By Ashley Reiss
Staff Writer

As news spread about the proposed closing of Walter Miller Elementary School, parents and community members alike were prepared to voice their opinion.                                    

A meeting held at Maple Point Middle School in front of the school board was the deciding vote to continue on in a long and uphill battle to see if Walter Miller is the right school to close.

However, the battle was halted on March 10 when a meeting was held by the Ad Hoc committee on the present topic of Walter Miller where parents were forced to stand in the back and the meeting room was anything but empty. Possibly closing the elementary school according to the Ad Hoc Committee vote, is losing steam and giving parents a chance to take a breather. The vote was 3-0 to recommend to the school board at the March 17 public hearing that the proposed school closure be denied.

The results likely mean that Walter Miller Elementary School will not be closed come time for school again in the fall of 2014. The committee also voted on the idea of the fifth graders moving to the Neshaminy middle schools be further evaluated and analyzed.

A potential school closure is not off the table; Pirritano said at the meeting, it is still a possibility for the future. Superintendent Robert Copeland also expressed his opinion by saying he “rather not rush” into either plan.

The Ad Hoc committee which consists of three members, looked at the previous recommendation of the citizens panel to try and close Samuel Everett and looked at their  reasons, “which were pretty much valid,” Stephen Pirritano school board member and Ad Hoc Committee member said.

The results of the school board’s vote was eight to one to plow ahead with the legal advertisement of public hearings, which purpose is to gather testimony on the closing of the school.

“The Ad Hoc committee recommended Miller, now the discussion process and the deliberation process is going to go forward and the school board as a whole which is nine members versus three members in the Ad Hoc committee will consider that recommendation based upon all the evidence that we collect plus our administrations recommendation, then they will have to make a decision if it’s the right choice or not. Just because we recommended Miller does not mean that it’s the right choice,” Pirritano said.

The closing of Walter Miller is not the only issue; the school board has also proposed moving 5th graders to the middle schools making the format 5th grade to 8th grade. They got this idea from originally putting the 5th graders in a separate wing that connects the middle school and elementary schools.
 
“Miller is a wonderful school and community. I’m certain no principal would welcome the closing of his or her school. I also realize that NSD faces challenging decisions which affect the academic and social development of our students as well as resident tax payers. This is a highly complex decision for our board with input from our entire community,” Walter Miller Principal Paul Mahoney said through an email.

Granted, the next steps in the long process is school closure hearings; the first one is an initial school closure hearing where the school district will present its evidence and the district must provide certain criteria. There will also be a chance for the public to express their opinions. “So this is a long process it’s not something that is done overnight and there’s a lot of process that the state makes you follow and do it properly,” Pirritano said.