The Neshaminy School District is considering a plan to build a new elementary school.
Several years after closing some schools, renovating others, and building a new elementary school in Lower Southampton Township, the school board is considering a plan to build a new roughly 115,000-square-foot kindergarten through fourth grade building next to Maple Point Middle School on Langhorne-Yardley Road, which also houses the district administration offices.
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District officials said the new school would hold 800 to 900 students and feature a modern two-story design on the side of the existing middle school.
The proposed new school was presented to the Middletown Township Planning Commission earlier this fall, but it has not gone through the township’s full land development process.
During a recent update, district officials said construction on the new school, if it is approved, could begin as soon as spring 2022 and be completed by the start of the 2023-2024 school year.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
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The new school is projected to cost between $34.6 million and $43.3 million. The district would have to borrow funds to construct the building.
The new school would replace Pearl S. Buck Elementary School on Top Road in Middletown Township’s Levittown section.
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The district expects the enrollment to rise from 8,991 to 9,625 by the 2025-2026 school year, according to a study done by Statistical Forecasting LLC.
School Board President Stephen Pirritano has said in meetings this year that the new school would more evenly distribute buildings through the district.
Pearl S. Buck, which sits on 13 acres of land, was opened in 1968 and has received no major renovations, according to information provided at a 2014 school board meeting. The only other district school not renovated since opening was Oliver Heckman Elementary School on the Langhorne Borough and Middletown Township border. Heckman was closed in 2016 and has sat vacant since.
Credit: Neshaminy School District
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The district has also examined a fallback plan of expansion and renovation of the aging Pearl S. Buck.
Aside from the 287-acre Neshaminy High School property, Maple Point Middle School sits on the district’s second-largest site. The property totals 85 acres, according to district data.
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Pirritano and other board members have mentioned at meetings earlier this year that the new building and upgrades to facilities would save the district facility upkeep funds that can be invested in education.
The school board will hold an Act 34 hearing to present the plan and solicit feedback from the community on Thursday, December 2 at 7 p.m. at the auditorium at Maple Point Middle School.
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