The Mahanoy Area School District administration and school board held a public hearing Tuesday to explain the plan to reconfigure the district from three to two schools.

The plan, which was announced at the January meeting of the school board, is to eliminate the middle school designation and shift those grades to the elementary and high schools. More than 60 people attended the two-hour hearing, with more than half being teachers and other educational staff.District Superintendent Joie Green moderated the hearing. Also attending were school board members, the three district principals and members of the administration.Currently, the elementary school includes kindergarten to fourth grade with Susan Scheeler as principal. The middle school has fifth through eighth grade with Michael Heater as principal. The high school has ninth through 12th grades with Thomas J. Smith as principal.Under the proposed plan, the elementary school will be kindergarten through sixth grade, and the high school will include seventh through 12th grades. Essentially, there will be two instead of three school buildings.During the public hearing, Green announced that the proposed change in the configuration has received approval from the state Department of Education.Tuesday's public hearing was originally called as a required part of the process to make the change, but with PDE's approval already received, which made the hearing not required, the school board and administration decided to hold the hearing to get additional input. The original plan also had the school board approve the reconfiguration plan at the May 25 meeting, but with the PDE approval, the board is expected to vote on it at the Feb. 23 meeting.The student population has significantly dropped since 2004, with recent totals between 1,000 and 1,100 for the entire district, according to Green, and that the number of teachers has dropped from 106 in 2010 to 96 in the current school year through attrition, which in some cases was due to retirements."Up to today, there have not been any furloughs while we go through the process, and looking ahead, we do not see any furloughs happening, and that is a main goal," Green said.The school district offered an early retirement incentive, with some employees taking advantage of the offer, with some of the positions not to be filled. A Title One elementary teacher may be filled if needed. There are three guidance counselors (one for each school), but the reconfiguration will result in only two counselors, though it may be reconsidered in the next school year. A middle school Title One teacher taking the ERI will not be replaced.The executive secretary to the superintendent position will be filled with the transfer of the middle school secretary to the position. An elementary school special education teacher will be replaced.Green said there are several areas that need to be determined with the school reorganization: school start and end times, lunch schedules, Title One services (the goal is to provide these services to all students in kindergarten to grade six in math and reading) and transportation.Most of questions came from the educational staffers who wanted answers to how changes would affect students and teachers. There was concern about only two guidance counselors being on staff, noting that it might not be adequate for the student body. Green said the two counselors plan will be reviewed over time and if the need for a third counselor is discovered, then the plan will be reconsidered. Green said the elementary school office will be moved to the current middle school office, and the middle school entrance where the school resource officer is stationed will become the main entrance for the elementary school.The plan would mean the elimination of one principal position at the middle school, but there will be a principal opening at the elementary school with the retirement of Scheeler at the end of this school year. That position will be filled by Smith, with Heater becoming the high school principal.Also, the 2017-28 school year will need an athletic director, which is held by David Holmes on the volunteer basis until June 30. The position is part-time. The idea being considered is to hire someone who would be a high school assistant principal/athletic director, or just hire an assistant principal.School board President Jay Hanley said it was important to have the hearing to learn ideas and concerns about the plan."This is why the board wanted this meeting even though the state did not require it," Hanley told the audience. "It was best for the interests of the teachers, the students and the public that we had this, and the board said unanimously that we would be here. We wanted to hear this input because, like Steve (Gnall, board vice president) said, some of this is coming up now and it's best that we find out now before we make a decision."District resident John Reed asked how much of the plan involves retention of students to prevent the losses over time in the student body. Green and Hanley said it is a problem for schools and businesses in the region and it is difficult to address when families move in and out of different school districts and is something that cannot be controlled.