HERMITAGE SCHOOLS Plan would consolidate buildings

Eighth-graders will be moved to the high school under the new plan.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA STAFF
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- As the projected enrollment of the Hermitage School District goes down, school board members say they want to consolidate the district's five buildings into two.
The school board outlined its plans to close Hermitage Elementary and Hermitage Middle schools by 2007 and construct an addition that would connect Artman Elementary and Delahunty Middle School. The district would also add a gymnasium and wellness center to Delahunty.
School officials say the $12 million building project will mean no tax increase. The expected savings in utilities, maintenance and staff from closing the two buildings -- about 80,000 square feet -- will pay for the construction project, according to Monique Barber, district business manager.
The project met little resistance from the public after the hourlong presentation, called an Act 34 hearing, a requirement of the state education department for any substantial construction project.
According to school documents, the new construction is expected to start next September and be completed by Dec. 31, 2007.
Where classes will be
The plan calls for keeping kindergarten through third grade at Artman Elementary School. Grades four and five will be housed in the one-story addition that will connect Artman and Delahunty. Sixth- and seventh-graders will be housed in a partly renovated Delahunty Middle School, and the eighth grade will be moved to Hickory High School.
Superintendent Karen Ionta said the eighth-graders will be on the third floor, segregated from the older pupils. She said they will start at a different time and their classes will change at different times to avoid intermingling with the upper grades. The eighth-graders will continue to be bused with the middle-school pupils.
"It will be a school within a school," Ionta said.
Ionta noted that state requirements for home economics, woodworking and other life-skill classes make it cost-prohibitive to keep the eighth-graders at the middle school. Building those types of classrooms in Delahunty would increase construction costs by more than $6 million, she said.
Hickory High School was recently renovated and includes all of those amenities, she noted.
More room projected
Ionta added that the current class sizes in grades kindergarten through eighth average about 150 pupils. In grades nine through 12 the numbers are about 200 in each class. As those larger classes graduate, more space will be available at the high school, she said.
School officials have not determined what they will do with the two buildings that are closing, but Ionta noted that Hermitage Middle School is a prime spot for development, being located on Pa. Route 18.
The district is expected to take out a 20-year loan through the sale of bonds for the construction work.
Parent's concerns
Jim Trontell of Homewood Drive told board members he was not convinced that the district could keep eighth-graders completely separated from the upperclassmen. As a parent of three pupils in the district, he also questioned where the eighth-graders will fit in with athletics and other activities, such as band.
Trontell's mother, Betty Jane, told the board that she supports the district's construction and consolidation plan.
"I think this building here should be demolished," she said of Hermitage Elementary School.
cioffi@vindy.com