Grade Realignment, School Closure On Central Bucks Agenda In 2023

DOYLESTOWN, PA — As the Central Bucks School District moves into 2023, front and center on its agenda will be decisions on grade realignment and the potential closing of an elementary school.

A firm hired by the district in 2019 to study population trends, building utilization and capacity limits is recommending the district consider a K-12 grade realignment and the closing of Linden Elementary School in Doylestown Borough as it addresses a declining student population and looks for efficiencies.

"When schools operate below 80 percent capacity, they are considered to be educationally and financially inefficient; therefore, redistributing students to achieve balance is recommended and even essential," said Superintendent Abe Lucabaugh. "These moves would provide a significant cost savings that can be reinvested into programs and services across the district, benefiting students and teachers, while improving the financial return for taxpayers," he said.

Before making any decisions, the school board and the administration will be asking for feedback from the community.

In late winter, the district is planning to host an informational meeting to provide more details about potential grade realignment and the closing of a school. At the meeting, maps and other demographic information will be shared, and the public will have the opportunity to
ask questions.

If the school board chooses to adopt one or more of the recommendations, they would most likely take effect during the 2024-25 school year.

“We realize that change carries with it the potential for discomfort,” said Lucabaugh. “That’s why we pledge to provide a well-developed transition plan and to communicate the process for implementing any changes directly with (the public) every step of the way. Our goal is to provide as much information and explanation as possible and to ensure that our community and families are able to have their questions answered and their concerns addressed.”

So what's driving the recommended changes?

Simply put, a decrease in student population driven largely by an aging population, according to Dr. Frederick S. Withum, a former superintendent who works for Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates (CRA), the firm hired by the district to examine its enrollment trends and make recommendations.

In 2010-11, the district's population soared to over 20,000 students, peaking at 20,436. From that point to the pandemic student population has declined by 2300 students, the size of many school districts in the Commonwealth. From the pandemic to today, the district shed an additional 600 students.

By 2030, according to Withum, the district's student population is projected to level off at between 15,000 and 15,500 students.

"For the past 12 years, the Central Bucks School District has operated as the third largest district in the state, trailing only the school systems in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh," said Lucabaugh. “Recently, the Reading School District has surpassed ours in growth, with the Allentown School District close behind. This decrease in enrollment in Central Bucks is projected to continue over the next five years for a number of demographic reasons."

The decrease in enrollment will have an impact on the school district, said the superintendent.

"To start, we must examine the manner in which our buildings are utilized to optimize educational planning while ensuring the efficient capital management of our properties, all while continuing to provide the top-quality education that parents expect and the state-of-the-art facilities that our children, teachers and staff deserve,” said Lucabaugh.

To assist with the process, the district hired CRA to conduct a study of the district’s population trends, building utilization and capacity limits for each of its 23 schools.

Based on work completed over the past two and half years, the firm presented its preliminary recommendations in early November, including a grade realignment, the potential closing of a school coupled with a reconfiguration of attendance boundaries.

Chief among its recommendations is a grade realignment, which would move ninth grade to the three Central Bucks high schools which currently house students in grades 10 through 12.

"(The student population) has declined in enrollment enough that you have just enough room for your current ninth grade class to join your high schools," said Withum. "If you came to us and said here's our current enrollment. Here's our projected enrollment. Build us a brand new 9-12 grade building for this number of students, we would build you a building very much the size of each of the schools that you have."

According to Lucabaugh, while the ninth grade year is recorded on students’ official high school transcripts, it is currently housed at the middle school level for one reason: space. "With enrollment decreasing, the district can now bring ninth graders to the high school," he said.

Doing so carries a number of benefits for students, said Lucabaugh, including, but not limited to:

• Increased Access to Courses. Presently, ninth graders have no access to high school courses, including Advanced Placement offerings and other courses that could allow for diversification of academic pathways toward graduation.

• Consistent, Efficient Academic Planning. In CB, the transition from middle school in ninth grade to high school in tenth grade requires students to change school counselors one year into their “high school” experience. Having the same school counselor for the duration of the high school experience provides continuity. Additionally, the district can also restructure its course catalog and sequencing of courses to accommodate ninth graders and increase access, opportunity and choice for these students.

• Access to Athletics and Extracurriculars. Although ninth graders are technically in high school in the present model and in some cases do play high school sports, they are mostly ineligible for participation across the board in musicals, ensembles, clubs, etc. Having full access to high school athletics and extracurriculars provides long-lasting, definitive benefits for students.

The proposed realignment also includes shifting middle schools to a grade 6-8 configuration and elementary schools to grades K-5.

According to Withum, moving sixth graders to the middle school (which is a true middle school model as opposed to a junior high model) could have potential benefits as well by including sixth graders in a more age-appropriate population and providing more access, opportunity and choice regarding their core academic courses, electives and extracurriculars.

CRA is also recommending the potential closure of Linden Elementary School, the adjustment of attendance boundaries and the redistribution of students to Doyle and Kutz elementary schools.

"We looked at all of your elementary schools. Clearly you are maintaining seats beyond what is necessary," said Withum. "We looked at where students were geographically grouped, how much it would cost to bring each building up to code, how many students would be affected by a potential closure and Linden pretty quickly rose to the top of the list because of its location pretty close to the center of the district with schools relatively close that have enough space in them to accept students if you chose to shutter that school."

CRA also considered Doyle and Kutz, but Kutz, said Withum, is in better physical condition than Linden.

"It's smaller. You're giving up more seats at Linden, but you have the ability to give those seats up," said Withum. "The cost is higher to bring Linden up to physical educational standards and is probably one of your more costly capital projects if you decide to keep it. It's also one of the buildings with a higher value if you decide to sell it compared to the others."

"There are decisions now that the board will have to make," said Withum. "The first key decision is the grade realignment because that will determine how many kids you're redistricting within your elementary schools. From there you can start talking about how you can redraw your district lines so that you can use your buildings more efficiently.

"I know redistricting is never fun. It's never popular," said Withum. "But I can tell you that at the elementary level it is inevitable. You can't have schools that are operating at 106 percent capacity without spaces for art and STEM. Even if you do nothing, you're going to get to a point where you're going to have to do some redistricting, particularly in the southern part of the school district."