Public Hearing To Close Rolling Hills Canceled As District Reverses Recommendation

NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, PA — The Council Rock School District has officially canceled the Oct. 16 public hearing on the closure of Rolling Hills Elementary School after the district administration reversed its recommendation. Council Rock school officials now indicate the school should remain open.

Superintendent Robert Fraser, in an email to the school community, said a recent analysis has led to a revision in the projected enrollment for the next five years.

The new projections indicate a reversal of the recent declining enrollment, and reveal a potential for 335 additional K-6 students across the district in the 2021-22 school year, he said.

"Therefore, the Administration, after conferring with members of the Board, are recommending that the planning for additions to Hillcrest Elementary be halted, the additions and renovations to Wrightstown Elementary continue, and the District will now take the steps necessary to continue using Rolling Hills as one of Council Rock’s elementary schools," he said in the email.

The public hearing regarding the closure of Rolling Hills Elementary School was originally scheduled for September, then pushed back to October.

The hearing was a formal step required to carry out the proposal to close the school, which had been verbally supported by a majority of the board during capital planning discussions over the summer. The proposal would have seen Rolling Hills Elementary School close effective for the 2019-20 school year.

The news that the school would remain open was met with jubilation on the Save Rolling Hills Elementary Facebook page.

Shortly after Fraser's announcement, a photo captioned "Often the brightest rainbows follow the darkest rainstorms," was posted to the page. It features the school building with a rainbow above.

PHOTO: Google maps