Neshaminy board moves toward decision on school closures Posted: Tuesday, August 26, 2014 11:00 pm | Updated: 2:48 am, Wed Aug 27, 2014. Neshaminy board moves toward decision on school closures By MICHAEL MACAGNONE STAFF WRITER Bucks County Courier Times After a presentation on energy efficiency, Neshaminy School District is moving closer to a final decision on its school consolidation plan. Tuesday night, the school board heard from Reynolds Energy Services, the district’s contractor for energy efficient renovations, who said that the three schools slated for closure — Everitt Elementary School in Levittown, Lower Southampton Elementary School and Oliver Heckman Elementary School in Langhorne — were too costly to renovate under an energy efficiency statute. Richard Evans, Reynolds’ president, said the projects could hit a threshold requiring major updates to those buildings — adding to the cost. “The numbers come in lower than previous estimates, but all three are pretty well into the major renovation category,” he said. Evans said the plan is also on track to put in lower-cost renovations at three schools: Herbert Hoover Elementary School and the Carl Sandburg Middle School complex with Albert Schweitzer Elementary School. In addition to the renovations at the schools and the closures, the plan also would move the Intermediate Unit from Tawanka Middle School to Everitt and build a school on the Tawanka site for 900 elementary school students by September 2016. The board voted down a proposal from board member Ron Rudy that would have the district look at adding an addition and renovating Oliver Heckman Elementary School at what he said would be $10 million less than the cost of building a new school, rather than closing it. “I think that gives us more options,” he said. “If we can bring it down to $20 million, that is $10 million saved.” However, the majority of the board disagreed, voting down his proposal, 7-2. “Are we going to go back to analysis on this, after seven years of thinking?” asked Board member Mark Shubin, before he and six other members of the board voted down Rudy’s proposal. Board member Stephen Pirritano said the district will schedule a hearing on the plan in the fall, and will have to have a motion at an upcoming meeting to advertise the hearing. Members of the public have also repeatedly asked for a referendum on the plan, including Ed Kern a former member of the citizen committee that advised on a previous school closure plan. “This is not the way to go forward with a plan that will cost $50 million,” he said. “This needs to go to a referendum. If it truly represents the interests and needs of the community they will vote it in.” The board also drew criticism from members of the Neshaminy Education Support Professionals Association for turning to the Student Transportation Association to hire a Fleet Maintanance Supervisor, a management position overseeing bus maintenance. The union and the district are in negotiations over a new contract, and STA is a possible contractor for outsourcing of the support staff positions.
Posted on: Wed, 27 Aug 2014 16:54:53 +0000
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