Scranton school directors voted 7-2 this week to authorize going after the former Penn Foster property at 925 Oak St. through legal action, agreeing to pay $2.2 million for the 85,000-square-foot building if the district cannot strike a deal with its current owner. The vote does not mean the purchase is final or that any taking has happened yet — it simply clears the district to pursue the acquisition if negotiations stall.
Directors took the vote Monday, according to thetimes-tribune.com, which reported that the board authorized acquiring the North Scranton property for $2.2 million through legal action should the district be unable to negotiate a deal. The building sits on about 16 acres, the outlet reported, and district officials have said it could be occupied roughly six months after a purchase goes through. Two directors, Carol Cleary and Catherine Fox, voted against the move, according to WVIA, saying they wanted more information and clarity before proceeding.
Who Owns the Building Now
The property isn't owned by Penn Foster anymore. An entity called 925 Oak LLC bought it from Penn Foster LLC for $2.2 million in April 2024, per the same Times-Tribune report. WVIA's account adds that the district and 925 Oak LLC have been unable to agree on terms of a sale, which is what pushed the board toward the eminent domain route in the first place.
District leaders have floated several possible uses for the space if the acquisition goes forward, according to WVIA's reporting — special education classrooms, pre-kindergarten, early intervention, or even a full elementary school. As WNEP reported, school board president Tom Borthwick told the station the district is considering a grade 3-8 autistic support school at the site, and said the building's location and size make it workable for a school despite the work it would take to bring it up to standard.
A Special Education Caseload That Keeps Climbing
The push for more space comes as Scranton's special education population has grown fast. Superintendent Erin Keating said the district now has 57 autistic-support classrooms and has opened eight to ten school-based classrooms every year since she arrived, the station's report states. Keating also said enrollment has held at 9,200 students or more, confounding earlier projections that it would fall below 8,800 or 8,700.
That growth has been building for years. Scranton projected 43 autistic-support classrooms for fall 2025, up from 26 in 2020, WVIA reported in a separate story from July 2025. The same report found that about 25% of district students received special education services, compared with 18% a decade earlier, and that more than 140 students entered the district after receiving support from the Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit last year, well above the typical range of 60 to 90. Borthwick told WNEP the district's special-needs population has grown almost explosively.
A Recent Precedent on Maple Street
This wouldn't be the district's first move of this kind recently. In December 2025, Scranton school directors voted 7-2 — with Cleary and Fox again opposed — to purchase a building at 1509 Maple St. from the nonprofit Friendship House for $2.5 million, according to the same Times-Tribune outlet. That building was intended to house an expansion of the district's Monticello Program for kindergarten through second grade students, with Friendship House leasing back about 15% of the space and paying the district $15,596 in monthly rent under the arrangement. WNEP's reporting notes the district opened a K-2 autistic support school at that site, now called the Jim Connors Learning Center, on East Mountain in late 2025 — purchased from Friendship House for $2.5 million. If the Penn Foster acquisition proceeds, it would mark the district's second such property purchase in recent years, per WNEP.
The space crunch also carries the weight of past decisions. Bancroft Elementary closed in 2021 following choices made by previous school boards, according to WNEP's reporting, and WVIA reported that reopening it could cost as much as $18 million. WNEP reported that Borthwick described the Penn Foster project as a chance to rectify a past mistake and expand the district's capacity, framing it against a district that WNEP's report says was financially distressed for years. WNEP also reported there is no clear timeline yet for the district to take over the Oak Street property.
What Eminent Domain Actually Means Here
Pennsylvania's Property Rights Protection Act defines eminent domain as the power of the Commonwealth to take private property for public use in return for just compensation, according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The board's vote keeps that option on the table, but it stops short of any taking — the district and the property's owner still have room to reach a negotiated deal before any legal action would be filed.
