Hatboro-Horsham Seeks Review of Facilities

Before the Hatboro-Horsham School District builds a brand-new Hallowell Elementary School, officials are looking at "various options," which could include closing schools, a district official told Patch. 

The school board, during Monday night's meeting, approved the roughly $8,500 expense of having EI Associates and Gilmore and Associates update the district's existing feasibility study and site analysis. 

Doing so, according to Bob Reichert, the district's director of business affairs, allows the district to "update everything in the district" as part of long-range planning. 

"That may be part of one of the options," Reichert said of the possibility of closing under-used schools. "We're looking at all of our building needs, including rebuilding Hallowell."

Horsham resident Gary Conner, who frequently asks the board about a recommendation from 2009 to close Pennypack Elementary School, on Monday, again asked when the board would close the school.

"It’s time to cut it down, time to close it now," Conner said. "We’re giving up by keeping that school open."

Based on studies from several years ago, the project's architect, Bonnie Sowers of The Ray Group, had offered as one of the group's recommendations, to reduce Blair Mill and Simmons capacity, replace Hallowell with a 480-student building with expansion capacity to 600 students, build several additional classrooms on to Crooked Billet to accommodate increased enrollment, and to close Pennypack.

According to the roughly four-year-old feasibility cost estimates, it would cost the district between $25 million and $33 million to undertake the renovation and expansion efforts deemed necessary in conjunction with any of the proposed elementary school closures.  

Conner, in his urging, said the district is wasting money each year keeping Pennypack open. 

But, Reichert said its potential closure was one of 10 options that the district had considered. 

Officials have said unknowns like the scope and size of the future Hallowell Elementary School, as well as the potential student population growth once Willow Grove air base is redeveloped warranted the need to delay closing schools. 

A decision to close any school has to be part of the district's long-term plan "for all of our buildings," Reichert said. 

"You can't make a decision in isolation," he said. 

Reichert said he did not know the time frame for completion of the most recent feasibility study.

The district also awaits the transfer of land where the former Horsham Memorial Army Reserve Center is situated on Easton Road. The federal government is giving the property to the district free of charge on the condition that a school is built there. Officials said the new Hallowell Elementary School would be housed there. 

As far as when Hatboro-Horsham will own the land, Reichert said he was not sure. 

"It's any day now," Reichert said. "I don't think it's going to be much longer."