Woodland Hills Board Votes to Close School
Posted on: Saturday, 5 July 2008, 00:00 CDT
By Brian Bowling
The Woodland Hills School Board in split votes Thursday evening closed East Junior High School for at least one year and passed a budget for the 2008-09 school year with no increase in the property tax rate.
In a 5-4 vote -- with Robert Clanagan, Colleen Filiak, Randy Lott, Cynthia Lowery and Marilyn Messina in the majority -- the board decided to move students at East Junior High in Turtle Creek to West Junior High in Swissvale. East has about 270 students, and the combined student body at West will total about 700.
In an identical vote, the board approved an $85.7 million budget which keeps the property tax rate at 24.65 mills.
Board member Robert Tomasic said that because the district has a new superintendent, William Calinger, it should give him a year to come up with a facility plan for the district.
The original motion was to close East Junior High, but the board agreed to modify it to "move the students" for a year so that Calinger could reopen the school if he believes it is necessary.
Even with that concession, Tomasic and board members Regis Driscoll, William Driscoll and Fred Kuhn voted against both measures.
Tomasic has advocated changing the district's three primary and three intermediate schools into K-6 elementary schools. The primaries are K-3 and the intermediates are 4-6.
Most of the students for each of the elementary schools would be within walking distance, so the district could save about $1 million in transportation costs, Tomasic said.
Messina, the board president, said board members haven't seen any figures to back up his claim.
Lott said the board had to close the school in order to achieve a balanced budget, which is required by state law.
"I know that we can balance the budget without closing that (school)," Tomasic said.
A budget deal Gov. Ed Rendell struck with legislative leaders earlier this week would save the district about $500,000 in teacher pension contributions, said business manager Joyce Sullivan. Lott said that savings is one reason the district can pass a budget without a property tax increase.
Opponents of a merger of the junior high schools argued the move would increase conflicts because it would combine students from different communities.
Messina said the same arguments were made when Woodland Hills was created by merging five school districts in the 1980s.
Children can adjust to the changes, she said, "it's the adults who can't do that."
(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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