30-million dollar project.

Congdon said he price tag of stopping the work on the new building would be costly for the district, which would have to break contracts.

Although it would likely be difficult to stop construction of the Tawanka School, a new board could stop the proposed closings of Oliver Heckman and Lower Southampton elementary schools. Also, moving fifth graders back to the elementary schools would not be too difficult to complete.

Despite being approved by the board and getting the go-ahead from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the closure of Everitt is currently awaiting the decision of a judge in Doylestown who held an evidence hearing on Monday.

Candidates Marty Sullivan, Bob Tull, Karen Lowry, Robert Sanna, Staci O’Brien and Robert Feather have all spoken out against the plan.

“I will not ask this board to quit,” candidate Tina Hollenbach told the board.

“Do the right thing,” Middletown resident Charles Alfonso said. “Table everything until November.”