Hempfield middle school redistricting plan approved

Hempfield students and their families now know what schools they will be attending next year.

The Hempfield Area School Board approved a redistricting plan that consolidates the district’s three middle schools into two and defines which schools students will attend.

School directors voted in February to combine the middle schools because of a $128 million revitalization project at the high school.

Built in 1921, Harrold Middle School is Hempfield Area’s oldest school. Ninth graders will attend classes in the Harrold building this fall.

“While we know it’s challenging for parents to have their children perhaps change schools, we are working to put some transition activities in place, just because both Wendover and West Hempfield Middle are going to have many new faces with students and teachers,” said Hempfield Area superintendent Tammy Wolicki. “We are going to work to make that as smooth as we possibly can.”

Basics of the plan

Elementary students who currently attend Fort Allen and West Hempfield schools will be at West Hempfield Middle School this fall, according to a proposal posted on the Hempfield Area website.

Maxwell and West Point elementary school students will attend Wendover Middle School, and Stanwood Elementary School students will be assigned to West Hempfield or Wendover.

Families whose children are currently in middle school at Harrold can determine what building they will be assigned to this fall based on which elementary school they attended. They also can use a Google Earth map to search their address and identify their middle school.

Students currently in grades six and seven at Wendover and West Hempfield will remain at those schools. Three neighborhoods — Youngwood, Timber Ridge Court and Edgewood Manor — are switching from West Hempfield to Wendover Middle School under the new plan.

Students from those neighborhoods who are currently in grades six and seven will be allowed to choose whether to attend West Hempfield or Wendover for the rest of their time in middle school. Thirty-three sixth graders and 24 seventh graders will be affected, according to Hempfield spokesperson Zoey Angelucci.

Enrollment for each middle school will remain at 600 students or fewer, with about 200 students per grade, according to the announcement. About 1,200 middle school students are enrolled in the district this year.

“I think that the way that it fell in place will make it easier for parents to know which school their children will go to,” Wolicki said.

Construction updates

The board voted 8-1 to proceed with the next steps of the Phase 1 design development portion of the high school revitalization project. The motions add more specifics to the planning process.

Board member Tony Bompiani voted no on the motions to proceed and advised the board to consider whether there are ways to lessen the costs of the high school construction project by waiting a month to reassess.

“There are a lot of monetary things coming up in the next few years that we are going to have to really deal with,” he said, noting that the project is already over budget and hearkening back to his previous concerns about costs. “I think we should table this. … I’m telling you, it isn’t too late to do it.”

Board member Vince DeAugustine said it is too late to slow down the project and questioned why Bompiani had not opposed the project earlier in the process. Bompiani voted against the middle school consolidation at the February meeting.

“The construction documents for Phase 1 are already being done,” he said.

Board member Paul Ward said he “100% disagreed” with tabling the motions of the high school construction project. He noted that waiting could backfire if the economy gets worse.

“It’s time to do it, and I don’t see what waiting any longer will do,” Ward said. “I see no reason to stop. This board and the administration, along with our outside experts, have worked very hard, as far as I’m concerned, to put together a good plan.”