Montour Moves Forward with Plan for New Elementary

Superintendent Donald Boyer said the must submit an application to the Pennsylvania Department of Education for its planned elementary facility before Oct. 1 in order to receive reimbursement for the project. 

Boyer said the project, which includes constructing a new school to house grades kindergarten through four, is not slated to break ground until 2014. 

"In the latest version of the governor's budget, there is no more reimbursement for school building projects," Boyer told members of the school board. "So plans for this project need to be into the Department of Education's office by Oct. 1."

The Montour School Board in May approved the hire of Gateway Engineers to evaluate potential sites for a $42 million elementary school. 

The district must submit enrollment projections as well as preliminary building and financing plans for the project by October to be eligible for state reimbursement. 

Under current state law, the district is able to purchase a property ten years before it must apply for reimbursement. 

The building will replace the district's two existing elementary schools, Forest Grove, which houses kindergarten through second grade, and Burkett, which houses third and fourth-graders. 

Earlier this year, the district also moved to close Ingram Elementary for the upcoming school year, citing declining enrollment and test scores in the building. 

A site for the new elementary building has not yet been named. 

The school board also approved the hiring of Pittsburgh firm Goehring, Rutter & Boehm to represent its petition against Robinson Township.

The school district filed a  claiming the township overcharged for building inspection services. Robinson, meanwhile, has withheld a permanent occupancy permit from the district for its new high school, claiming the district has not met grading requirements for a secondary access road on the property. 

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