The Lewisburg Area School Board is consid¬ering three options for a Master Facility Plan. One option involves developing a large, remote facility on Newman Road as a high school.
There are two significant concerns with de¬veloping the Newman site, permanent operating cost increases and decreased student safety.
On Sept. 9, the school board will be presented with cost estimates for execution of all op¬tions; however, taxpayers in the district should be aware that these estimates do not include changes to the district’s operating costs.
Lewisburg High School students are already highly competitive academically and as ath¬letes.
The Newman site is nearly 30 times larger (204 acres) than the current high school, and the operating costs associated with this size increase have not been addressed.
Such a large site must result in permanent increases in maintenance and operating costs for the district.
While estimates suggest that the student pop¬ulation will increase, no estimate suggests that the increase warrants a site this large.
Another change to operating costs will result from busing increases.
Developing the site on Newman Road will increase travel for 70 percent of the students. It seems unavoidable that this site, which is so far removed from most of the students, will result in significantly higher busing costs, and those increases will be wasted because the temptation to drive to the remote site will be higher leaving buses emptier.
My final concern is student safety. Car ac¬cidents claim the lives of more high school students than anything else.
The Newman site will lead to more students driving longer distances, and this type of in¬crease, particularly on rural roads, results in more fatalities and injuries.
My greatest concern is that developing the Newman site will lead to one or more families suffering a loss that cannot be measured.
Mary Howe,
East Buffalo Township
Letters
Fears over school site
- Letters
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Unconcerned lawmaker
Republican Representative Kurt Masser's leadership and support of Governor Tom Corbett's agenda have proven to be nothing short of a disaster for everyone from senior citizens to the children statewide and locally.
- Accountability
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Comic relief
Yet again, the Northumberland County commissioners have supplied -- unintentionally I can only hope -- comic relief in these troubled times for our county.
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Belonging here
This morning, as I was leaving the Sunbury Islamic Center with a group of moms and kids from our Sunday school, someone drove by and screamed out their car window to us: "Go back to where you belong."
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Transportation taxes
On May 22, the state House voted on HB 1100. The Democrat-sponsored bill exempted the sale of airplanes, airplane parts and airplane repairs from the 6 percent state sales tax.
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Stepping up for river
I represent a group of 22 retired state Department of Environmental Protection professionals who have more than 600 years of combined service in managing all aspects of the commonwealth's water quality and pollution control programs.
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Catalyst for study
The Susquehanna River, in many ways, unifies our region. Yet this vital ecological and economic engine, and the source of drinking water for millions, has been increasingly showing signs of distress.
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Access to closed school
As a member of the New Berlin Borough Council, I am interested in maintaining access to the New Berlin Elementary School property for the citizens of the New Berlin community.
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Critical period
More than two years ago, Sunbury native Ashley Spotts received a life-saving lung transplant due to cystic fibrosis (CF) and diabetes. Pennsylvania Cystic Fibrosis, Inc. (PACFI) established the Ashley's Angels Transplant Fund to help the family with medical expenses, and area individuals and families responded by donating to the fund and/or having fundraisers.
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Tough to stop a train
To add a bit of perspective to the recent accident in Milton, as well as subsequent reporting and editorial comments, let's keep in mind that a train cannot overcome the immutable laws of physics.
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Unconcerned lawmaker
