Dec 11, 2024 By Zach Petroff 3 min read

Nearly 50 residents attended the Uniontown Area School District School Board on Monday for a public hearing to explore the possibility of consolidating the district’s three mountain-area schools.

And while the subject at hand was figuring out the possible fate of A.J. McMullen Middle School and Marclay Elementary School in Markleysburg, and Wharton Elementary School in Farmington, the theme of the evening was about transparency.

“My request is simple tonight, be transparent,” said Courtney Fisher, who has a son that attends Marclay Elementary school. “Show the public you intend to be open and transparent…..Please don’t prove the public right by discussing this in private, and everyone just reads the decided option on an agenda one day. Be transparent and open.”

In response to dwindling enrollments, the school district is in the process of exploring possible alternatives for the three mountain schools. Residents’ input and suggestions were gathered during Monday’s hearing, with a second public meeting scheduled for next month and a final decision in March.

On a night where only one mic was available for the 11 board members – causing some of the member’s voices to sound muffled, soft or even unintelligible – many of the resident’s who spoke on shared a concern about the flow of information.

Eric Carter, who has a child attending Wharton Elementary School, emphasised to the board how important it would be for parents to know of any changes that were being considered.

“There’s a lot of information that we always get online,” Carter said. “So it is your responsibility to provide the information that clearly defines what the proposals are.”

Carter suggested the board have microphones available for every board member and to improve the video and audio of the recorded meetings.

Kelly Trout of Uniontown said she also would like to see the board improve their online audio.

And while communication may have been a point of minor contention, many of the resident’s, including Carter and Fisher, spoke highly of the school district.

“One of the reasons I’m adamant about sending my kids (to Uniontown High School) is that we are confident in the Uniontown Area School District.”

Ryan Wagner of Markleysburg even offered to help create a group that could fundraise and find sponsorships and grants to help fund the schools.

“I know there are concerned community members that would be willing to help find funding,” Wagner said. “I am one of them.

Fisher, who spoke first, recommended that the school board consolidate the schools and have A.J. McMullen Middle School house students from all three schools, making it available to students from kindergarten to eighth grade. Many of the speakers that followed Fisher also voiced their opinion for the combining of schools.

“It would be a school that would house kindergarten to eighth grade, a school that would be able to expand if the community surrounding it would increase. It would be a school that could pull all the resources in three separate schools into one,” she said.