Hannah Harvey is a rising senior at Susquehanna Township High School and an intern with the summer program sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg and PennLive
Packed Hallways, Cramped Futures: Overcrowding in Central PA Schools
As I prepare to enter my senior year at Susquehanna Township High School, I’ve found myself hit with waves of nostalgia. I’m flooded with memories of alphabet charts and carpet time, all taking place inside school walls. Those activities are now being extended onto the blacktops of Sarah Lindemuth/ Anna Carter Primary School and Thomas Holtzman Elementary School in the form of mobile classrooms.
Our district has been growing steadily for the past decade, with a rapid uptick in enrollment at the elementary level. This increase in the student population has led to bloated class sizes, lunch in the hallway rather than the cafeteria, and overall strains on staff and students.
Unfortunately, the school is not financially able to accommodate this growth by building a larger school, so the alternate route has been mobile classrooms that eat up playground area for the district’s younger learners.
The district is caught between a rock and a hard place. With not enough funding to build from scratch, it has turned to a less than ideal, but still viable option – purchasing an office building off Linglestown Road. The plan is to renovate the building for our 4th, 5th, and 6th grade learners, which will take pressure off the Elementary and Middle School.
This issue of overpopulation isn’t isolated to Susquehanna Township. Cumberland Valley School District has been the undertaker of significant building renovations and construction projects due to a massive influx of students. Just in the past five years, they built a ninth-grade academy to alleviate pressure on their high school. And recently they approved plans to build an addition to Eagle View Middle School, which will accommodate an extra 500 learners. Because of the construction, the eighth graders who would ordinarily be learning in the middle school, will be moved to a sectioned off area of Cumberland Valley High School.
These schools, among others, are experiencing a period of intense growing pains which are sadly often coupled with an extreme amount of debt. For Susquehanna Township, this new project will cost almost $18 million1 while the school already has a debt of over $36 million2. As for Cumberland Valley, while on the surface they demonstrate financial aptitude with their ability to build and renovate schools, is climbing deeper into debt by the year3.
All of this leads to questions. For how long will school districts be able to buy time with mobile classrooms and lunches in the hallway? And where does this leave the schools that may be unable to afford new construction projects, or the ability to purchase a new building in their battle against overpopulation?
Overall, central Pennsylvania schools aren’t financially or logistically equipped to handle the large influx of students to PA public schools without driving themselves deeper into debt.
To the residents of districts facing overpopulation and impending debts, what are you willing to do? Maybe you wish to contribute by attending more school board meetings, by asking a teacher how they’ve had to adapt to changes in class sizes, or even more importantly, you can hold board members accountable for poor decisions affecting the district.
Staff and students that work and learn in public schools are majorly affected by the decisions made by their school board but are even more affected by the community members that show up to advocate for their school. Those who push back on reckless spending, advocate for proactive solutions to student and staff issues, and counter the strongarm that some members have over the board’s decisions are making the biggest impact on schools.
If you have any desire to support future generations by ensuring they have ample resources and access to quality education, get involved in the decision making for your local public school. To anyone whose interests lie in watering the root, not the fruit, get involved. Because whether public schools like it or not, they need you. We, the students, need you. Make sure to feed the next generation of changemakers, because I know firsthand just how hungry we are.
1. Deer Path Project information can be found in the Susquehanna Township School District’s capital improvement documents at: Deer Path Project.
2. Current debt figures can be found in the Susquehanna Township School District’s annual budget reports, available on their website and at: STSD Budget.
3. Cumberland Valley School District’s financial reports and debt information are accessible through their district website, or here: CVSD Budget
