Ellwood Board Members Mention Potential Merger but not with Riverside

At the Ellwood City area school board agenda meeting on Monday, board members mentioned a potential merger suitor, sort of.

Board President Renee Pitrelli mentioned that an official from another school district said that representatives from the district might be interested in a merger. Pitrelli would only say that the district is close, is not Riverside and that Ellwood is not currently engaged in any official merger discussions.

However, Pitrelli said that drastic action may need to be taken due to the uncertainty in Harrisburg. The Pennsylvania legislature still has not yet passed a budget for 2016. Meanwhile, the school district has to have a budget for 2016-17 prepared by June 30.

“Even when a [state] budget is passed, we’re still heading toward a financial disaster if there’s no more funding for schools,” Pitrelli said.

Board members Anthony Buzzelli and LeRoy Cortez suggested approaching Riverside for a merger. In 2011, Buzzelli and Cortez app[roached the Riverside school board about joining a merger study, which would have been funded by the state. Riverside’s board wasn’t interested.

However, the composition of Riverside’s board has changed from then to now. In addition, declining enrollment has continued to affect the districts. Pitrelli stated that she had heard unofficially that Ellwood shouldn’t approach Riverside to discuss a merger.