Lebanon
Administrators recently proposed plans to unify the district’s two elementary schools by grade level. The change would place students in pre-K through first grade at the Mount Lebanon School, while those in second through fourth grade would attend class at the Hanover Street School.
Currently, both schools are home to students ranging from pre-K through fourth grade, and students’ addresses determine which school they attend. But officials said that system is becoming unsustainable as more students move into the east side of town, increasing the enrollment at Hanover Street School.
“In the past, the Slayton Hill Road line was literally moved, and that worked,” Superintendent Joanne Roberts told the School Board last week. “But as the population has been increasing on the Hanover Street side, just moving that line doesn’t necessarily balance out the class sizes any longer.”
Officials said the proposed plans to unify the elementary schools are still in a preliminary stage, and the School Board hasn’t discussed whether it supports the proposal. If the plans were to be included in the 2018-19 school budget, district administrators said they would have to fully flush out details by October in order to have it ready in time for the deliberative session. The earliest the unification could take effect, if approved as proposed, is fall 2018.
In June 2014, the school district sold the old Sacred Heart School building, putting an end to efforts started years earlier to divest from four properties and close the Sacred Heart, School Street and Seminary Hill schools.
That move left Lebanon with its current school structure: two elementary schools, the new Lebanon Middle School and the high school. But officials quickly found that the elementary schools don’t offer students the same experience or allow administrators to properly balance class sizes.
Since 2011, the student population of the Mount Lebanon School decreased by 16 percent, to 224 from 267. But during the same time, Hanover Street saw a 35 percent increase in enrollment, with numbers jumping to 381 from 282.
In the past, the district tried to make up for that imbalance by redrawing the school zones, Roberts said in an interview on Thursday. The line traditionally has cut through Slayton Hill Road, she said, but other streets also have changed from using one school to the other.
“What we’re finding is that doesn’t solve the current issues that we have because we can’t predict where parents are going to move or where they’re going to leave from,” Roberts said.
The district also is projecting their enrollment troubles to continue as planned developments are finished and more families move into Lebanon. In February, the city compiled a list of approved housing units that have yet to be built, and found there are about 500 units awaiting construction.
Roberts said most of those projects, including the second phase of Prospect Hills and the Altaria developments, are projected to hit Hanover Street School the hardest.
Each of the elementary school buildings also are in need of updating, Roberts said. Last year, the district hired the North Carolina-based Prismatic Services Inc. to produce a report on school facilities, and the company found several areas in need of repair.
At the Hanover Street School, consultants pointed out that parking lots need to be repaved and the HVAC system needs to be replaced, among other infrastructure projects. Students also would benefit from a redesigned cafeteria, which is shared with Lebanon High School, and a library on par with that of Mount Lebanon School’s, Prismatic said.
“A shared cafeteria is what I call a ‘tail wag the dog,’ ” Roberts told the School Board. She said the schools’ scheduling revolves around the cafeteria and when the two schools can access it to eat. The high school students eat first, and the elementary school students start eating around 1 p.m., she said.
At the Mount Lebanon School, Roberts echoed Prismatic in calling for a new cafeteria. The space is too small to cook in, she said, and food normally is brought in from elsewhere in the district, limiting students’ lunch choices.
“Sometimes (there are) certain items that the children want at Mount Lebanon, they aren’t given a choice and that literally leads to meltdowns, and tears and little ones who are very upset,” Roberts said during the School Board meeting.
By unifying the grades and expanding the schools, Roberts said, the students would benefit in several ways. The district would be able to stop worrying about balancing the schools through districting, she said. Having all the children under one roof would stabilize student-teacher ratios and allow educators better opportunities for collaboration.
Bringing teachers and students together by grade also would provide more consistency to educational programs, Roberts said. Teachers wouldn’t have to drive across the city to speak with their counterparts and evaluations would be performed by those more closely connected to certain grade levels, she said.
But it’s not certain the plans will be met with approval from parents and students, who might see longer travel times to and from school as a result.
“I think we’re eager to just find out more information on what the unification would look like,” said Katie Scanlon, president of the Hanover Street School Parent-Teacher Organization. “I think people are eager to hear more.”
A frequent school volunteer, she said the growing class sizes are becoming more noticeable.
“It’s a mixed bag of emotions right now from parents,” Scanlon said. Some parents are content with how the school functions, she said.
Sarah Craig, who also is a member of the Hanover Street School PTO, said she’s against the district’s proposal.
“I have had kids in both sides of the district over the years personally,” she said. “I feel like Hanover Street School is better. It’s more family friendly. It just seems like a happier school to me.”
Although Craig also has seen class sizes increase at the school, she said its atmosphere and proximity to her house outweigh class-size concerns.
“It just makes sense to my family, personally,” Craig said. “We don’t want to see that big change.”
While the Mount Lebanon School hasn’t seen significant enrollment changes, PTO President Michelle Harkins said she was apprehensive upon hearing the plans.
“Immediately I think the natural response was, ‘How is this going to affect me and my family?’ ” she said.
But after the Mount Lebanon School PTO sat down with the school’s Principal Eloise Ginty, Harkins said, she came to understand the change could be good for both students and taxpayers.
“After learning about really all that’s going into it, I left feeling really proud and happy that the School Board is looking into alternative ways” to solve space issues, she said.
The Lebanon School Board intends to discuss the unification proposal during its next meeting at 6:30 p.m. on April 12 at the Lebanon Middle School. The board also hopes to schedule a public forum on the matter some time later in the month.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.