Where will your child attend school in 2024-2025?In the next few weeks, parents will receive letters with information for their specific child.

Harrisburg School District
2024-2025 School Calendar Ver en español

Harrisburg School District Reconfiguration

A plan for creating effective and efficient educational spaces to help prepare HBGSD students for college, careers, success, and life beyond high school.

Find Your School for 2024-2025
School Boundary Map

The Plan

During the February 27th School Board and Receiver’s Business Meeting, Harrisburg School District’s Reconfiguration Plan was approved.

The plan will go into effect at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.

View Superintendent Turman's final reconfiguration plan presentation.

Watch the reconfiguration plan video.

Please email your questions to districtreconfiguration@hbgsd.us

6 Elementary Schools
3 Middle Schools
2 High Schools
K-12 Blended Option
Virtual Learning Academy

Superintendent Turman's
Reconfiguration Plan Overview

Reconfiguration Chart

Why all the elementary changes?

With the exception of Marshall Math and Science Academy, the district moved fifth grade students back to the elementary level during the 22-23 school year, in an effort to boost academic performance, improve attendance, and reduce suspensions. Research shows that fifth graders tend to do better in an elementary environment. Moving fifth grade back to the elementary level was contingent on the district reopening Steele Elementary School for the 24-25 school year, which would provide adequate space to redistribute our elementary students throughout our schools.


As the city’s population has shifted over time, some of our elementary schools are overcrowded, and we need to balance our enrollment.

Scott Elementary was not designed as a school and needs significant work. Closing this school is the right choice for students and staff as they deserve spaces designed for education.


We would like to return to true neighborhood schools and provide safer walking passages for students. Neighborhood schools also allow the district to create after school programming across the city. Each elementary school will be able to host after school tutoring and recreational activities. We will provide additional information about those programs prior to the start of the 2024-2025 school year.


In 2024-2025, the District will proudly open Steele Elementary which has undergone a complete renovation since its closing in 2011. Scott will be closed for general K-5 students. Scott will still briefly house the SESI program, the District’s Alternative Program. A future location for that program will be determined.

Currently, the District has five brick and mortar elementary schools:

  • Ben Franklin Elementary
  • Downey Elementary
  • Foose Elementary
  • Melrose Elementary
  • Scott Elementary

In 2024-2025, the District will have six brick and mortar elementary schools:

  • Ben Franklin Elementary
  • Downey Elementary
  • Foose Elementary
  • Lincoln Elementary
  • Melrose Elementary
  • Steele Elementary

View Frequently Asked Questions

What about the middle schools?

Currently, the District has three middle school buildings, plus Cougar Academy and the online HVLA program:

  • Camp Curtin Academy
  • Rowland Academy
  • Marshall Math Science Academy

We are beginning the process of moving to two middle schools (in addition to Cougar Academy, which is a blended learning program, and HVLA, which is exclusively online):

  • Camp Curtin Academy
  • Marshall Math Science Academy

Why move to two middle schools?

The primary goal of moving to two middle schools is to create a strong Career Pathways program at this level. Career Pathways is a successful nationwide educational program that helps students to personalize their educational plan to move them to high school graduation and beyond in more dynamic, successful ways. Students engage in learning about themselves, their strengths, interests, and goals, and begin to think about different pathways for future careers, including: Health and Human Services, Business, Government and Leadership, STEEM (Science, Technology, Environmental, Engineering, Mathematics), and General Studies.

Our high schools will begin engaging in Career Pathways programs, and we want to begin the foundational work in middle school so that students have exposure to these different fields. By starting in middle school, students can begin to think about the kinds of courses they will need to take and the kinds of work and experiences they can engage in to be successful.


Students at Camp Curtin will have a careers class for ⅓ of their sixth grade year. The Career Pathways teacher will work with businesses in Harrisburg to expose middle school students to different careers. A list of activities and partners will be shared with our students, families, and school community.

View Frequently Asked Questions

Our District

We are one Harrisburg for ALL students!

Through reconfiguration this year we will ease overcrowding in our elementary schools and strengthen our middle school programming while continuing to support our outstanding high school programs.

Students
6590
District Employees
739
Schools
13
Harrisburg for ALL students
1

Meet Your Building Leaders

Our building leaders are a dynamic group of individuals who are passionate about education and dedicated to delivering the best results for our students.

Frequently asked questions

Scott is an office building currently being used as a school. It is not an environment that is conducive to high quality teaching and learning. Our students deserve to be educated in spaces built for instruction.

The reopening of Steele allowed the district to bring 5th grade students from the middle schools back to the elementary level. It also allowed for the district to have true neighborhood elementary schools and create a safer passage to and from school.

Lincoln currently houses the Cougar Academy Blended Learning Program, which will move to the former Hamilton Elementary. We will be moving the staff currently at Scott Elementary to the Lincoln building.

Marshall Math Science Academy will remain a magnet school with a specific focus.

In addition to Positive Behavior Support programs which have been successful at the elementary level, our administrative staff is prepared to manage our students in very positive, supportive ways. We will be working with students in both small and large groups to emphasize the importance of our behavior expectations. We will also be adding additional safety monitors at each of the schools. Our sixth grade team will be trained in conflict resolution strategies, and we will emphasize positive and meaningful ways to integrate diverse students from across the district.

MMSA will have approximately 450-500 students after the transition. MMSA has the capacity to add up to 600 students in the future. We would need to add additional teachers.

Camp Curtin Academy will have approximately 900 students after the full transition has been completed in three years, compared to 445 who are in the school currently.

In 2024-2025, Camp Curtin’s population will grow by approximately 215 students.

In 2025-26, it will grow by approximately 167 students.

In 2026-27, it will grow by approximately 78 students.

Camp Curtin has the capacity to house approximately 1100 students.

In sixth grade in the 2024-2025 school year, Camp Curtin will have three different five-person teaching teams, including a Math, Science, Social Studies, English and Intervention/Acceleration teacher. Marshall Math Science Academy will have one team at each grade level, configured in the same way. This kind of teaming model helps to make a larger school ‘feel’ smaller and maintains students in cohorts and smaller groups that allow for deeper relationships with the adults in the school and a more concentrated focus on positive student behavior and interaction.

Camp Curtin Academy will undergo approximately $9.6 million in renovations to support school-wide improvements and a robust Career Pathways Program. The renovation will include a state of the art media center, a career explorations room, renovation of the auditorium, and renovation of science rooms to include brand new, technologically advanced labs. We have recently approved an HVAC project, painting the entire building, refurbishing bathrooms and adding new LED lights. We are also renovating the gymnasium and that project is nearly complete.

Our reconfiguration plans are specifically aimed at increasing academic achievement. Our current configurations are not supporting student learning in the best possible ways. The changes include many benefits (safe passage to schools, return to neighborhood elementaries, better and more effective use of our spaces, improved educational spaces, balancing enrollment) but one of the most impactful is the opportunity to create true career pathways programs at our middle schools to boost student engagement and achievement.

To find out which school your child or children may attend, you can utilize our online map and search for your address to find your school for 2024-2025. The map lists the school zones that cover your area of the city.

Elementary Schools: 8:50AM - 3:50PM
Middle Schools: 8:30AM - 3:30PM
High Schools: 7:45AM - 2:45PM
Cougar Academy and HVLA: 8:30AM - 3:30PM

Karyn Brown - Transportation Coordinator
Phone: 717-703-4055 or 717-703-4145
Fax: 717-703-4105
kmbrown@hbgsd.us

Cougar Academy is our free cyber blended learning option for grades K-12. For more information, call 717-703-4325

Harrisburg Virtual Learning Academy is our free full-time, personalized cyber learning option for grades K-12. For more information, call 717-703-4364

Reach out to us at districtreconfiguration@hbgsd.us and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.