As the Williamsport Area School Board prepares to vote on which schools will be closed, directors will consider building condition, staffing and transportation.
In a presentation at the board's March 20 meeting, curriculum and staffing were discussed. Dr. Don Adams, assistant superintendent, and Rick Coulter, supervisor of essentials, explained how the decision on what school remains open will affect curriculum.
The district projects class sizes for kindergarten to be 23 students per class, 24 students for first grade, 25 students for second-grade classes and 26 students for third grade.
Adams and Coulter presented two possibilities, both involving Sheridan Elementary School closing. In both scenarios, art, music and physical education teachers could teach 22 hours a week. Students would receive two half-hour blocks of music and physical education, and one hour-long block of art a week.
If Round Hills Elementary School remained open and Stevens Elementary School closed, each of the elementary schools would be within 15 students of full capacity. Round Hills would be six students away from being at its maximum capacity.
At the March 20 meeting, Coulter called the available instructional area for Round Hills a "challenge."
Round Hills uses the same space as a gymnasium and cafeteria, therefore physical education cannot be taught between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. each day.
If Stevens remained open and Round Hills was closed, the elementary schools would have a little more breathing space because the closest they would be to capacity would be Jackson Elementary School - coming within 38 students of capacity. Stevens would be 58 students from reaching capacity.
That option gives the district 148 additional student slots in the elementary schools.
At that same meeting, Kelly Wood, of Student Transportation of America, spoke about boundaries for each school. Like the curriculum presentation, both scenarios include Sheridan closing.
Both options also do not consider school choice, and no transportation would be allowed within the walk boundary of 1.5 miles established by the state Department of Education. The scenarios also wouldn't allow transportation to babysitter stops outside of the schools' boundaries.
In the first option where Round Hills would remain open, boundaries would need to be changed - even for those students attending schools that aren't being discussed for closure.
Students attending Sheridan would move to Cochran Elementary School. Some students from Stevens would head to Hepburn-Lycoming Elementary School, while others from Stevens and Cochran would go to Jackson.
Jackson would then move some of its students to Round Hills.
That option would not allow a feeder school system for students when they move to the two intermediate schools - Curtin and Lycoming Valley intermediate schools.
If Stevens remained open, only those students attending Sheridan and Round Hills would be affected.
Sheridan students again would attend Cochran. Round Hills students would be split between Hepburn-Lycoming and Jackson. This option also would allow for each elementary school to feed its students directly into a specific intermediate school.
Wood also said in her presentation that 100 percent of Round Hills students would need to be transported if Stevens closed, where 1 percent would need to be transported if Stevens remained open.
