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Bethel Park School District mulling central kindergarten

By Cara Host 3 min read
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An idea to have a central kindergarten to educate Bethel Park’s youngest students didn’t sit well with about 20 parents at the school board meeting Nov. 17.

However, school officials stressed the idea was just that, an idea for how to deal with shifting population trends and to balance class sizes.

“We’re exploring options,” said Superintendent Nancy Aloi Rose. “One of the options is to have a kindergarten center, but we are very far off from making that a reality.”

School officials want to avoid a situation where students in one school have a class size near 30 while the same grade in a neighboring elementary school has class sizes in the teens.

The district moves teachers around on an almost annual basis as one way to deal with the issue, but Bethel Park may soon need to move students around as well. The district could initiate a redistricting similar to what has been done in the past. In this case, the boundaries for elementary schools would change and some families would switch schools to balance out class sizes.

Another idea is to make a kindergarten center at William Penn Elementary School and send all kindergarteners there.

“We are deeply concerned about such a drastic change in the educational structure,” said parent Rebecca Walker.

The school board discussed the kindergarten center at a curriculum committee meeting last month. Some parents who learned about it became concerned about the effect it may have on kindergarteners.

Board members said they are no where close to making a decision on whether or not to establish a kindergarten center, but they will study the idea to determine if it is a viable alternative to traditional redistricting in Bethel Park.

“I encourage you to continue to come to our meetings,” said Director Cynthia Buckley. “I think it’s great to see so many people here.”

In other matters, the board:

• Approved a water line replacement at Independence Middle School. A.J. Berkley Plumbing-Heating and Air Conditioning will replace the old line, which has fallen into disrepair, for $13,990. Work will likely take place during a school break or after school hours to minimize disruption to the school day. The project should take about two weeks to complete.

• Hired Garvin Boward Beitko Engineering to conduct test borings and investigate what is causing a landslide at a hill behind the high school softball field near Sherwood Drive. The firm will be paid up to $15,739.

• Eliminated the attendance coordinator and literary magazine extra duty positions at Independence Middle School and created a family consumer science club position. The new position carries a stipend of $942.

• Hired Alisa Baroffio, special education teacher at Ben Franklin, at a salary of $49,400 a year; Kyle Rodibaugh, part-time custodian, at $11.70 an hour; Jennifer O’Neil and Kimberly Armstrong, part-time special education paraprofessionals at Ben Franklin, at $11.69 an hour; Benedict Kozlowski, bus mechanic, at $19.95 an hour.

• Accepted the retirements of William Ryan, head custodian at the high school, and Ronald Riley, custodian.

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