Community Meeting To Keep Heckman School Open Draws Crowd

Sometimes he pulls a little boy’s knit cap over his ears on a cold morning. Other times he ties a little girl’s shoe or fixes a book bag.

Langhorne Chief of Police Steve Mawhinney greets the students at Oliver Heckman Elementary School and their parents nearly every morning, lending a hand when needed. He’s the unofficial mascot for the school that serves Langhorne and the northern part of Middletown.

And now, the chief is worried the neighborhood school where he is a common sight might close.

In April, the Neshaminy School Board could vote to close the school that holds a special place for Mawhinney and hundreds of families.

Inside the board room at the Middletown Municipal Complex Monday evening, about 100 community members gathered to talk about ways to fight the potential closure of the 383-student school that sits on 18-acres of land on Cherry Street.

Republican Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, who lives in Middletown’s Levittown section, said he supported Neshaminy slowing down the process and examining the proposed closure of the school. Just last year, Fitzpatrick wrote a letter to the school board when they closed Samuel Everitt Elementary School right around the corner from his home.

“There is no downside to hesitating,” Fitzpatrick said while urging the school board to hold off.

The students at Heckman have been an important part of the community, PTO President and parent Janice Lewis said. She cited the fact that students have donated their efforts and time to improve the area and even set up a food bank.

“It really is a jewel in the community,” said Langhorne-Middletown Fire Company volunteer Craig Hitchen, who has taught Heckman students about fire safety for years. “The students can walk to the fire house or the library all in a short walking distance.”

Langhorne Borough Council member Kathy Horwatt told the crowd that people move to the area just for Heckman, citing a decision her own daughter made once she had children. She said the district closing the school would be “poor planning.”

“We want to see better planning,” she said, asking the district to keep the school open.

Some of the main concerns from those opposed to closing the school are: the lack of a neighborhood school, the distance students would have to travel to their new school and the impact the closure would have on property values.

The district has made the case the school should close as part of a consolidation plan that would save them the millions needed to upgrade the school and regular operating expenses. Nearly all the current Heckman students would likely be redistricted to the new school that is under construction in Lower Southampton.

Langhorne resident Doug Hanisch told Heckman supporters there were four things they could do to help the efforts to keep the school open. He urged taxpayers to write to the school board, speak up at public meetings, put yard signs outside their homes and businesses and donate to the sign and literature “Keep Heckman Open” account at First National Bank of Newtown in Langhorne.

School board members Ron Rudy, Mike Morris and Marty Sullivan were all in attendance at the meeting and spoke with audience members following the gathering.