By Solomiya Syvyk
News Editor

Over the summer, Neshaminy’s school board has furthered and adjusted its consolidation plans. As of June, with the help of Reynolds Construction Managers and Spiezle Architectural Group, a probable “Road Map” has been devised and approved. This outline includes the closing of Samuel Everitt Elementary School in Levittown, Oliver Heckman in Middletown and Lower Southampton Elementary in Langhorne.

A 900-student elementary school would be constructed at the Tawanka site in Lower Southampton on Brownsville Rd.This new project would avoid disruption to the students and faculty which was caused years prior during the renovation of the high school. The two-story building would include five hallways with eight classrooms in each, along with a parking lot allowing up to 140 parking spaces.

The approximated cost is about $30 million. Act 39 energy saving improvements would be instated into several schools in the district and middle schools would carry fifth to eighth graders.
From 2009, other plans were proposed although they were disposed of due to complexity, excessive cost and commotion. There are currently historically low bond borrowing rates allowing for the proposal to be placed into effect as soon as approval is gained. At the most recent school board meeting, 35 residents of the Neshaminy district rose and spoke against the plan, emphasizing its flawed organization.

“I think it is important to point out that for any plan to be successful we will need the support of all the stakeholders in this process if and when it is passed. Ultimately this board is focused on the redistribution of resources from buildings into important educational programs like maintaining full day Kindergarten, improved professional development opportunities for our teachers, Technology investments, more college preparatory programs, more STEM education, better support services for children that need extra help, increased investment in early intervention, ongoing facility improvement, and the list goes on,” School Board Member Mark Shubin said. During the second public comment session, more than 35 members of the community vocalized their questions and opinions about the arrangement.

“It is not practical for the school district to consolidate three Elementary schools into one because it will be an inconvenience for many students to attend school on a regular basis at one central location. It needs to be taken into consideration that students live in
different parts of the district,” senior Brian Thomas said.

A main concern was oriented around the impact of changing the environment for the children. “Total this District has spent over eight years of discussion and research, devoted over a hundred and thirty thousand dollar to professional studies, countless committees and meetings, exhaustive discussion by various internal and external professionals whom all came to similar conclusions.; parents generally have much more issues with change than kids. Change can always be difficult, to grow though you must embrace change and see it for the opportunities it can offer rather than the negatives of distraction,” School Board Member Stephen Pirritano said.

Besides the increase of the current yearly debt service from $9.1 million to $9.4 million and budget shortfalls, the school board aimed this project with accordance to efficiently renovate a portion of the district’s schools by creating an appropriate arrangement with the least possible cost to the taxpayers.

“We owe it to those that pay the bills to operate this district as efficiently as possible while providing a superior education for our children,” Pirritano said.