Moments after voting "absolutely, courageously, proudly yes" to the merger of the Center Area and Monaca school districts yesterday, James Barker of the Pennsylvania Board of Education jumped to his feet, applauding.
The other 12 board members, Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak, a fistful of education department staffers and the audience joined him.
Had the board ever given a standing ovation before?
"No," Dr. Barker said. "You have to do the extraordinary to get that from us."
Those words were typical of the praise heaped on representatives of the two Beaver County districts as the state board gave its stamp of approval to the long-debated deal.
"You are really to be commended for how you handled it," board member Esther Bush said.
Dr. Barker, in his public comments, called the districts "the beacon for others" and said it is "impossible to overstate the magnitude of your achievement."
"We're all proud to be part of this historic moment," Dr. Zahorchak added.
The districts are the first to merge since Woodland Hills was created by a court order in 1982, and the first ever to merge on a truly voluntary basis. They will officially become one July 1, and will launch combined elementary classes next school year. Middle school and high school classes will follow in the fall of 2010.
With the plan now locked in by the state board's approval, the districts can begin planning for joint elections, a joint budget and a blended staff.
Dr. Zahorchak used the moment to offer a clarion call for other districts to follow Center-Monaca's lead.
"There are too many districts graduating too few students," he said. "When you're graduating 50 or 60 or 70 from your senior class, it's hard to offer them everything they should have. And often these districts are right on top of each other, with high schools less than a mile apart. ...
"We're hopeful that more districts will use the same common sense we saw used here today."
Dr. Zahorchak didn't name names, but his description fits a number of Allegheny County's 45 school districts, and more in the surrounding counties. In Beaver County, the 15 school districts -- soon to be 14 -- averaged 3,236 students each in 1971 and 1,643 in 2007.
Dr. Zahorchak said two other sets of districts -- Clarion and Clarion-Limestone in Clarion County and Halifax and Millersburg in Dauphin County -- are actively engaged in merger talks, and he is scheduled to meet with superintendents from six other districts soon on the topic.
He's hoping for a double benefit from Center-Monaca's experiences. For one, having them do it first will show others that it can be done. For another, it has allowed the education department to blueprint the process so it can be repeated.
"We learned a lot as a board of education," he said.
"We've built up our own institutional expertise that we can apply again and again and again."
He added, "I'd like to say we're going to do it dozens more times."
Once is probably enough for Center and Monaca, however.
The districts started talking three years ago, motivated by the fact that falling enrollment in both districts was cutting into the number of courses and extracurricular activities each could provide. Monaca, with only 651 students this year, struggled to provide any Advanced Placement courses at all.
Studies showed the merger would let the new district offer a fuller curriculum, and would also save about $1.5 million a year through economies of scale.
Even so, Center voters responded to the original plan by voting out every board member running for re-election last fall. The group that replaced them held the deal up for six months before finally agreeing to a compromise plan in June.
"Getting here wasn't easy," Monaca Superintendent Mike Thomas said. But he said ultimately the two boards did the right thing.
"They put aside personal opinions and decided that this is the best thing for the future of education in their communities," he said.
Center Superintendent Dan Matsook, who had to nurse a reluctant board through the process for the last nine months, said the board's ultimate decision was a testament to "what volunteer school board service is all about: the children."
And he said there is a definite sense of accomplishment.
"When I talk to graduating classes, I tell them that the best way to predict your future is to create it," he said. "I think that's what we're doing. We're creating our own future."
First Published: September 19, 2008, 8:00 a.m.
