Shame on school board

On Oct. 3, the Centre Daily Times had an article about “Lemont and Houserville schools being announced as National Blue Ribbon Schools last week.” “There were 342 elementary schools recognized. In Pennsylvania, 11 elementary schools made the list.”

It strikes me as very ironic that these schools are slated for a whole new configuration, combining them to make a much larger school, at a cost of $19 million. It seems to me that the important thing is not the buildings but the teachers and the program. Renovations and upgrades would be much less expensive, although the SCASD says it’s OK since they are getting a big state grant to pay for the changes. It’s our tax money, whether it comes from local, state or federal taxes.

Smaller, neighborhood schools, within walking or biking distance, where all the children in a family who are in kindergarten to fifth grade are in the same building, where there are two separate PTAs and many costs of busing are eliminated, make lots of sense. The parents of the students at Corl Street school realized this importance and fought to keep their neighborhood school. They won that battle, Lemont and Houserville lost. Shame on our school board for short-sighted thinking.

Maybe when the Lemont school is sold, the new owners will realize the historic value of the building and will get it registered in the National Historic Registry, now that it is old enough to be included. It needs to be recognized as a Works Progress project.

This story was originally published October 14, 2017 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Shame on school board."