Scranton students may soon be sent back to the schools in their neighborhoods.
The school board voted unanimously on Monday night to revoke boundary exceptions in overcrowded schools. The move is the first step in alleviating crowding at some South Scranton schools, a problem that may eventually lead to boundaries being redrawn.
Parents can request exceptions when they want their children to attend a school other than their home school.
Much of the crowding is at Whittier Elementary School on Orchard Street, which has preliminary estimates that show two more classrooms will be needed in the fall. The computer lab is the only empty room, and 44 students are there under exceptions.
In other business:
- The district may adjust the school calendar for 2013-14, after Director Bill Fox expressed safety concerns with the schools being open for the primary election last month. Many Scranton schools are used as polling places, and the schools are usually closed on election days. Because of snow days this year, students made up a missed day on primary day.
Superintendent William King said he could ask the Lackawanna County Bureau of Elections to move the polling places, but several directors said they did not want to move the polls.
As of now, students would be in school for the primary next spring only if four or more snow days were used. The calendar adjustment would add days to the end of the school year if more than three snow days were used.
- In an effort to save energy costs, district employees will have a four-day workweek this summer. Maintenance workers will report from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and clerical staff from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. District buildings will be closed Friday through Sunday.
- If there is a tax hike for 2014, it will be no higher than 2.4 percent. The board voted to keep any increase within the state-given index instead of seeking an exception from the state.
- The approval of the 2013-14 budget for the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County was pulled from the agenda, with directors citing concerns with personnel costs.
- A new math curriculum, Everyday Mathematics, was approved. The curriculum will be implemented in 2013-14 for preschool to third grade, in 2014-15 for fourth grade and in 2015-16 for fifth grade. New senior project guidelines, which address college essays, mock interviews and employment applications, were also approved.
- A change order of $67,359 was approved for the mold abatement project at Prescott Elementary School. Walls in two bathrooms on the second floor and more work in a first-floor bathroom must be done.
- The board authorized its engineering and construction firms to create plans and bid specifications for paving projects at West Scranton High School and McNichols Plaza Elementary and an exterior wall and playground project at Prescott.
Directors Kathleen McGuigan and Jason Shrive asked for the Prescott wall and playground to be bid separately, but their motion failed 3-6, with Mr. Fox joining them in the vote.
- Mary Alice Kearns was hired as a clerk at West Scranton High School.
Contact the writer: shofius@timesshamrock.com, @hofiushallTT on Twitter