Parents Must Choose: Jaindl or Fogelsville Elementary

Parkland School District administrators plan to send a letter on Dec. 1 to some parents whose children are in second, third and fourth grades at .

The letter will ask parents whether they want their children to stay at Jaindl or move to for the 2012-2013 school year.

The letter will go to 105 students in cases where it would make sense geographically for the students to attend either school. Parents will be asked to respond by Jan. 1. Assistant Superintendent Rod Troutman said Monday that school officials will make decisions based on the parents’ preferences.

This is the next step as Parkland administrators evaluate how to handle at Jaindl and Fogelsville elementary schools.

“A handful of the neighborhoods are really densely populated,” Troutman told the school board’s Personnel and Finance Committee when it met Monday.

Troutman said there are 669 students at Jaindl Elementary School, now in its second year of operation, and 439 at Fogelsville Elementary School. Before Jaindl opened, Troutman said, Fogelsville had nearly 800 students.

Jaindl has exceeded the school district’s growth expectations. Superintendent Richard Sniscak previously told the Personnel and Finance Committee that there is a significant amount of affordable housing in that area, primarily new townhouses.

The first, second and third grades at Jaindl are so full, some this year from Jaindl Elementary, 1051 Weilers Road, to Fogelsville Elementary, 312 S. Route 100. Both schools are in Breinigsville.

However, Sniscak has said that there are three classrooms at Jaindl that can be used for full-day classes, if necessary. The rooms currently are being used for other instructional needs, such as small group instruction and special education.

The school board is expected to discuss the enrollments at Jaindl and Fogelsville elementary schools when it holds its workshop session at the Nov. 15 board meeting.