EF residents pack meeting over possible school closures

While the Elizabeth Forward School Board did not vote to close elementary schools, it did take action on several contracts related to Phase 2 of construction at the high school.

It sounded more like a football game than an Elizabeth Forward School Board meeting with booing, screaming and cheering filling the middle school cafeteria Wednesday.

Elizabeth Forward area parents and residents filled the middle school cafeteria to voice their concerns about bids that were approved Wednesday for Phase 2 of the ongoing high school construction.

While there were no final votes taken by the school board in regards to selling or consolidating the elementary schools, parents still had plenty to say.

What the board did take action on was several bids related to Phase 2 of the ongoing construction and renovations at the high school.

Phase 2 calls for a adding classrooms and corresponding additional grade capacity at the high school.

There also will be athletic fields, which were added on as bid alternatives.

There will also be consolidation of all the district’s current elementary schools into one school due to declining enrollment rates and increasing costs of maintaining schools.

The district’s possible consolidation would include additional construction to the high school and would add seventh and eighth graders in their own separate two-level wing behind the high school that wraps around the pool.

Kindergarten and first grade would attend the current Central Elementary and grades second through sixth would attend the current Elizabeth Forward Middle School. The other elementary schools, Greenock/Mt. Vernon and William Penn in Forward Township, would be put up for sale by the district.

Board Director Jamie Evans attempted to table voting on the Phase 2 bids until the January voting meeting. Her motion received a second by board Director Megan Ferraro, who said the bids are something that the board needs to fully pay attention to before making a decision and that they are being “rubber stampers.”

“We were elected to be fiscally responsible stewards of our taxpayers,” Ferraro said. “We received this information one week ago with several options, several adds and scenarios with most of them not available in the library for us to look at. It’s a lot to wrap your head around.

“It’s a very permanent and expensive decision we are making for the entire district,” she added. “I am failing to see what the drawback would be, waiting another week, another month and having the conversation. I want to look this over so we can have a good, cautious and knowledgeable decision.” Many audience members asked why voting on the bids had been “rushed,” that the board needed to take their time and that they wanted more information.

Board Director Scott Henry said there have been discussions of Phase 2 for a long time, that it wasn’t a surprise to the community and there have been several meetings about this. He said kids will not suffer from these votes.

The motion to table the vote did not pass. The board then voted 6-3 to approve the Phase 2 contract bids. Board Directors Thomas Sharkey, Ryan Hemminger, Henry, Rick Cummings, Travis Stoffer and Dorothy Wycoff voted to approve the contract bids. Directors Keith Balint, Evans and Ferraro voted against them.

Phase 1 is currently under construction and consists of renovating the high school current space, which includes building a new gym where the auditorium was and putting a new auditorium at the other side of the school.

The lowest responsible bids for Phase 2 came back to the district Nov. 10. Rycon Construction, the Phase 1 general contractor, was awarded the Phase 2 contract in the amount of $21,263,000.

Other bids include an HVAC construction contract for FirstAmerican Industries with a bid of $2,193,700, the plumbing contract for Enders Plumbing & Heating for $1,093,000, the electrical contract for Mark Moses Electrical Systems for $4,768,970 and a fire protection contract to Vrabel Plumbing for $198,200.

The estimated cost for Phase 2 construction, based on the lowest responsible bids suggested, would be $29,516,870. There was no final vote to close schools, but to move forward with these contracts.

The board also approved a plan review invoice from Elizabeth Township for the Phase 2 construction at $39,000. Evans and Ferraro voted no to this motion.

Several change orders were approved Wednesday for Phase 1, and sometimes, these change orders are a cost savings for the district. However, Rycon increased its amount by $22,016.79 for current work at the high school, along with increases from Advent Communications for a telecommunications and low voltage systems project for $12,560.40, a proposal for vestibule doors for $15,476, an electrical service for the bus garage for $16,505 and chairs for the high school gymnasium for $14,916.

There were several residents who voiced their concerns during the meeting, including some that advocated for the bids and questioned the next steps that need to be voted on related to consolidating the elementary schools.

“The bidding process should be put on hold,” resident John Straub said. “We said at the last meeting that we are a middle to lower income community now. There is no way that this community can still be operating and get what we need with the money we are spending on our athletic complexes.”

Resident Larry Gilbert said that while consolidation has been a “done deal” for awhile, he hoped that the bids would be pushed off for a couple months to look over everything and feels that the district is more focused on the buildings than the students’ education.

“There are a lot of people here tonight that are against Phase 2, and I have not heard any of them say we don’t deserve this,” Gilbert said.

Many residents, including Gilbert, were concerned about the length of time students will be on buses because of how big the district is.

“We have a problem with this because you can’t give us an honest answer, and I am concerned about my 5 and 7 year olds on a bus for an hour in the morning,” said parent Rachelle Hasson said. “That’s unreasonable. There’s also a nationwide bus shortage right now. What happens when you can’t find bus drivers to drive those routes?”

Hasson said she feels district officials have not thought through the plans and that they are rushing the decision to consolidate.

Resident Don Thornton, who owns TBI Contracting, said he has been working in construction for 40 years, and he did not want to talk about consolidation, but rather the contract bids. He asked the board to wait to vote.

Thornton added that his whole family has moved out of the area because of high property taxes. He also questioned the budget for the buildings’ construction costs and cited other examples of how other projects around the area are costing less with the same amount of work.

“This is what I do for a living. We’re renovating,” Thornton said. “It should be cheaper. I can cut the budget down to make it affordable so no one has to pay taxes. Your budget is way off. Something is wrong, these people cannot afford the taxes, something is wrong with those drawings and there is something in that spec book that scared the other bidders away. I didn’t say you didn’t need to do the school, but there are ways to cut the money on the costs to get it down to where it’s affordable,” he added. “I can help you guys cut the costs for free. I want to help so I can stay in this district, and these people work hard.”

Joyce Johnson said she supports the baseball and softball fields being built through Phase 2, but advocated for the fields to be adjacent to each other.

“I think sports, music, the arts and our after-school clubs are just as important to the education of our children of this district as them sitting in these classrooms,” Johnson said.

Resident Eric Piper said he was at the meeting to support the consolidation, but he understands the concerns of parents who want to keep the schools in their neighborhoods. He also encouraged more transparency.

“We don’t live in an ideal world, we live in the real world where we have financial issues that are hitting the township, Forward (Township) and in the borough (Elizabeth),” Piper said. “We are knocking down more houses than we are building, so we have a lot of issues and the school district is trying to respond to that.”

In other business:

• The district received a grant for $1 million from the Commonwealth’s Department of Community and Economic Development. They will also be getting $500,000 right away from the state budget, and more funds will come over the next year.

• The 2026 Camp Invention summer program for EF students will be held June 15-19, 2026. The camp is paid for by student tuition and district funds.

• The board approved a $59,400 assessment for HVAC upgrades to Central Elementary and the middle school from Tower Engineering, with Evans and Ferraro voting no – stating they wanted to see more bid options.