LANGHORNE, PA – Neshaminy’s brand new elementary school, newly named Core Creek Elementary, is set to open in January 2025 after Pearl S. Buck decided to close its doors after renovations were determined to be too costly. This midyear move forces students and teachers alike to make major changes to their educational journey.

Pearl S. Buck Elementary School has been educating students since 1968 and has not gone through any upgrades or architectural improvements during its lifetime. Due to the major need for updates to the physical building, Buck will no longer host students after Neshaminy School District’s winter break. Instead, the newly built school, Core Creek Elementary, built on former athletic fields at Maple Point Middle School (MPMS), will open its door to all Buck students. 

Not only will this massively affect students at Pearl S. Buck Elementary, but it will also have a great impact on its teachers. 

Dr. Leanne Raab, a first-grade teacher at Buck, shares her disappointment with the move, stating that not only is the school being lost, but its name gets thrown away as well.

Like all of the other elementary schools in the Neshaminy School District, Pearl S. Buck was named after an important human in history. Buck was an American writer and novelist who was the first American woman to win both a Pulitzer and Nobel Prize. She was an advocate for achieving world peace and cross-cultural understanding. She established agencies in which she dedicated her time to finding stable homes for orphans and other children in need of a family. 

“One part that I held especially dear was our acknowledgment of the greatness of Pearl S. Buck herself,” Raab explained. “Each year, our first-grade class learns about Pearl Buck and we see pictures hanging in the office from the visits that Buck had to the school.”

Removing the aspect of learning in a place that is heavily influenced by a historical figure can also remove the impact that the figure will have on its students and teachers according to Buck teachers.

Although the new building will lack a notable name, it makes up for this with the massive infrastructure improvements that Core Creek Elementary will provide its students and staff.

Lauren Miller, a fourth-grade teacher at Buck, shares her excitement and hope for her students and fellow teachers.

“The Pearl Buck community is absolutely amazing, but the building itself is old and in need of repair,” Miller stated.

This new $51 million school will open up many opportunities for both students and teachers. 

Not only will it have improvements in the HVAC system and energy efficiency, it will also be much larger both by capacity of students and square footage. Core Creek Elementary is expected to hold up to 900 students and, at 119,000 square feet, it will become Neshaminy School District’s largest elementary school. 

After their winter break in January of 2025, students of Buck will make the transfer to this new building with the same students and staff that are with them now. However, in the 2025-2026 school year, Core Creek Elementary will welcome new students and staff members. 

“It is going to be a great opportunity for our kids to meet new people and make new friends,” Miller admitted. 

These new friends will be met in a much more open building. As drivers pass through Woodbourne Road and Langhorne-Yardley Road, Core Creek Elementary will be in clear view.

This is a stark difference from what students and staff at Buck are used to. Buck was located within a neighborhood located in Levittown, Pennsylvania, and is hidden from those who drive by. 

“There is a sense of security in that.” Raab expressed. “That feeling will be different when we move to the new school.”

However, this is not the first time that Neshaminy’s elementary students were expected to switch elementary schools. In 2016, Oliver Heckman and Lower Southampton Elementary students were split up into different schools, one of them being Pearl Buck. 

Preston Christie, a student who transferred from Heckman to Buck in 2016, explained the changes that came from this switch.

“Going to [Buck] was like a whole different process,” Christie voiced. When asked how he felt on the first day of this new school, he responded with, “I was a little bit more embarrassed than usual.” 

Although he may have been a little bit more anxious during the first moments of Buck, the school brought about positive changes in Christie’s life, as he was provided with friends who are still by his side today.

“Pearl Buck truly was a blessing for the social aspect of my childhood years,” Christie confessed.