Small schools should consolidate, state commission says
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- December
- 2
A state tax-relief commission yesterday recommended that all school districts with fewer than 1,000 students be required to merge with neighboring districts.
Locally, three five school districts would be affected by the proposal: Pocantico Hills, Elmsford and Tuckahoe in Westchester County and Haldane and Garrison in Putnam County, according to enrollment numbers provided by the state Education Department.
Both the Pocantico Hills and Garrison school districts are K-8 schools, with approximately 687 and 376 students, respectively, according to the New York State School Boards Association.
Parents Kristine and Chris Batignani have lived in Garrison for almost seven years, with children now in grades three and five.
Kristine Batignani heard about the consolidation proposal while bringing her children to the bus stop yesterday morning, saying her first reaction was, “Oh jeez! I hope that doesn’t include us!”
She described the school district as a small community where the principal and even the superintendent know every student by name. Parents always are welcome in the school, they participate in the classrooms and the cafeteria, and it’s always easy to catch a teacher or the principal for a quick chat about the children, she said.
“We really enjoy the small community and the small school and the feel of it and the special attention that the students get here,” said Kristine Batignani, 44, a stay-at-home mom. “It makes you feel very comfortable.”
While “it’s always a concern” that taxes go up year after year, she added, it hasn’t gotten to the point where she would want to see the schools merge just to say a few bucks.
“Yes, it’s a concern, but I like the quality of the schools, so I don’t mind paying,” she said. “Even people who don’t have kids in the schools say they don’t mind because the schools attract people to the area and help home values.”
Many Garrison students go on to attend high school in the nearby Haldane school district, in Cold Spring.
Haldane schools Superintendent Mark Villanti yesterday said he sees the economic benefits of consolidation, especially considering the nation is “in a crisis situation, economically.”
But the difficulty, he added, lies in the fact that communities embrace their local schools and often see the schools are part of the community’s identity.
“I’m not saying throw it out, it’s a bad idea. I don’t think you can do that,” he said. “I think you need to weigh it out. There’s a trade off between the economic benefits verses the community’s decision to make those decisions for themselves.”
Pocantico Hills schools Superintendent Fred Smith wasn’t quite as open to the idea.
“All of them can go jump in a damn lake,” he said of the state tax-relief commission that proposed the plan. “They are stupid. We elect some very dumb politicians. They come up with these dumb ideas.”
Saying that such an idea would never fly with people in Pocantico Hills, Smith added that if the state wants more of a say in the schools, they they should put up more money.
“Education is a local thing. The state puts in minimal money and wants to have all of the say,” Smith said. “I say let’s consolidate some of the political offices and get rid of some of their staff. That’s what we should be talking about. School districts are not wasting any money. The money we have, we are using it to give a great education to our students.”
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 2:13 pm by Diana Costello.
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They want to bit-h about costs but they do not want to do anything about it if it affects them, typical and amazing!
it is absolutely amazing…this is the problem ..people
simply don;’t want to recognize that the redundancy
in the school districts is costing them a fortune not
to mention police, courts and the rest…frankly
;instead of taking on county government there should
be a study commission to demontrate the exact cost of
what each service is in each community…the county
only accounts for 18% of the property tax bill..all
the rest is other services…so paul feiner and
joan granowksi are demogoging the issue of cutting
county government it will save very little..now
the form of county government could be drastically
altered to get rid of the elected apparthicks and
hire a professional manager that might save say
20% of the 18% or about 3.5%....but to really save
money an axe has to be take to the remaining 80%
and that means a mass consolidation of villages
Why not take this opportunity to experiment with school choice. Break those schools of from all public funding and have them function on their own and charge to go to the school. Provide merit based pay to teachers and enable the instructors to take over most of the administration of the school. What makes America special is our adventuresome spirit in the face of disaster – I’m betting that those parents, students, teachers and other staff could do far worse than band together and devise a plan to support their school via volunteer spirit and a solid business philosophy that prioritizes their sons and daughters education.
If most of the kids in Garrison,go to Haldane school district for high school,am I correct in assuming that Garrison parents pay not only for Garrison school taxes but also Haldane? I don’t know,I think that would save some money. Its also a matter of pooling resources. I agree villages should be consolidated,become part of the towns that they are already paying taxes to already. Its ridiculous to have such extra layers of government like a village.
The superintendent’s remarks are a bit shocking … I would expect a bit more depth and less coarseness. Then again, I’ve been conditioned to beshocked by the attitude of school officials.
The merit of this proposal is obvious. In fact, I would think that 1,500 students would actually be a better merger point. The duplication of servics is financially ignorant. And the “turf protection” philosophy is no longer practical or even socially healthy.
Why is it a sin to ask for financial sensibility? You can cultivate a school cultural even among many schools in a district … there are plenty of examples of that. It all depends on what philosophy is embraced.
What exists now cannot continue … or schools will break the back of the community. I fear that the intransience suggested by Smith will invite a disproportionate backlash down the line. There is a breaking point when it comes to community largesse … and it is fasy approaching for school districts. To ignore the swelling sentiment is to court real pain down the road. Better to be proactive now than to be forced into some very uninviting choices later.