MANOR — Elderton High School, the smallest in the Armstrong School District, could be even smaller when it reopens this fall, if directors approve students transfer requests Monday night.
Directors will decide Monday whether to approve roughly 80 student transfer requests (64 in secondary schools and 16 in elementary schools) submitted to the administration as the district prepares to reopen Elderton High School.
Elderton High School could lose 51 students to West Shamokin or Ford City high schools, based on the requests, while gaining just four students. The remaining requests involve students at other schools. On the elementary side, Elderton Elementary could lose nine students to Kittanning Township Elementary, while gaining two students.
The administration is expected to make a recommendation to approve or deny the requests prior to the vote, however given past practice the district has not refused similar requests.
During discussions on Monday, director Jim Solak, said, "The policy states that the superintendent is to make a recommendation to the board, so I don't want to hear that the Elderton enrollment is dwindling if you are going to make the recommendation that the transfers be approved. The policy also states that transfers not adversely affect the sending or receiving school."
Superintendent William Kerr said Monday that a decision on the requests is "critical because the district is already four to six weeks behind and the transfers have a direct correlation to staffing, scheduling and the budget."
In a memo read by Kerr at the meeting, Assistant Superintendent Larry Robb said he was asking for the decision to be made now so that administrators and building principals could complete their staffing reports, a process usually completed in early March. The deadline for transfer requests was today.
"These reports are used to determine districtwide staffing needs for the next school year and are consequently used to develop the budget categories related to salary and benefits," Robb wrote. "Given this year's circumstances with transfer requests, the staffing reports will not be completed until early April. If a decision is not made this month, it will be difficult to proceed with the staffing needs and related budget issues."
Student transfers allow students to attend a school in the district other than the one they are assigned to. Students are only granted one request during their school career.
According to Robb, enrollment projections for the coming school year fluctuate each month and include such factors as the number of students who will leave their home school to attend Lenape Technical School, along with students who move into and out of the district.
As of February, Robb said, the district's enrollment projections for the 2010-11 school year show 697 students at Ford City High School, 606 students at West Shamokin High School, 695 students at Kittanning High School, and 340 students at Elderton High School. The enrollments at the four schools in 2008-09 were 669 students at Ford City, 598 students at West Shamokin, 650 students at Kittanning, and 340 students at Elderton.
Robb said that by subtracting the average number of students who leave to attend Lenape and the addition of the current transfer requests, the projected enrollments would be 700 students at Ford City, 580 to 590 students at West Shamokin, 650 students at Kittanning, and 250 to 260 students at Elderton High School.
"The main impact is obviously in the secondary levels," Robb said. "However, the requests are fairly evenly spaced across the grade levels so there is not one particular grade which would be taking a bit hit."
Robb said that the Elderton numbers were lower due to the number of transfer requests and the average number of students who attend Lenape, but noted that the average decrease is expected to only be about 10 students per grade.
"When we look at the numbers, they are really no different than in the past," he said. "There are no major changes we would have to make to the scheduling process with these numbers."
Along with the 64 transfer requests in the secondary schools, Robb said, there were a total of 16 transfer requests in the elementary grades, including nine students currently at Kittanning Township Elementary that are scheduled to go to Elderton Elementary next year, but who wish to stay at Kittanning Township.
Director Chris Choncek noted Monday that in the past the district has not denied transfer requests in the past and felt sure the transfers would be granted.
Board president Rose Stitt said, "The requests include students wishing to transfer from Elderton Elementary to Kittanning Township and vice versa, and are scattered throughout every grade, so it's not like there is any big impact on any grade, and there are kids who are transferring into Elderton from other schools."
She added that in the past, she said " the board had no plans to block any requests and that it would be done according to policy."
