Dec 3, 2014 4 min read

Canon-McMillan School District will begin building a new elementary school in Muse this summer, but that doesn’t mean plans are set in stone. During a public forum held at the high school Wednesday, administrators asked parents for input on the proposed building, which is slated to open for the 2017-18 school year.

“Between now and July, there is still a tremendous amount of work to do,” said Greer Hayden, an architect with Pittsburgh-based HHSDR Architects, which is designing the plans. “We are still very fluid in design. We have time to make changes.”

Muse, Cecil and First Street elementary schools will eventually close and be consolidated into the new building. The current Muse Elementary building will remain open until the new building is fully constructed, at which time it will be demolished during summer break.

Hayden said construction will create some minor distractions, such as dust and noise, but workers will use a different access road to the property and be mindful of school-wide test dates.

The new K-4 building will be equipped for full-day kindergarten, although that program will not be rolled out until it can be offered throughout the entire district. Half-day programs and the current transportation schedule will remain the same.

The project will be the first phase of a larger goal to revamp the district’s facilities, many of which are aging and in poor condition. The district also plans to build an addition to the high school and construct a new middle school on Route 519 across from Sedeca Road.

Some parents had questions about population growth, in light of the district’s recent decision to use redistricting as a tool to lower class sizes. Fifty elementary school students were relocated to new schools this year. Dozens of parents complained about the decision, but Superintendent Michael Daniels said they received positive feedback afterward.

Michelle Stonemark, whose two children will be attending school in the new elementary building, questioned whether the facility could expand in the long run if population growth ended up being higher than expected.

“I just kind of wanted to make sure they were thinking ahead, being with all the trouble we’re in now and all the kids’ redistricting before,” she said. “I just don’t want to see my younger two get lost in the shuffle of redistricting again.”

Stonemark said her children, students at Cecil Elementary, were not affected by redistricting, but some of their friends were.

Daniels said the district does not want to put itself in any position where it has to consider redistricting again. The new building would be capable of holding up to 850 students – about 100 more than the population at the three schools that will close – but population studies do not anticipate a large boom.

“They’re not projecting the extreme growth in our elementary schools as we’ve seen, so with our five-phase plan, if that were to change, it’s likely we would probably adjust some of those buildings down the road,” said Assistant Superintendent Scott Chambers.

All elementary schools, with the exception of South Central, were rated in poor condition in a recent study. The oldest school, First Street, is 90 years old.

The district will host an Act 34 hearing at the high school auditorium Jan. 15, 2015, at which time the administration will discuss the plan for funding the project. Daniels said they hope to receive some reimbursements through the state Department of Education’s Planning and Construction Workbook.

“These are exciting times here at Canon-McMillan,” Daniels said, “and it’s a really good thing that we’re venturing into this and we’re all learning new things together.”