Residents Upset With Butler District's Decision To Close Schools
BUTLER (KDKA) – The Butler Area School Board is hoping to save the district $3.5 million by closing some schools and consolidating others.
But with the move comes a loss of jobs and the inconvenience of some parents.
Many in the Butler neighborhoods where the schools will be closing are accustomed to walking their children to school and then walking back to get them. Next year that will change.
"I don't like it at all," said Margaret Wentzel of Butler. "A lot of the parents that live in this area, that the kids go to school here, they all walk."
Broad Street is one of the five elementary schools that will close at the end of this school year and with those closing six full-time teachers will lose their jobs and two part-time positions will also be eliminated.
"I'm kind of like a little upset because I was really hoping that, you know, it would be open for next year," said Gloria Abramshe of Butler.
The move comes at no surprise. The district has been talking about it for about two years.
"We tried everything," said Wentzel. "We signed petitions, we went to the courthouse, we went to the meetings, we've done everything we can."
It was Grandparents Day at Meridian Elementary, another of the schools to close. KDKA talked to Sally and Walt McCall on their way inside to see their granddaughter Riley.
"Riley, who is 10 and is going into fifth grade, is going to be shipped into the junior high in town," said Sally McCall. "There's no places for the kids to have recess outside. It's just poor planning, is our opinion."
Clearfield, Center Avenue and Oakland are the other elementary schools to close.
The district will reconfigure the remaining buildings and create a special needs school at Center Avenue. Teachers all get assignments and parents will get a letter by the weekend regarding the new school assignments for their children next year.
Right now the district has 14 schools and an enrollment of 7,300 students.
The district expects to save $3.5 million a year with the changes.
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