The 2022-23 Warren County School District school year is not the first to have seen master facilities plan work.

Not even close.

The school district has published a list of major renovations, closures, consolidations, and planning steps since 1966, when the district was first created. There were 32 schools back then.

Community high schools closed early in the process, bringing grades 9 through 12 together at Eisenhower, Sheffield, Tidioute, Warren, and Youngsville.

Both Tidioute’s high school and elementary/middle school closed nearly 20 years ago.

As elementary schools closed, students were moved to those that were still open. That process eventually brought primary grades together at two K-12 centers (Eisenhower and Sheffield) and elementary centers in Youngsville and Warren.

WORK TIMELINE

Over the first 18 years of the district, eight of the 32 schools — Bear Lake, Clarendon, Washington, Plank Road, Lincoln, Starbrick, Irvine, and Lottsville — closed.

Youngsville High School was renovated in 1985.

In 1988 and 1989, Seneca, Irvinedale, Lacy, and McClintock schools closed.

The ’90s was a time of renovation — there were no buildings closed for a decade. In 1995, the district reconstructed Allegheny Valley. In 1996, there were renovations at Youngsville Elementary Middle School and Pittsfield.

The district began using space at two buildings — Curwen and TAB (Therapeutic Activities Building) — on the grounds of Warren State Hospital in 1996. In 1997, the district renovated space for the Learning Enrichment Center.

The closures started up again with Scandia in 2000 and the consolidations gained speed from there.

That same year, the district renovated Warren Area High School classrooms, and added on to both Warren County Career Center and Youngsville Elementary Middle School.

In 2001, the district built the Warren Area Elementary Center.

Pittsfield closed and Russell Elementary was renovated in 2002.

Tidioute High School closed in 2003 and the rest of the school followed in 2005.

That sandwiched the closure of Lander in 2004.

With WAEC open, the central attendance area schools at Market Street, Pleasant, North Warren, Home Street, and Jefferson all closed in 2005.

Beaty-Warren Middle School, Eisenhower Middle High School, and Warren Area High School were renovated in 2011, 2012, and 2013 respectively.

During that work, the Eisenhower and Sheffield elementary schools were added.

The old Sheffield Elementary School and South Street closed in 2013.

Sugar Grove and Russell closed in 2014, followed by Allegheny Valley in 2015.

The most recent work was the renovation of the career center in 2017.

There are now two K-12 centers, two dedicated elementary schools, one middle school, a middle-high school, a high school, and a career center, holding classes in the district. Tidioute has reopened as the K-12Tidioute Community Charter School.

Most of the closures over the past 20 years have involved elementary schools — work that officials think has been well done.

The current master facilities planning does not touch on the elementary and middle schools and one school board member suggested that they place their approval for those facilities on the record.

“We don’t have a legion of people here today saying, reopen… elementary schools,” Arthur Stewart said. “At some point do we say that we like our elementary and middle school configurations?”

PLANNING STEPS

Parts of the facilities planning process has been undertaken in various ways, several times through the years.

In 1985, an ad-hoc committee presented a building utilization report to the school board. There was an evaluation of pupil transportation and the impact of revising attendance areas in 1989.

The district’s planning committee made a preliminary report to the board in 1993.

There were space utilization studies in 1998 and 1999 leading up to a the presentation of a facilities master plan in 2000.

That plan was updated in 2002 and 2003.

A school facility options study was delivered in 2005 and a high school feasibility study was brought forth in 2009.

Ten-year student population study was prepared in 2018, a facilities assessment was conducted from 2019 through 2021, and building capacity reports were developed in 2022.

That work is being used as the basis for examining reconfiguration options.