Why these 3 Western Pa. districts are closing elementary schools and opening new centers next year

Mindy Golvash always got excited to tell her new third-graders that their Elroy Elementary classroom is the same space where she learned fractions and vocabulary as a fourth-grader.

The kids "love to know," she said.

Golvash has spent the majority of her teaching career there, building memories and traditions with her students. But she's now preparing to say goodbye to the classroom and school that shaped her as a teacher - Brentwood Borough School District officials are closing Elroy and Moore elementaries and opening a new K-5 center this fall.

"I am a little sad," Golvash said. "But I'm just excited for the new experience and air conditioning.

Students and teachers at three Western Pennsylvania districts - Brentwood, Bethel Park and Steel Valley - left their neighborhood elementary schools for the last time this spring and will move into new elementary centers at the start of the 2026-27 school year.

An attendee tours Moore Elementary School during an open house event to commemorate the school's closure Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in Brentwood. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)

Brentwood's new building is at the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh's former St. Sylvester School, which closed in 2019. Bethel Park is closing five elementary schools and moving all K-5 students into a new school near Neil Armstrong Middle School, a 5-6 building that will also shutter. Sixth through eighth graders will be put together at Independence Middle.

And Steel Valley is shuttering two elementary schools, one of which opened before World War I, and moving students to a new building near the high school.

School closures can cause disruptions for kids who have to get used to new buildings, peers, and teachers, said Stanford University educational economist Thomas Dee. The decisions to build new schools around Pittsburgh were a response to aging structures. The new facilities can provide new resources for students and teachers.

Students moving to newly constructed buildings have an opportunity to build a community together, and leadership can create new clubs and extracurricular activities.

That process has largely started locally, as districts introduced students from different elementary schools and hosted professional development sessions to facilitate smooth transitions.

"We're just very proud of how this investment into this building will help our students and our community as we move forward," Steel Valley Assistant Superintendent Brian Plichta said.

Bethel Park

When Bethel Park's youngest students return to school in the fall, they'll walk into a new three-story building that will house nearly 1,800 students from kindergarten through fifth grade.

The $134 million project - which will allow the district to maintain three buildings rather than eight - will have two grades per level. Each floor will also have its own principal, nurse and guidance counselor.

Outside, the district partnered with the Hazelwood-based nonprofit Industrial Arts Workshop to construct welded sculptures for an outdoor classroom.

The school will replace Abraham Lincoln, which opened in 1965; Benjamin Franklin (1956); George Washington (1966); Memorial (1949); and William Penn (1962) elementary schools.

The project will bring together kids from across the 4,000-student district and consolidate resources, said Mandi Figlioli, assistant superintendent for elementary education.

But many are feeling nostalgic for the schools that are closing.

Amanda Mahaffey was sad when she found out her 8-year-old daughter, Scarlett, was going to have to move from Memorial Elementary.

It's where her 12-year-old son, Grayson, spent his entire elementary education. The school closing is "the end of an era," she said.

Still, her daughter is excited for the change. Mahaffey spent the past school year talking to Scarlett about how she'll make new friends and have classes with kids she plays sports with.

The district has also held events to help ease the transition for kids, including overseeing a pen pal program between Washington and Franklin first graders. Parent-teacher organizations from different elementary schools hosted a trampoline park night for students to meet each other.

Farewell nights were also hosted at each of the closing schools. The district declined to comment on the future of those buildings.

Officials are now looking to the fall - the building opens Sept. 1, the first day of school.

"We're just really excited," Figlioli said, "to be able to bring all of the students together in the elementary school and to be able to use our resources in a way that gives equal opportunity to all the students."

Steel Valley

In Steel Valley, leaders hope a new elementary school will help students and the community.

Young learners in the district of just 1,400 students currently attend Park Elementary, built in Munhall in the early 1900s, and Barrett Elementary, constructed in Homestead in 1934.

Given possible renovation costs to bring the schools up-to-date and make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as expansion limitations because of the schools' neighborhood locations, the district chose to build a new school.

On Aug. 31, students will walk into the new $56 million building at the site of the former Franklin Primary School, which was demolished. The two-story building will house 700 K-5 (fifth graders currently attend the middle school, but will move to the elementary next school year).

Kindergarten, first and second grade will occupy the first floor with six classrooms each. That floor will also include two activity centers and nine special education classrooms. The second floor will house third, fourth and fifth graders under a similar setup.

The building will also feature a dedicated STREAM - science, technology, reading, engineering, arts and math - and collaboration spaces.

Those spaces will allow students to focus on interactive learning rather than following old learning demands of memorization and taking tests, said Plichta, the assistant superintendent.

Over the past school year, the district held family transition meetings for parents and staff and hosted events to allow students from different schools to meet each other.

Park will be demolished. The district is looking to repurpose Barrett into an adult education setting or to house pre-K programs. In honor of the schools' last days, staff members from each took photos to remember the buildings, which will be displayed in the new building.

The mosaic, Plichta said, "celebrates our past and celebrates our future, coming together here as Steel Valley Elementary."

Brentwood

Marsha Ihrig Grabowski, of Zelionople, Cindy Joy Rogoff, of Bethel Park, and Susan Murphy Valli, of Mt. Lebanon - who all started kindergarten together at Moore Elementary School in 1962 - talk about changes to the school during an open house event to commemorate the school's closure Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in Brentwood. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)

Vicki McClymont Keller, 66, drove three hours from Middlebourne, W.Va., one day last month to say goodbye to Moore, her former elementary school.

"This was the pinnacle of my life," said Keller, a 1977 Brentwood graduate.

Keller was one of several people who walked through Moore during farewell nights hosted for both elementary schools. She pointed to different classrooms, including a space that used to house the library, now moved to an upper level.

Others, including a group of women who recently reconnected at a class reunion, rehashed old memories and parsed through photos from their school days.

They are sad to see the school go, but excited for the district's future.

District leaders chose to close the schools as the need for renovations at the buildings grew - boilers needed to be replaced - plus, neither building has air conditioning. Elroy was built in 1921, and Moore was already standing when the district was incorporated in 1915.

The new building, which costs $38 million, includes input from teachers who wanted to feel close to nature, given the school's urban setting, Superintendent Amy Burch said. Students helped design the playground, which will be located on the roof, and an outdoor courtyard.

The school is set to open Sept. 8, the first day of school. But the district is discussing the possibility of temporarily reopening Elroy or Moore if they are unable to make that date or opening the new school without access to the gym, which along with the administrative offices may not be ready for the first day.

Students, for the most part, are excited about the change, several teachers said.

Rebecca Wilson, a third grade teacher at Moore who attended Elroy as a student, said that for the most part, kids tend to know each other because the community is small. Because of that, some students are already excited to attend the same school as their friends.

For teachers, she said, it will be harder.

Wilson is sad to see the schools go - Elroy is where she knew she wanted to be an educator after having "tremendous" kindergarten and first grade teachers.

Elroy and Moore, she said, are "all I've ever known."

But she's excited for the next chapter.

"It'll always come back to, remember when this building opened? And I can say I was there when that happened," Wilson said. "I was there when this chapter closed and a new one in Brentwood opened."

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