Education
Does Lancaster need a new K-3 school? Part 1
By Lee Chowaniec
Feb 22, 2006, 00:53

At the recent Lancaster School Board meeting, the Primary Attendance Area Review Committee (PAAR) presented a report that favored the building of a new Kindergarten through Grade 3 (K-3) school to combat future growing pains. The “build” option was favored over six other considerations.

The PAAR committee comprised of school administrators, teachers and residents met five times in the last three months to consider addressing the potential need of more space to combat future town growth.

The 24 member PAAR committee reviewed the merits of several options and ranked them as follows (weighted voting number precedes considered option):

131 – Build new building
122 – Build additions on three K-3 schools
77 – Redistrict only
52 – Do nothing, except assign new developments to schools with most space
49 – Make K-5 buildings; make LMS a K-5 building; make WSS a 6-8 building
38 – Redraw district lines
35 – Lease closed parochial buildings

In addition to recommending the building of a new school that would house 450 students, PAAR also recommended the closing of the district’s smallest K-3 school, Central Avenue School, and moving the current Central Avenue administrative offices to the nearby Central Avenue School.

When making the PAAR presentation to the School Board, Committee spokesperson Dr. Gerry Glose stated, “This is a proactive approach to the problem. We did this to address a balanced distribution of students in the district’s current or proposed kindergarten through third grade elementary buildings.”

Glose, the retired Frontier school superintendent who worked with the committee as a consultant, said they were commissioned to do the study by the board and quickly pointed out that the recommendation is just that and the final decision is up to the board. He added, “Right now it not broken, but over the long haul something will have to be done. It’s a huge decision to make on your part.”

According the Glose, Lancaster expects elementary school enrollment to grow by about 200 pupils in the next five years. The new school would house up to 450 pupils. The district’s architect estimated the cost of a new school building at $8 million to $10 million. The state would reimburse 72 percent of the cost.

The option to build additions to three elementary schools was ranked a close second and would cost half as much. The 24-member group favored building a new school.

The majority of the board seemed to favor the new build option as well. School Board member Kenneth Graber declared, "We have a legal and moral responsibility to the children, and I’m not sure if taxes should come to the forefront.”

School Board member Lorraine Bona declared that the recommendation would be feasible if state aid is possible considering we would be closing a school. Glose declared he thought getting state aid was very likely as Lancaster is an anomaly in that it is one district that is growing.

School Board member Marie MacKay voiced concerns that the timing didn’t seem appropriate considering current class sizes and the controversy that would ensue as to who would and who would not be going to the new school. “Many parents won’t support this,” said MacKay.

Superintendent Thomas Markle interjected that the planning was in the “premature” stage. “The community has asked us to look at this problem,” stated Markle. “We don’t expect the board to move forward on this without time passing, enrollment increasing and developments throughout the town being developed.”

NEXT: Statistics indicate no build options are warranted






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