Pennsbury says 'no' to Morrisville kids

From buckslocalnews.com

Pennsbury says 'no' to Morrisville kids
Pennsbury School District rejected taking Morrisville high school students.
By Petra Chesner Schlatter Posted on Wed, Feb 4, 2009

Morrisville School District is searching for another school district to take its high school students on a tuition basis.When asked to comment on the issue, Elizabeth Yonson, superintendent of Morrisville School District, deferred the question to Morrisville Borough Council Solicitor Mike Fitzpatrick and School Board President Bill Hellman. Neither could be reached for comment.

Pennsbury CEO Paul Long said "the Pennsbury solicitor, Michael Kristofco, has recently communicated with the Morrisville solicitor on this topic.

"Also, the Pennsbury School Board and administration are aware of the difficulties that the Borough of Morrisville School District face," Long said. "However, as far as I know there are not any official initiatives or proposals to consider at this time."

Greg Lucidi, president of the Pennsbury School Board, responded via e-mail on Jan. 27 about Morrisville's invitation for Pennsbury to accept the borough's 9th-to 12th-graders.

"Morrisville is in an extremely difficult situation and I really wish we could help, but Pennsbury is not in the position to absorb 300 additional students at our high school," Lucidi responded.

The Pennsbury High School campus has room for 3,414 students and is approaching that limit with roughly 3,400 students currently enrolled.

"I really do not believe this idea is feasible at Pennsbury," he continued. "We have our own set of problems and issues and we are working very hard to solve them. We simply cannot add to our list of challenges right now."

The question is whether Pennsbury facilities can handle the additional students. Space constraints are a concern, according to the school board president.

"Prior to the addition and renovations at Pennsbury High School West, we were experiencing space problems," Lucidi explained. "We added to the school and our student population now fits comfortably in the space available.

"Adding 300 students to the school would in my opinion cause us to be right back where we were before the additional space was added," he wrote.

When asked whether the issue should go to voter referendum, Lucidi said, "Unfortunately, we cannot use voter referendum to make our decisions for us. We were elected by the public to make and enforce school policy.

"We do take public comments into consideration when making decisions, but ultimately it's based upon what we believe to be in the best interests of both our students and our taxpayers," he maintained.

"If our state representatives want to get involved in this issue, they should work directly with Morrisville to help them solve their problems instead of shifting the burden to neighboring districts," he wrote.

The cost to educate a secondary-level student in Pennsbury School District is $12,011. In Morrisville, it is $14,215.