On March 4 at Salisbury Middle School, the Salisbury Township School District Board of Directors held a special meeting addressing the possible closure of Western Salisbury Elementary School to help the district rectify a deepening budget deficit.

With the closure of one of the district’s two elementary schools, students from the kindergarten through fourth grade classrooms at WSE would integrate into Harry S Truman Elementary School and fifth graders from both sides of the district would transition to Salisbury Middle School.

The meeting started with a presentation on findings about the validity and viability of this path as an option for resolution for current budget issues. The presentation is available online at www.bit.ly/Reconfiguration2020.

District Superintendent Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss was the first to take the podium. He presented the expected timeline that functions within Pennsylvania Department of Education’s current laws and guidelines. After the initial public hearing March 4, there will be a mandatory 90-day period for public comment, opening up regularly scheduled board and committee meetings as forums for stakeholder input.

By June, the board will come to a decision about whether or not to pursue this option and will vote on the measure prior to the 2020-2021 budget adoption. The summer will then be used to finalize logistic details for the closure and adjustment of staff, students and programming, if approved.

Ziegenfuss said the board’s conclusion is a clear, concise and repeatable message, “Based on the administration’s research, moving all elementary school learners to one campus and removing the fixed costs of Western Salisbury Elementary School will strengthen the learning community and provide equitable and enhanced educational opportunities and resources for all learners.”

The proposed school closure and consolidation of students resulted from findings in the 2019 capital improvement plan update study. The study found the facilities in the district are aging and physical spaces no longer align with the Profile of a Graduate developed by the district. Ziegenfuss stressed the allocation of capital and expenditures toward facilities needs to be carefully planned in order to support the district into 2040 and beyond.

The next to present was Associate Superintendent Lynn Fuini-Hetten. She detailed enrollment data, mentioning currently there are 1,594 students enrolled in the district in grades kindergarten through 12 and the number is expected to climb to 1,729 by 2028-2029.

Fuini-Hetten also outlined anticipated class sizes for each grade level both as they currently stand (with both elementary schools open) and with the reconfiguration in place. By increasing the number of grade-level class sections, class sizes would remain very similar, with an increased variance of only a couple of students in most grade levels and in some cases even going down.

District Chief Financial Officer Michael Taylor’s report looked at the costs per student in the district and detailed the financial commitment necessary to keep WSE operational.

Key improvements noted were a new HVAC system (imperative in order to control mold in the building, which has historically been an issue) at $3.5 million, a new roof by 2027 at approximately $1 million and various other renovations at the more than 60-year-old building for a total of $8.5 million. He compared this figure to the cost of building an entirely new facility at approximately $13.5 million. The calculated yearly savings for the district by closing WSE would total about $750,000 offset by a $100,000 increase in transportation costs.

Transportation director Mark Donnelli went over what impacts the reconfiguration would have on bus routes, claiming the longest bus ride for any student would only increase by 10 minutes. This claim drew audible disdain from the audience. In order to accommodate cross-town travel, the proposed start time at HST would be 15 minutes later than it stands now.

The other administrators present spoke optimistically about streamlining learning, sharing resources, greater opportunities for sharing technology, increased collaboration and so forth.

Representatives from HST and SMS also reviewed the physical logistics for adding students to their buildings.

Public comments were limited to two minutes per person to ensure each commentator could be heard. The issue brought many emotional stakeholders to the podium.

Largely, the public was opposed to the reconfiguration. The community voiced worries such as longer bus trips, detriment to the Western Salisbury community, larger class sizes, home values, reduced recess, physical space issues and lack of concern for the students by the school board.

Several commentators mentioned they had trouble receiving requested documentation via the “Right to Know” law and believed the board lacked transparency during this process.

Other attendees disliked the concept of moving fifth graders to the middle school, where parents believed children could be exposed to mature behavior and material during long bus rides and it could cause younger students a great deal of stress to be around the older and more intimidating middle school population.

Several parents of WSE students spoke about studies that cite negative impacts to learning for children whose schools are closed.

HST parent Marianne Kelly has three children in the district, two of which are fourth graders at HST. She mentioned she didn’t have great concern for her children being moved up to middle school in fifth grade, but more so about the physical capacity for HST to house the additional pupils, especially those that need greater assistance in education. “There are currently no unused classrooms. Where will support be housed? Our most vulnerable and fastest growing population – those who need support – will lose. The others will be just fine,” Kelley said.

Chief of Western Salisbury Fire Department Joshua Wells also commented, mentioning he disagrees with several of the options presented for cutting spending, such as outsourcing custodial and kitchen staff and said he felt as though the board presentation was very one-sided. On the proposed busing changes and stated 10-minute travel time increase from the western side of town to HST he said, “I have trouble getting to Harry S Truman in 12 minutes with lights and sirens.”

There was only one positive comment from a parent who spoke about the ways residents could learn from one another by being gathered in one school, the additional support the community could provide and the increased opportunities to play and learn together.

The meeting lasted until close to 11:45 p.m. and all interested attendees were able to give their statements.

“We hear you,” board president George Gatanis said at the close of evening, “I urge you to come to the next meetings before the vote. Thank you for expressing your opinions.”