The poor grades Stevens Elementary School received in its statewide rating recently prompted a move this past week to close Stevens instead of Round Hills or Sheridan elementary schools.
But the majority of the Williamsport Area School Board held firm on its original decision.
Much of the poor Stevens rating has to do with the number of socio-economically disadvantaged families within that school's boundaries.
It's an age-old debate - keep schools in their natural population or distribute students in a way that equalizes demographics.
A lot of study went into the school district's decision regarding the elementary schools. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to reverse that decision in two weeks. The more practical stance, we believe, will be to closely track performance at Stevens under the new setup.
