Metro

HOLLIDAYSBURG – Hollidaysburg Area School District administrators faced over an hour of questions from district parents who voiced their concerns about a proposed Alternative Education for Disruptive Youth program run by Nittany Learning Services during a Thursday morning public meeting.

The program, which would be housed in a segregated area on the bottom floor of the Junior High building, is a “rehabilitative, restorative, not punitive” educational placement for disruptive students from across Blair County, according to Nittany Learning Services Program Director Terry Bumgardner.

Under the proposed program, these children would be referred to Nittany Learning Services by their respective school districts after they met the criteria laid out by the Pennsylvania Department of Education as a disruptive student. They would be admitted to the program for a 45-day period after an admissions interview.

Students then receive intensive counseling and behavioral support alongside their normal coursework in a controlled environment staffed exclusively by Nittany Learning Services employees.

Students in the program would be housed in an area completely separated from the main student population, including for lunch and physical education, according to Bumgardner.

After the 45-day period, students can return to their normal school routine if they demonstrate improved behavior.

According to the Department of Education, which allowed for private entities like Nittany Learning to operate alternative education programs under a 1999 amendment to the commonwealth’s school code, disruptive students are defined as “a student who poses a clear threat to the safety and welfare of other students or the school staff, who creates an unsafe school environment or whose behavior materially interferes with the learning of other students or disrupts the overall educational process.”

This definition includes students who disregard school authority, use controlled substances on school property, display violent or threatening behavior, possess a weapon on school grounds, commit a crime on school property or otherwise act in a way that would warrant suspension or expulsion, according to a 1997 subsection of the Pennsylvania school code.

Superintendent Curtis Whitesel said that discussion of bringing an alternative education program to Hollidaysburg Area began in March or April around the start of the 2025-26 budgeting process.

The district currently uses an external placement program run by Extended Family Programs Inc. to treat disruptive students at a cost of over $80,000 per year per student, and offers placement at Soaring Heights School for students with physical and mental disabilities that can run over $100,000 per student per year.

With the proposed program, Nittany Learning Services would charge the district about $17,000 per seat per year, realizing a “significant cost savings” for the district, according to Whitesel.

The district is facing an almost $3.8 million budget deficit and several major renovation projects on the horizon.

Whitesel said he saw success with a similar program run by Nittany Learning Services during his tenure as superintendent at Bald Eagle Area School District prior to his current position at Hollidaysburg Area.

Nittany Learning Services currently run similarly-formatted alternative education programs in Juniata, Northumberland and Centre counties, according to their website.

According to district Director of Special Education Katelyn Prosser, students enrolled in the program would be able to meet their IEP and GIEP goals and would remain under the oversight of district special education staff while Nittany Learning Services staff would deliver their day-to-day services.

Prosser added that state Department of Education certification of a proposed Alternative Education for Disruptive Youth program is contingent on American with Disabilities Act compliance, so the area reserved for classrooms would be accessible.

According to Whitesel, the district would reserve eight seats in the program if approved by the school board in August, which would fully cover the six or so students who would currently qualify for the services in the district.

The program could hold 25 students in total at a 6:1 student to staff ratio, Bumgardner said, and spots would be available for every district in Blair County to reserve.

After a tour of the area where the program would be housed, more than 100 community members filled into the Junior High auditorium for a question and answer session with Hollidaysburg Area administrators and Nittany Learning Services staff.

Members of the audience voiced their concerns with the security of the proposed program, the alleged lack of transparency surrounding the plan and the merits of hosting it in the Junior High.

Attendees repeatedly expressed skepticism that the students in the program would remain fully separated from the main student body and would not pose a danger to their fellow students.

Several members of the Hollidaysburg School Board, Hollidaysburg Police Department and Hollidaysburg Borough government were in attendance for the tour and subsequent public forum.

Hollidaysburg parents Kirk and Kayla Durbin were among those in the audience who questioned the security plan of the proposed program.

The program would “put kids at risk,” according to Kirk Durbin, and is a “failed program” based on his research of statewide data on enrolled student reintegration rates.

Durbin called for increased transparency from school administrators throughout the remainder of the process and said that he wanted to have faith that his two children who are currently enrolled in the district will be safe in their school.

According to Whitesel, he will discuss the merits of the program and feedback from the community before deciding whether to proceed with a vote on its adoption during the Aug. 13 school board meeting, which will be held in the Junior High auditorium at 7 p.m.

Mirror Staff Writer Conner Goetz is at 814-946-7535.