Plan Would Reconfigure, Close Penn Hills Schools
Posted on: Friday, 9 May 2008, 00:00 CDT
By Tony LaRussa
A consultant is recommending that the Penn Hills School District close half of its elementary schools and reconfigure the high and middle schools so they are more efficient operations.
A short-term plan outlined by a representative of The Education Management Group could begin with the start of the 2008-09 school year.
The plan recommends that Washington and either Forbes or Shenandoah elementary schools be used for pupils in kindergarten through second grade, with Penn Hebron handling students in second through fourth grades. Currently, all of the district's grade schools are kindergarten through fifth grade.
Dible Elementary would temporarily be used for ninth-graders, who attend Linton Middle School. Linton would be used for grades five through eight and the high school would remain a 10th- through 12th- grade building. William Penn Elementary and either Forbes or Shenandoah would be closed.
A long-range plan, which takes into account the possible construction of new buildings to replace the district's aging facilities, would result in:
Two primary elementary schools for kindergarten through second grade, each with about 450 students.
An intermediate elementary school for grades three and four with 900 students.
A middle school with 1,700 pupils in grades five through eight.
A high school with 1,800 students in grades nine through 12.
Donald Boyer, a consultant with The Education Management Group, said the district could save about $1.3 million the first year, which he called a "conservative" estimate.
Spending in the district has exceeded income in each of the past six years, including one year -- 2005-06 -- in which the district was over budget by nearly $5.3 million, according to a financial analysis conducted by Boyer's company.
The amount of money that can be saved hinges on whether the district scraps all or part of its vocational education program and sends the students to the Forbes Road Career and Technology Center in Monroeville.
(c) 2008 Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
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