South Park Township Sisters Start Petition To Save High School And Elementary School Libraries From Possible Cuts
SOUTH PARK TOWNSHIP (KDKA) - Across the state, school districts are starting to take a look at their budgets and make cuts due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In South Park, community members tell KDKA they are fighting back.
"I personally would not move to any school district that did not have access to libraries and the arts," said Sarah Eileen Linder, a 2013 graduate of South Park High School.
"I was in marching band, jazz band, concert band, pep band, concert choir. I did theatre, I did drama club, I did it all, and the arts in history have a very heavy profile of being cut," said Emily Linder, a 2020 graduate of South Park High.
These two sisters tell KDKA the South Park School Board is expected to vote to close the high school library and reduce library services at the middle and elementary schools.
"It's anybody's right to walk in and get a book and pick up solid information. And that is part of life. You should be able to look off a screen to learn what you need to know," said Emily.
KDKA asked the school district if these proposed cuts would be discussed at Thursday's meeting. The administration said no vote has taken place yet, and they could not comment.
The sisters said they got a similar response and started a petition to bring to the board.
"It's such a chaotic time that we wanted to ensure we know everything we need to know as a community so that we can weigh in. And our community is widely expertise, so being able to have our voices heard with a petition and have them reconsider their action, is incredibly important," said Sarah.
In just a few days' time, more than 2,000 people have signed the petition.
Kathy Collins said her granddaughter will be in the first grade in the fall at South Park Elementary and she knows school cuts are coming. Collins thinks those cuts should start in high school.
"They need those beginning readers and research books. They need to learn how to do the research," said Collins.
The school board's virtual meeting started at 6:30 p.m., and a number of community members signed up to share their thoughts during public comment.
