Moon Area School District votes to close Hyde Elementary

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) — The Moon Area School Board voted to close Hyde Elementary.

In a 5 to 4 vote at a board meeting on Tuesday night, leaders decided to close the school.

The Moon Area School District had been contemplating closing Hyde Elementary since last fall, even amid strong opposition from parents . Administrators said students at the school don't have the same grades as kids in other schools and there isn't enough support.

Hyde, which was built in the 1950s and has never had major renovations, is in the middle of the neighborhood it serves, which includes low-income families from other countries.

Administrators said closing the school will save the district money, which can be used to invest in educational programs at other schools. Keeping all five elementary schools, with necessary upgrades to Hyde and hiring an additional 15 teachers, would have cost nearly $10 million.

The closure will go into effect starting the 2025-26 school year. Most of Hyde's students will move to J.H. Brooks Elementary, but leaders will be drawing new school boundaries.

"We'll be looking to balance that out the best we can to create less shifts. We try to have the least number of moves for elementary kids," Moon Area School District Superintendent Barry Balaski said.

Parents plead their case

Sean O'Brien is a parent of a fourth-grade student at Hyde Elementary. He said the reason his family moved to the neighborhood was because of the school.

"To displace these children and out them throughout the school district, I just don't see how it's going to work out great," O'Brien said before the vote.

At a board meeting on Tuesday, most of those in attendance were in favor of not closing the school.

"Our kids shouldn't just have to survive their elementary school experience," parent Mollie Hill said. "Our kids have the right to thrive. They deserve that and they're not going to get it by closing Hyde."