Neshaminy Board To Vote On Closing Two Schools Tuesday Evening

The Neshaminy School Board will make two big decisions during a special meeting Tuesday evening.

The school board is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at the Maple Point Middle School in Middletown to discuss and vote on whether to close Oliver Heckman Elementary School in Langhorne and Lower Southampton Elementary School.

While few have voiced opposition to closing Lower Southampton, taxpayers have packed recent meetings to protest the possible closure of Heckman, which is the only elementary school in Middletown’s northern end and sits on Cherry Street right in walkable Langhorne.

Heckman sits on 18 acres of land and makes use of several portable classrooms. Since its construction in the 1960s, the building has not undergone a major renovation and updates are needed, officials have said.

Closing Heckman and Lower Southampton are proposed as part of a mutli-year effort to consolidate and upgrade elementary schools in Neshaminy. The end goal is to save money on operations costs. Last year, Samuel Everitt Elementary School in Levittown was closed and was leased to the Bucks County Intermediate Unit. A new 800-student school is currently under construction at the old Tawanka School site on Brownsville Road in Lower Southampton. The new school is expected to open by the start of the 2016-2017 school year.

Parents, community members and Langhorne officials have provided arguments on why the district should spare Heckman. Location, the vibrant school community and transportation of students to other Neshaminy elementary schools have all been used as arguments against closing the building. 

The vocal proponents of the plan have acknowledged the attachment to the local elementary school but urged Heckman supporters to think of the financial upside to students if there were more money for educational programs.

Click here to see Neshaminy’s current “road map” of the district.