Penn Cambria board reviews building spaces

Enrollment drop spurs need to evaluate district properties

CRESSON --The Penn Cambria School Board is reviewing several reconsolidation and renovation options after a study showed its enrollment has declined and many spaces are underutilized.

Ryan Pierce and David Nitchkey, of Core Architects in Pittsburgh, outlined five options for school board members Tuesday night, with costs ranging from $40 million to $86 million.

The district currently has five facilities, including the pre-primary in Cresson that serves Pre-K and kindergarten; the primary in Lilly for first and second grade; the intermediate building in Lilly for third and fourth grades; the middle school in Gallitzin for fifth through eighth grades; and the high school in Cresson for ninth through 12th grade.

All of the options outlined by Core Architects involve closing the primary school in Lilly. In their presentation, the architects suggested that the district consolidate and operate with only two or three facilities.

The options

-- Option 1 would close both the pre-primary and primary schools and expand the intermediate and middle schools. The layout suggested would be Pre-K through fifth grade in the middle school, grades 6-8 in the intermediate and grades 9-12 in the high school.

-- Option 2 would also keep three buildings operational by closing the primary and middle schools and expanding the intermediate and high schools. The layout suggested in this plan would be Pre-K and kindergarten in the pre-primary building, grades 1-6 in the intermediate and grades 7-12 in the high school building.

-- Option 3 would have two buildings operational by closing the pre-primary, primary and middle schools and expanding the intermediate and high schools so that Pre-K through sixth grade would be in the intermediate and grades 7-12 in the high school.

-- Option 4 would close the primary and intermediate schools and expand the middle and high schools. The suggested layout would be Pre-K through kindergarten in the pre-primary building, grades 1-6 in the middle school and 7-12 in the high school.

-- Option 5 would close the pre-primary, primary and intermediate schools and expand the middle and high schools. The pre-primary would be converted into fieldhouse locker rooms, while the middle school would serve Pre-K through sixth grade and the high school, grades 7-12.

No decision yet

Matthew Kearney, a board member who graduated from Penn Cambria in 2021, said the board needs to determine how much money it can borrow before making any decisions.

"I think education needs to be the number one priority when deciding what to do with these buildings. Athletics is down the list a little bit," he said.

The architects told board members that, in order to keep all five facilities operating, the district needs to spend roughly $33 million in roofing, mechanical, electrical and plumbing work. According to the architects, it will cost more than $12 million to keep the high school operational and more than $11 million for the middle school.

"If you close a building, the (cost of the) work from that building goes away," Pierce told board members on Tuesday. "You've got systems that are hanging on by a thread. They're one failure away from school isn't open that day."

Nitchkey said that completing the mechanical work would create a more positive image of Penn Cambria that might encourage students in private or charter schools to return to the district.

"When you make these improvements, it encourages students to come back," he said.

The district's current enrollment of 1,545 students is expected to decrease 11% by 2027.

Kearney said one class of elementary students at Penn Cambria currently has about 80 students enrolled.

He doesn't think anything in the immediate future is going to stop the population decline in the district or in Cambria County and believes that as jobs become less available in Altoona or Johnstown, people are less likely to move into the school district.

Even if the district's population decline stopped, Kearney said the district's overall population is still going to go down as bigger classes of students phase out.

"We're still going to need to deal with that issue because the fewer students we have in the district, the less funding we'll get," Kearney said. "We have to find a way to increase operational efficiency or else we're going to be spending money in an inefficient manner."

The next step in the study is for board members to evaluate and compare the potential options and meet with Core Architects again to issue recommendations and a financial report.

Superintendent Bill Marshall said he doesn't anticipate that the board will meet with the architects to finalize their plans until next year.

He emphasized that no decisions have been made yet regarding the district's facilities.

"At this point, we need time to review what was presented. These are only suggestions for the board," Marshall said. "(Board members) will ultimately decide the future of all our buildings."