Neshaminy officials vote to close elementary school

LEVITTOWN, Pa. (WPVI) -- Officials with the Neshaminy School District say when it comes to Samuel Everitt Elementary School - the decision to close its doors was a long time coming.

"It is one of the oldest in the district, it is the one that is most in need of repairs and it's also in an area where there are many schools clustered together," said Chris Stanley, Neshaminy School District.

Earlier this week, the school board voted to close the school at the end of this school year.

It's actually part of a larger plan that includes the eventual closures of Oliver Heckman Elementary in Middletown and Lower Southampton Elementary as well.

The sales or rentals of those properties will then go to the construction of a $34 million school on the site where Tawanka Elementary School currently stands in Lower Southampton.

And school officials say they believe they can pull this off without raising taxes.

In fact, they also say the new school, once it's built and opened, will then save the district more than $1.5 million in operating costs every year.

"This is really the goal of the program is that we want to increase the educational opportunities of the children in the district without burdening the tax payers," said Stanley.

We spoke with Samuel Everett parents about the plan.

Some support the idea but many others say they don't understand the value of building a mega-school as opposed to repairing the smaller community schools.

"It makes no sense to me. The district is saying we don't have money and they're trying to save money. Well what happened to all the money from the schools that we've already sold?" said Dana Catucci.

"The school board is kind of ridiculous and it's been this same deal since the beginning. The schools they are all targeting to close were targeted in the beginning. They said they would look at other options but it is what it is," said Barry Brounce.

The board still has to formally vote on the closures of Oliver Heckman and Lower Southampton elementary schools but the plan is that those schools will be closed at the end of the 2015-2016 school year.