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EBENSBURG -- In a meeting attended by more than a hundred people, several Jackson Township residents made it clear to Central Cambria School Board members they oppose closing Jackson Elementary School, even if it means voting to raise their taxes to the limit.
"We believe that an adequate raise in taxes to continue the operation of the school is justified," said Jackson Township resident Jessica Stohon. She said residents realize the importance of having an elementary school in their municipality.
That's why Stohon and 20 other district residents who attended a special public comment meeting Monday night decided to weigh in on the results of a feasibility study presented by Draw Collective architects in April.
Carl Phillips, of the Concerned Citizens for Jackson Elementary group, said there are several reasons why he felt the board should table any decision made about the school.
He argued the state's future enrollment projections for the district give an inaccurate representation of the township's population and expressed concerns that overcrowding at Cambria Elementary may lead to future construction costs and lower performances on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment.
Superintendent Jason Moore said he is not concerned about assessment scores dropping because the district would still have smaller class sizes, compared to other districts.
"On the contrary, we feel that our academic achievement will only increase by having all teachers of similar grade levels under one roof and collaborating," he said.
Many who opposed closing the school received cheers and applause after speaking while Lorri Ellis, a district employee who advocated for consolidation, was booed by the crowd once her four minutes of allotted time to speak ran out.
Myesha Chappell, another district employee, said she thinks consolidating the schools makes sense from a safety perspective.
"Having all of the children in one central location allows our district resource officers to quickly and swiftly assess any situations that may arise immediately," she said, adding her own children are excited at the potential of sharing a classroom with friends they only see during extracurricular activities.
Both options Draw Collective architects suggested to the board involved closing Jackson Elementary, either merging all grades K-5 to Cambria Elementary in the 2025-26 school year or a stepped transition that keeps K-2 students at Jackson Elementary and shifts grades 3-5 to Cambria Elementary in the 2024-25 school year before merging all grades at a later time.
At the May 13 school board meeting, when the board will vote on the study's results, the board will consider two separate proposed budgets, including a status quo budget that allows both Jackson Elementary and Cambria Elementary to continue to operate by replacing retiring teachers with new hires.
Moore said board members want to look at options that mitigate against any large tax increases while also not harming the district's overall quality of education.
"That was the purpose of the feasibility study," he said. "Many other school boards in rural areas are mulling the same difficult decision, or they have made similar decisions recently."
He said the state's projected enrollment decline is "a reality that we have to face." Having multiple buildings at a reduced capacity results in the district having to spread out resources, Moore said.
"The board members will weigh all of the factual information and will vote how they feel would serve the district's students and taxpayers best," he said.
Board President Thomas Woods said there were many important issues raised by the public comments at the meeting. He said board members have spent a lot of time talking to the district's transportation coordinators and are "aggressively looking at transportation options."
"It's a complex, multifaceted issue that involves enrollment and right sizing, both now and in the future," he said.
Woods said, regardless of how the board votes on grade realignment, they're going to "roll out the red carpet" to make sure everybody feels welcome and enjoys whatever school they're in.
"That's a given regardless of what the reconfiguration looks like. That's a key element to the Central Cambria experience," he said.