Below Is a List of Compiled Questions Received from the Community About the Consolidation

Updated 2/19/2016

Below is a list of compiled questions received from the community about the consolidation of the elementary schools. Although we are certain that this is not an exhaustive list of questions, these are all questions that have been brought to our attention in one form of communication or another. As we receive additional questions, we will add them to the bottom of this list. This list will be updated when questions are brought to our attention and then updated on our website. Please stop back to our website frequently to see if new questions have been added.

Sincerely,

Keith Yarger

Superintendent

1) Busing- How does the consolidations change busing schedules? What is the most time a student would be on a bus?

Bus times will only change by a few minutes. The consolidation will not change the ride times very much at all.

(Updated 2/19/16-For Lack Students, the earliest pick up currently is at 6:30 AM, this will change the earliest pick up to approximately 7:00 AM making the ride time shorter. For students from other elementary schools in the District, the ride times will not be any longer than the ride times that the District currently has in place for students in other locations in the District.)

2) Parking- Looking at the Arial views, it does not appear that there is an abundance of parking available. Where Is the parking accommodations being made for school events?

Parking has and continues to be a problem at our schools. The parking areas for the consolidated schools will be what is required by code for the schools and for the amount of people that will be employed in the schools. With events, as they are now with the schools, parking will continue to be problematic and will need to be as it is now.

(Updated 2/19/16-Part of the job of the architect is to configure the parking for the schools and comply with the parking codes that will be in place for the new buildings.)

3)Parent Pick Up- Where is the Parent Drop off/Pick up location for Fermanagh Students?

Parent Pick Up will be along to older side of the building where the two modular buildings are located now. It does not show that in the prints that are online, but in the prints that the architect brought to one of the board meetings, it showed a separate Parent Pick Up and Drop Off in that location.

4) Playground area- Does the project allow to secure the playground area with fencing for safety issues. Both locations would easily be accessible for strangers etc. I know we don't have a secure fenced playground at any locations but I think that is a safety concern that shouldbe looked into.

Currently, a fenced in playground area is not in the current plans although it may be something that the Board and the Safety Committee of the Board could look at before the final plans would be approved.
5) Teacher/Student Ratio- This community likes the smaller atmosphere. I understand the project shows a scenario of class size. With current enrollment, it showed an average class size of 19-23 per class. Is it possible to increase 1 teacher per grade to help keep the class size down? Which would also allow more time to be given to the students learning ability especially if a student needs a little more assistance.

In looking at the class sizes across the District, this class size is actually right where we are currently and even in many of the schools, a little less than the normal class size. By keeping the classroom sizes below 25 students per class in the elementary school, we are doing what many schools across PA are not able to do at this time. We are really below what many schools have right now in the elementary school at the 19-23 students per class. Also, if we would increase by one more teacher per grade level, we would need to make the western elementary school larger by 6 more classes and the eastern elementary school larger by 7 more classes, making the print of the building larger and increasing the overall design of the buildings by about $6 million. By adding the additional teaching staff, we would also be adding an additional 13 teachers to the budget which would amount to approximately $1 million annually at the low end of the pay scale.

6) What is the total amount of staff, broken down by title? Such as; How many cooks would be employed at Fermanagh, How many Lunch monitors, How many Recess Monitors, janitors etc. Teachers, I understand would depend on student enrollment. How many employees are projected to lose there job?

Looking at the current enrollment of students in our schools, on the western side of the District, we would be looking at an approximate number for the cafeteria of 1 cafeteria staff for every 100 students. For custodians, we would mirror the secondary schools and have one full time custodian during the daytime shift and then in the evening, have 4 part time. Secretarial, we would have one full time. Nurse, we would have one full time. In the eastern elementary, we would have 1 cafeteria staff for every 100 students. For custodians, we would mirror the secondary schools and have one full time custodian during the daytime shift and then in the evening, have 3 part time. Secretarial, we would have one full time. Nurse, we would have one full time.

(2/19/16-This is still going to be looked at by the administration and by the Board to make the consolidation work well)

7) Lunch periods- How many lunch periods would there be? How many students would be in a lunch period? How much time are they given for lunch if the number of students are increasing per lunch period?

This is a planning/scheduling scenario for our elementary principals to work with. The lunch time that the students have will not be shorter than they are now. Students will be given ample time to finish their lunches and socialize.

8) Is there a projected tax increase with this project? If so, what is the increase and will that increase be a one time increase pertaining to his project or split up over a few years etc.

If the Board decides to consolidate, Reynolds has shown the Board that with the consolidation, the project itself through the consolidation will not require a tax increase to complete. This is due to the cost savings of not needing to keep up with the maintenance of all of the elementary buildings that the District has now. It is also due to the loss of some of the District personnel that will be part of the consolidation process. If the Board does not consolidate and decides to keep all of the buildings, there will be a need to raise taxes to keep up with all of the buildings due to the maintenance and repair of all of the buildings and there not being a process of the loss of personnel or loss of maintenance of buildings. This is not saying that there will never need to be a tax increase though, as we all know, the costs of pensions, utilities, transportation, health care, and the cost of live continues to go up over time.

9) Why did the District not look at making the consolidated school on the Eastern side of the District Monroe Elementary instead of Fayette Elementary School?

The reason that Fayette Elementary School was chosen was due to the size of the school already. The Fayette building is already much larger than the Monroe building and therefore would take less new construction to add on to the building which would make the construction cost of the consolidation less than placing the consolidated school at the Monroe location.

(2/19/16-Monroe elementary was the final choice for the consolidation to take place for the Eastern side of the District)

10) Since the District is looking at consolidation of elementary schools at this time, why not have the eastern part of the county move the sixth grade up to the EJHS at this time like the western part of the county?

Because EJHS is a 7-12 building, having the 6th grade in the building as well would be problematic with teacher certification. It would also be a large gap in student years having students in the building from grade 6 up to seniors in the same building. If the building was divided in some fashion so that grades 6-8 could be completely removed from grades 9-12, this scenario could work. But in the current configuration of the building, it would not be recommended by the administration.

(2/19/16-The main reason for this though is due to teacher certification and due to lack of space at EJHS to bring the 6th grade to the building.)

11) Why isn’t Lack-Tuscarora Elementary School included in on the consolidation?

Currently, most of the Junior High and High School students to come to Mifflintown from the Lack area are on the bus anywhere from 90 to 105 minutes one way. The Board of Education did not want to include the elementary school students, especially the students in kindergarten through third grade, on the bus for this ride time.

(2/19/16-At the June board meeting, the board voted to move forward with the PlanCon plans to submit to the State which included all of the elementary schools. This does not lock the Board into placing all of the schools into the consolidation, but rather gives them the option of doing that if they so choose to. The bus ride time though has been addressed by our Transportation Director and will actually be less time on the bus for the Lack students due to rerouting of buses. The new times for students to be on the buses for a consolidation should the Board decide to bring Lack in on the consolidation will be closer to a maximum of 60 minutes instead of the 90 minutes that they have now.)

12) Why are we putting ELL students in a small room with no windows? (or any students for that matter).

The prints that were given were initial prints only. They are by far not final in any way. They are only initial prints. The final prints will be examined by committees and will be fine tuned so that we are certain that every classroom has windows and the proper amount of space. Some rooms will be smaller though, to allow for small group instruction. In some rooms, there may be only 5 or less students. These rooms would be itinerant speech and language rooms where students would be pulled from their regular education classrooms for 30 minute intervals for specialized instruction.

13) Why is there not a separate library and computer room?

The prints that were given were initial prints only. The District also needs to decide before the final prints are given if we are going to move to computer labs or if we are going to have mobile labs that teachers can use in each hallway that would be available on carts in their rooms. This would be a technology committee decision.

14) According to the figures in the newspaper, all but 1 custodian will be cut. How will 1 custodian manage a large building?

Please refer to question number 6 above.

15) How will Lack-Tuscarora students be integrated at the Jr. High School?

Towards the end of the students 5th grade year, the students would begin to take trips to the Jr. High school to acclimate themselves to the Jr. High. The trips would coincide with trips that the Fermanagh students would take as well.

(2/19/16-This will only be if Lack remains open. If Lack is closed with the consolidation, they will be in with all of the other students.)

16) What if Lack closes in the future? Will there be room to incorporate those students?

This would depend on the student numbers at that time. If the numbers would be too great, the District would need to add on to the school. If the numbers would drop, the students would fit in without adding on. At the Board meeting on Wednesday evening, there was talk about bringing the Lack students in on the consolidation. The Board is still looking for the best solution.

(2/19/16-Please refer to number 11 above)

17) Will the size of the playgrounds be adjusted to accommodate the increase of students?

Yes.

18) How many students will the cafeterias hold? Will there be multiple lunch lines? How will the students be moved through in a timely manner?

The architect’s code will determine the size of the cafeteria. The cafeteria will be the size of a full size gym with a divider down the middle. The lunch line will have a double line with entrances on both sides and a point of sale unit in the center where students will exit. The use of two lines going through at one time will enable for a more efficient use of the cafeteria and will enable for a faster delivery of the food to the students.

19) Teacher cuts/reduced number of classrooms leads to larger class sizes. How does this better our students’ educations? Could we consider consolidation but keeping our current number of classrooms?

Please refer to question #5 above.

20) Is the 152 student population decline a concrete number county-wide or a public school enrollment figure? Is it influenced by students enrolled in charter/cyber schools? Could we gain some of those students back by improving our quality of education?

The decline of 152 students in the Juniata County School District is through the 3rd day enrollment counts that have taken place in the District, required by every district in the State, over the past 10 years.

21) Why did the Board vote to have the Western half of the District move forward with the Consolidation Process and not the Eastern half of the District?

During the Board meeting in April, the Board voted to move forward with submitting the PLANCon A paperwork for the western half of the district that would take place at the Fermanagh-Mifflintown Elementary School. The Board did not vote on the eastern part of the district because they wanted Reynolds to take another final look to make certain that the location of Fayette would be in the best interest of the District if the District would move forward with consolidation in the eastern part of the District with elementary school consolidation. Even though the Board voted to move forward with PLANCon A in the western part of the District and if the Board moves forward with PLANCon A in the eastern part of the District, this does not mean that the Board will move forward with consolidation. It only assures that the District will be in the system for state reimbursement if the Board decides to continue with the process for elementary school consolidation.