Public hears options for future of district

From the BCCT.

Public hears options for future of district
The least expensive option could be almost half the cost of the most expensive — $100 million for a single elementary school building.
By MANASEE WAGH

Centennial’s six elementary schools could undergo $92.4 million in renovations in a few years.

Or they all might be closed, sold and replaced by a single, $100 million consolidated K-5 school serving more than 2,600 students in Upper Southampton, Warminster and Ivyland.

These are among 13 options presented to the public at a meeting this week of Centennial’s operations committee. At least 70 residents and teachers listened with concerned looks as a consultant presented the plans.

Each strives to save operational costs in the long run, make optimum use of current classrooms and spaces, and provides similar programs for all kindergarten through fifth-grade students, including full-day kindergarten, said board members.

The board has been considering improving the elementary schools for some time. Currently, the existing six schools underutilize space, according to feasibility studies prepared by the architectural design firm Burt Hill. Architect Michael Preston said Centennial could eliminate as many as 64 classrooms through consolidation.

At about 50 years old, existing elementary schools require renovations to bring them up to modern standards.

At the meeting Tuesday, large posters in the Everett McDonald Elementary School auditorium listed the positive and negative aspects of each plan. Options ranged from simply renovating each of the buildings to selling all of them and constructing a single building to house the district’s 2,633 elementary students. For planning purposes, architects are using a 10 percent higher population of 2,896 and a class size of 23.

Some residents opposed shutting down neighborhood schools. Many were skeptical of some options that would split students into different schools by grade.

“I think the ones where they split the kids is ridiculous,” said Patti McGorrey, the parent of two children at William W.H. Davis Elementary in Southampton. She wondered how to drop her kids off at different schools at the same time.

Operations committee and board member Mark Miller praised the idea of a single new building for about $100 million because it would save the district duplicate operational costs and duplicate facilities such as cafeterias and libraries, he said. The single building solution would cut down on the number of administrators and make it easier to provide the same services to all students.

Different grade levels in the building could be kept in separate wings, with common resources in the middle, Preston said.

At $55.6 million, the least expensive choice the board is considering is renovating four elementary schools. No new construction would be needed, and the remaining two schools would be closed and sold. Depending on which schools are closed, the cost to renovate the rest could raise the currently projected cost, architects said.

A sale could generate millions of dollars, though architects didn’t include that revenue in their cost projections. Former school properties could be turned into taxable residential sites, which would produce more income for the district, Preston said.

Each of the options is eligible for a state reimbursement of up to $9 million.

After Burt Hill’s presentation, the operations committee, administration officials and architects addressed dozens of community questions on a range of topics.

Some wondered how bus transportation would change, whether Centennial talked to other districts with similar elementary school designs, and how much money would be saved in the budget after the changes.

Board members said they will look for answers to many of the questions raised as they look more deeply into the options. The operations committee will continue discussions at its next public meeting at 6:30 p.m. on March 18.

Once the full board decides on a single plan, the design and construction process would take two to three years, said Preston.

Details of the 13 options in the Burt Hill study are posted on the district Web site, at www.centennialsd.org.