West Perry Community Stakeholders

"Providing Information...Empowering the Community"

Transportation

Developmental Appropriateness: Parents worry about younger students being prematurely exposed to situations and behaviors beyond their developmental stage when sharing transportation with significantly older peers.

 

Bullying and Harassment: There is concern about increased potential for bullying incidents when students across multiple grade levels share the same transportation environment.

 

Logistical Challenges: Combined age busing often results in earlier pickup times and longer transit periods, which can negatively impact younger students' sleep schedules and daily routines.

 

Supporting Research: Research on school transportation safety reveals important considerations for combined age busing policies:

 

• Studies indicate that over 40% of middle and high school students report experiencing sexual harassment in school settings
• Research shows that 23% of sexual assault incidents involving students occur on school buses
• Socioeconomic factors play a role, with students from lower-income families reporting higher rates of unwelcome physical contact compared to peers from higher-income households
• Citation excerpt: “Parental concern about bullying was expressed in relation to young children being exposed to unsuitable language, such as profanity, sexual content and name calling, and the behaviour of older students, especially on longer bus rides (Ramage and Howley, 2005). In a study of 5065 children (11–20 year of age), many reported the bus riding experience as being negative, with teasing, and to a lesser extent bullying occurring on the school bus, often with younger children being targeted (Sampasa-Kanyinga et al., 2016). A larger number of students with varying ages and grade levels travelling together on the school bus has been said to offer more opportunity for bullying, where older students most often bully younger students.”
   

The information in the studies paint a concerning picture when laid alongside the plan to expose 4 year olds to 18 year old behaviors.

 

Sources: American Association of University Women Educational Foundation (1993, 2001). Hostile hallways: The AAUW survey on sexual harassment in America's schools. Burrow & Apel, 2008; Campbell Augustine et al., 2002; Welsh, 2001; Wilcox et al., 2009) . Burrow, J. D., & Apel, R. (2008). Youth Behavior, School Structure, and Student Risk of Victimization. Justice Quarterly, 25(2), 349–380.

 

Enrollment

 

Declining enrollment has been cited as a leading factor in the decision to consolidate schools.  At the same time the board claims there is overcrowding of the elementary classrooms.  We do not believe that both can be true at the same time, so we have pulled the data from the PA Department of Education, as well as the West Perry yearbooks.  Click below to see the graphs and tables.

Community Impacts

 

Loss of Neighborhood/Small Schools

Research has shown positive effects across the following areas in small schools (considered less than 400 for elementary schools) when compared to large schools, and particularly among low socioeconomic populations:

Positive effects such as:

• Achievement
• Student Sense of belonging
• Parental Involvement
• Attendance/drop-out rates
• Participation in Extracurricular Activities
• Teacher Attitudes
• Curriculum
• AND MORE!

Furthermore, neighborhood schools can lead to positive outcomes for the community as well.

 

Advantages of neighborhood schools include:

Transportation, Environment, and Health:

•       Reduced commute times for students, enabling more time at home for activities, rest, family time, etc.

•       Increased access to schools for families without vehicles.

•       Increased walking and biking to school, promoting healthy and active lifestyles for both children and parents.

•       Enhanced safety at schools including closer proximity to local first responders.

Neighborhood and Community:

•       Stronger and more accessible friendships and community bonds among our district’s youngest schoolchildren. Elementary-age students form close relationships with peers in their neighborhood through school interactions, facilitating easy access to friends who live nearby

•       Improved family connectedness, community cohesion, and mutual support within neighborhoods due to continuous parental interaction facilitated by their children's shared schooling experiences.

•       Healthier parents, as they walk or bike to their child's school and interact more frequently with neighbors.

•       Strengthened attachment to neighborhoods, maintenance of each neighborhood's school-age population, and stabilization of the tax base. The support networks fostered by neighborhood schools enhance young families' commitment to their neighborhoods and the district. Through word-of-mouth, they promote the area as an attractive place for other young families, contributing to the retention of the district's school-age population, property values, and tax base.

 

Beaumont, Constance E., and Elizabeth G. Pianca. “Historic Neighborhood Schools in the Age of Sprawl: Why Johnny Can’t Walk to School.” Washington, DC: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2000.

Jimerson, Lorna. The Hobbit Effect: Why Small Works in Public Schools. Rural Trust Policy Brief Series on Rural Education. Rural School and Community Trust, 2006.

Cotton, Kathleen. School Size, School Climate and Student Performance, NWREL School Improvement Research Series, Close Up #2, May 1996.

The Continuing Advantages of Small, Neighborhood K-6 Schools: Points Forgotten or Addressed Too Narrowly in the Deliberation Over the Future of Amherst’s Elementary Schools.

 

Loss of Community Resources/Play Spaces/Athletic facilities

In the current Feasibility Study, Option 4 involves closing three elementary schools. With these closings, the district is losing valuable resources beyond the classrooms, including 3 gymnasiums, athletic fields, playgrounds, etc.

 

If the three elementary school properties are sold (as planned), the community may never have access to these resources ever again. Our children—and not just our elementary school aged kids, but also our middle and high schoolers—use these resources for extracurricular sports and activities.

Furthermore, the site of the potential new construction will lead to further elimination of district resources, because the drafts show the new K-3 school being built on current athletic facilities.
Extracurriculars are largely agreed to be an important part of a well-rounded education. They are credited with aiding children and adolescents in the development of soft-skills, building self-esteem, engaging in healthy physical exercise, and yielding cognitive and emotional benefits (see sources below). Our community cannot afford to lose all of these resources.

GAO-12-350, K-12 Education: School-Based Physical Education and Sports Programs
Geneviève Piché, Caroline Fitzpatrick, Linda S. Pagani. Associations Between Extracurricular Activity and Self-Regulation: A Longitudinal Study From 5 to 10 Years of Age. American Journal of Health Promotion, 2014