MEADVILLE — If — and this is a flashing red-letter ‘IF’ of gargantuan proportions — two area school boards accept recommendations made by their superintendents, public education in Crawford County won’t be quite the same when September rolls around.

Crawford Central School District, which includes both the greater Meadville and Cochranton areas, would be served by five elementary schools instead of six if the board decides in April to proceed with Superintendent Charlie Heller’s recommendation to close downtown Meadville’s East End Elementary school.

Conneaut School District, which now operates one elementary school and one middle-senior high school in each of its three attendance areas, would concentrate all students in grades 9 through 12 on its Linesville campus and maintain elementary and middle schools in the elementary and secondary buildings now serving the district’s Conneaut Lake and Conneaut Valley attendance areas if the board votes later this spring to accept a recommendation put forth by Superintendent Jarrin Sperry.

Following separate public hearings designed to explain options and receive input from the public, both boards are now engaged in state-mandated three-month “cooling-off periods” before formal votes on the future of the districts can legally be taken.

Is money — or the widely publicized lack thereof — the only motive for making the changes? Not necessarily. Enrollment in both districts is on a downward curve and a number of other factors are in play. Would the changes be taking place at this particular time if money was no object? Probably not.

Until their school boards register their final votes on the building-configuration questions now before them, both Heller and Sperry must look around large elephants in the room when pursuing any sort of long-term vision.

However, when it comes to the prospect of cutting expenses by eliminating programs, Sperry, Heller and PENNCREST Superintendent Connie Youngblood share a remarkably common vision: They’d all rather saw off limbs — as in arms and legs — than have to put program cuts into place.

According to Youngblood, administrators aren’t alone.

In recent months, for example, she’s been spending time in each of the district’s buildings with members of PENNCREST School Board’s newly formed co-curricular committee.

“We’ve been going out with the subcommittee in all three attendance areas to start the conversation with parents and students about what they think is important in education,” Youngblood explained. “One of the things becoming clear is that parents and students don’t want to see program cuts.”

Pay-for-play options have become part of Conneaut School District’s ongoing conversation about streamlining the district. PENNCREST parents and students are bringing forth ideas including having parents contribute for supplies for upper-level courses and charging for student parking passes in addition to upping gate fees for athletic events. And Crawford Central board members are constantly exploring new sources of revenues.



The big picture

According to these educational leaders, public education is about infinitely more than old-time reading, writing and arithmetic. It’s about preparing an informed citizenry for participation in a changing world. But as the rate of change grows exponentially, so does the volume on calls to scale back public funding.

One of Sperry’s top priorities is to work to convince local legislators that funding public education “is of the utmost importance for the success of this commonwealth.”

No matter where you look, he explained, states are cutting education funding at all levels, a move that has a direct, immediate impact on middle-class students attempting to attend college.

“It used to be that hard work would get you someplace,” Sperry said, “but with increasing cuts to public education and higher ed, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for our kids — our students — to do that.

“Our greatest resources are our children, because they’re the ones who are going to be inventing new things and discovering new resources,” Sperry continued. “If you cut education, that isn’t going to happen. I worry that our legislators really don’t understand what they’re doing to education.”

Heller isn’t so sure it’s a lack of understanding. “The governor passed the buck by not accepting any responsibility for public education at the state level and putting additional pressure on local taxpayers to fund public education,” he said.

“I don’t know where it stops,” Heller continued. “Our governor isn’t friendly to public education. Neither are area legislators. They haven’t stepped up to help support us.”

Sperry agrees. “The world is flat,” he said. “Make no mistake about it. You’re going to walk into every college campus in the country and you’ll see students from every country under the sun. They’re the kids our kids are competing against — and they’re coming from countries where the government plays an important role in supporting education.”

But for Sperry, there’s an even grimmer downside to what he sees as an ongoing attack on public education. “If this country goes toward privatization of education, what you’re going to see is, in my opinion, discriminatory practices where a private school will say, ‘We’ll take these kids but we won’t take those kids,’ ” he explained. “There may come a point where there are no public schools to take the kids private schools won’t take.”



Mary Spicer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at mspicer@meadvilletribune.com.