South Williamsport Area School board votes to close Rommelt Elementary School
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The South Williamsport Area School board voted unanimously to close Rommelt Elementary School at their monthly meeting Monday night.
Central Elementary School will be reconfigured to accommodate grades K-5, while the Junior/Senior High School will host grades 6-12, beginning with the 2025-26 school year.
The lone "no" vote to the configuration came from board President Todd Engel, who continued his opposition to moving the sixth grade class into the Junior/Senior High School.
A feasibility study will be conducted by McKinley Architecture to determine whether the building warrants renovation or partial or total demolition, with the possibility of a replacement building or an addition to the Junior/Senior High School.
"After a long process, the district had to make the difficult decision to close the elementary school in an effort to ensure that we were able to continue to provide a quality education for our students, but be fiscally responsible to the taxpayers," Superintendent Dr. Eric Briggs told the Sun-Gazette.
"We’re confident in the plan we have in place and how we will move forward to begin the 2025-26 school year," he said.
"We’re excited about this new beginning and we look forward to the opportunities that this grade reconfiguration will provide to our students," Briggs said.