In past blogs, we shared information about the district’s multi-year fiscal planning as the primary methodology to avoid fiscal insolvency and support a comprehensive program. Part of that work involves an ongoing analysis of district demographics – How many students attend our schools? How many students do we project to be attending our schools over the next decade?
In this year’s budget presentation and at other BOE and community meetings, we shared that the district is experiencing a decline in enrollment. This is not unique as many communities go through population swings over time.
Knowing that there will be a reduction of 642 students over the next ten years – a decline of almost 1,000 students since 2006 – we studied ways to use our facilities with greater efficiency. Since at this time the most significant drop is occurring in the elementary schools, we decided to consolidate grades K-1-2 in William O. Schaefer in 2014-15 and 3-4-5 in Cottage Lane Elementary in 2015-16.
Over the past two years, the district conducted a study, explored various options, held meetings, and published information about the changes. The adopted plan was based on the rationale that there is sufficient space in WOS and CLE while closing TZE enables the district to close the budget gap by almost $1.5 million. With law that restricts the amount of money that schools can raise and with cuts of millions of dollars in state aid, we have to find economic solutions within our existing budget. This work has been built around the principle of protecting the instructional core of student-teacher-curriculum.
In addition to achieving efficiencies through consolidation, the district will lease instructional space. This is necessary to fund programs and pay district bills without going above the tax cap. Currently, the district leases classrooms to BOCES programs in each of our schools. Many of our students attend the programs while some attend BOCES programs in other districts that also lease space to BOCES. The law requires that we do so.
We lease the old Orangeburg Elementary School to Dominican College. We also lease a portion of WOS and the former Palisades Elementary School to the Fred Keller School, a school for children with learning challenges. We plan to move the leased classrooms, used for Fred Keller’s pre-school, to TZE. The Fred Keller School has been an excellent tenant and has served many of our district’s students.
Whenever a school district closes a school, community members speculate that the school will be sold. This is often a great concern to neighbors who fear changes to their local community. It is understandable that such a change brings on such concerns.
There is, however, no plan to sell the Tappan Zee Elementary School. The topic has never been raised as a viable alternative. It is likely that as demographics shift again – and they will – the district will again need TZE. There are districts in this county that have sold closed schools during enrollment declines. This is often a regrettable decision when school boards years after the sale have had to ask the community to support new construction when within a ten-to twenty year period, they had sold a school.
Our business plan keeps Tappan Zee open and uses it to lease to such institutions as BOCES and the Fred Keller School. In the meantime, we will continue to facilitate the transition to two three-year schools. In 2014-15 the Grade 1 students will simply move up to Grade 2 in WOS while the Grade 2 students will move up to Grade 3 in TZE while the third graders, as they always have done, will head over to CLE.
For students the change is minimal. Second graders will simply be changing classrooms in their current elementary school. Additional information about building changes will be provided by the principals.