Looking at education in Butler County throughout 2023
As county school districts bounce back from the pandemic, improvement projects and growth dominated education headlines in 2023.
But among the stories of expansion, districts also saw their share of troubling news — including Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School quarterback Mason Martin’s collapse and recovery, injured Mars Area High School student Paige Lauten’s long road to rehabilitation and the deaths of a Butler Senior High School student and Knoch Middle School student.
And as the school year began this fall, districts tackled funding challenges and staffing concerns.
For a complete breakdown of education highlights in 2023, take a look at the list below — and subscribe to the Butler Eagle this year to stay up to date on schools across the county.
In January, Butler County Commissioners approved hiring a new detective to combat an increase in fights and drug incidents at Butler Senior High and Butler Intermediate High schools crime in Butler Area School District.
March saw school districts across the county receive more than $311,000 from their involvement in a nationwide class-action lawsuit against Juul Labs. The lawsuit sought damages from the use of vaping products among students, with many of the schools using the funding to promote education surrounding the dangers of vaping.
Mars Area School District also saw a proposed $36 million expansion in March, including a potential $14 million relocation and expansion of the Mars Athletic Complex. The proposal hoped to see the expansion of the school district’s Primary Center and Elementary School facilities by 2026, in line with projected growth from an enrollment and capacity study.
Seneca Valley School District also unveiled its new Academy of Choice Drop-in Center allowing students in the district’s cyber program, the Academy of Choice, to stop in for innovative in-person experiences.
Sister John Ann Mulhern, longtime Butler Catholic School principal, retired in March. Mulhern’s replacement, John Hazur, took on her duties this summer.
Knoch School District approved full-day kindergarten in early March, with superintendent David Foley suggesting the district would save approximately $500,000 from the change this school year.
In April, Butler County Community College also welcomed a new $6.5 million facility: BC3 @ Armstrong in Ford City.
More than two-thirds of the nine school districts in Butler County proposed tax increases in June, hoping to offset rising costs for the 2023-24 school year.
Districts included Butler Area School District, Seneca Valley School District, Mars Area School District, Moniteau School District, Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District, Freeport Area School District and Slippery Rock Area School District.
Butler County Community College began to wind-down work on its Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building in July. The new $18.2 million building held its grand opening two months later on Sept. 20.
In August, Mars Area Centennial School introduced new metal detectors following a comprehensive evaluation of the school’s safety plan last year. Only students in seventh through 12th grades were previously required to pass through metal detectors at the high school building.
Butler Senior High School also put the finishing touches on a 19,000-square-foot addition ahead of the 2023-24 school year. The new wing included 10 new classrooms as well as a science, technology, engineering and math space; woodshops; 3D printers; and additional technology.
Knoch School Board also revisited plans for a renovation of Knoch High School at the end of the month, decreasing the projects price by millions of dollars.
On Sept. 1, Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School quarterback Mason Martin collapsed during the third quarter of Karns City’s game against Redbank Valley and was diagnosed with a brain bleed and collapsed lung.
After months of treatment — and the loss of his mother, Stacy Martin, in October — his father announced earlier this month that Mason had completed his second week of rehabilitation at UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh.
A September article reported school districts in the county were struggling to fill open positions — especially paraprofessionals.
In October, Butler Area School District superintendent Brian White testified about the funding challenges faced by the school district, as well as others across the state, at a Pennsylvania House Appropriations and Education Committee joint hearing.
White called for state legislators to work closely with school district superintendents to address funding issues through resource allocation.
On Oct. 13, Knoch Middle School student Zane Rupert, 12, and his grandfather David Faulx, 65, died in a vehicle accident in Winfield Township. An 11-year-old student at Slippery Rock Area Middle School was struck by a vehicle four days later while attempting to get on the school bus.
And in early December, Mars Area High School freshman Paige Lauten — who was struck by a car in November 2022 along Route 228 — visited Quality EMS to thank the men and women who saved her life just over a year ago.
A November update from her family confirmed Paige was back at school full time and had returned to playing softball.
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