Harrisburg School Board meeting on Tuesday
The Harrisburg School District on Tuesday took action on two significant agenda items—the district’s budget and the future of one of its most storied buildings.
District Receiver Dr. Lori Suski approved the demolition of the long-vacant and blighted William Penn School building, citing the financial burden that it has caused the district.
“We have gone through extensive dialogue about this property,” Suski said. “The building was improperly shuttered years ago, and I agree with the residents that it’s a travesty. But we need to look at how best to use our resources. It doesn’t really appear that there is any other direction to go than to proceed with the demolition.”
Suski approved a $6.8 million proposal from the Gordian Group to demolish the building, built in 1926.
According to district officials at a previous board meeting, William Penn has increasingly suffered structural damage, fires and break-ins. Over the years, the school district weighed options such as selling the building and renovating it for use as a magnet middle school. However, Suski explained that the district wasn’t interested in any sales offers it got and received quotes estimating renovations could be as high as $90 million.
Several William Penn graduates and community members attended Tuesday’s meeting to express frustration with the plan to demolish the building.
“I’m upset that they allowed the building to deteriorate,” said Elle Richard, of the William Penn class of 1966. “It shouldn’t have gone this far. It’s sad because it seemed so much like home.”
David Morrison, executive director of the Historic Harrisburg Association, said that while he wished the building could have been adaptively reused, “that moment, sadly, appears to be long gone,” he said.
“To lose that majestic façade that looms over Italian Lake will indeed be an enduring loss,” he added. “But we know that you can’t save everything.”
Some school board members expressed support for the decision to demolish the building, agreeing with district officials that maintaining the building had become too costly.
“It does hurt that this decision had to be made,” said school board director Danielle Robinson. “We’ve done everything to try to figure out how to save this building but realistically it just can’t be done.”
The school district will likely begin demolition in August or September, which would take around a year to complete, said John Reedy, chief of operations for the district.
According to Superintendent Eric Turman, the district plans to host community meetings in the fall to hear input from residents on how they’d like to see the property used after William Penn is demolished.
Also on Tuesday, Suski approved the final 2023-24 budget of $218.5 million, which does not include a property tax increase.
Taxes will remain at a millage rate of 30.78.
In an earlier form of the preliminary budget, the district proposed raising taxes by 3.25%, however, officials removed the tax hike from the proposal at a previous meeting.
The 2023-24 budget is lower than the 2022-23 budget of $223.8 million, due to the end of some of the district’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) money, COVID relief funding, officials stated.
In other news, Suski also approved the termination of a license agreement of the district’s Joshua Farm with Harrisburg-based Wildheart Ministries, effective June 30. According to Suski, since the district began the partnership with the nonprofit about a month ago, the district has had concerns with the way the organization has used the property, located at 213 S. 18th St.
Suski said that district officials will create a new plan later this summer for the use of the property.
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