RIMERSBURG, Pa. (EYT) — Union-Rimersburg School District Superintendent of Schools Jean McCleary said there aren’t any formal plans to close the Rimersburg Elementary School.
A community forum meeting is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Monday, March 13, in the high school cafeteria.
“We are hosting the forum to share details of the feasibility study by the architect,” McCleary said. “There are building upgrades that are needed, and we want to be open with everyone about this.”
“There is a lot of talk about school closings, but there are no formal plans for it. We do want to give the public a chance to ask questions and share their thoughts.”
The school district hired HHSDR Architects/Engineers in May 2016 to do the study, and they issued their draft report in November. It can be viewed on the school’s website at unionsd.net.
The firm presented three options, two of which could include closing Rimersburg Elementary.
The first included updating and maintaining all buildings, which include elementary schools in Rimersburg and Sligo as well as the high school.
Sligo currently is for students in grades kindergarten through third grade while Rimersburg is for fourth through sixth grades.
The Junior-Senior High School houses students in grades 7 to 12.
The second option included a plan for updating and converting Sligo Elementary to house grades K to 4, update and convert the High School to house grades 5 to 12. Rimersburg Elementary would be closed in this plan.
It would also be closed in the third option that calls for Sligo to house K to 4 students, the high school to house 5 to 12 students and add a new auditorium.
McCleary said one big problem the district is facing is the failure by the state legislature to release PlanCon money that reimburses school districts for education-related construction costs.
The state fiscal code authorized the borrowing of up to $2.5 billion for 2015-16 PlanCon and to pay for other construction projects in the program.
“There has been a moratorium on releasing that money for several years, and that’s what we could use to get some things done.”
“We feel like we’re kind of ignored out here,” McCleary said.
