Elementary school consolidation or closure a possibility
Local schools are feeling their budgets getting crunched and Scotia-Glenville is looking at ways to find cost savings wherever they may be.
The Scotia-Glenville Board of Education hired a consultant, Michael Dutkowsky, to evaluate how the school district operates their elementary schools and if there are any cost savings to be found through consolidation or closing a facility. On December 10, the results of the study are planned to be completed and any cost saving measures will be presented to the district.
What we think will most likely happen, is there will be opportunities to consolidate spaces, said Robert Hanlon, spokesman for the school district.
He said the study will review if space is being used efficiently in the schools and if any space is being wasted. Also, there is the possibility of closing an elementary school and how the district would be affected. The second phase of the initiative will address how the school will go about making any of the changes, although, Dutkowsky hasn’t been hired for the second phase, but he appears to be the candidate to help with any transitional efforts.
`It is very difficult for a school district to look at that objectively,` said Susan Swartz, superintendent of the school district. `People who are working here, or sending their children here, or are graduates of the system feel pretty passionate about their elementary school.`
Bringing an outside consultant to analyze any cost savings measures seemed to be the best option, said Swartz, which is similar to the situation in Schalmont Central School District with their efficiency study.
`After several years of back and forth, I thought it would probably be helpful to bring a consultant to gather the baseline data to give us a framework that we could start thinking about,` said Swartz.
Dutkowsky has a background in schools and Hanlon said he understands the situations and troubles a school district faces. He will gather information on enrollment, how classrooms are used and what are class sizes and transportation needs of students in the district. The information will be looking to develop cost saving strategies for the 2011 to 2012 budget. He will be paid a maximum of $10,000.
Enrollment in elementary schools has been flat for several years, said Hanlon, and district enrollment has been declining for several years. The past two years have held `healthy` kindergarten enrollment though, he said.
`It is the kind of thing that we don’t want to be caught waking up one day with a school with 100 kids,` said Hanlon. `We want to be ahead of the curve here and look at what we are going to do.`
This year there are 200 students enrolled in kindergarten at the district. In third grade there are 188 students, fourth grade has 190 students and fifth grade has 178 students. There are 1,175 students enrolled at all the elementary schools in the district. Individually, Lincoln has 253 students, Glen-Worden has 256 students, Glendaal hlds 284 students and Sacandaga has the most at 382 students.
`There has been discussion in the past of closing a school, but that is easier said than done,` said Hanlon. `If you have 250 kids in one building, we can’t shove 250 into another one of our buildings.`
One option would be going to grade level centers, but there would be a new cost of having to bus children to different schools, which for certain grades would be further away then their current school. Hanlon questioned if the savings would be enough for the increase in bus costs associated with grade level center, which would have certain buildings providing for specific grade ranges.
`Historically we have had neighborhood schools here,` said Hanlon.
Swartz said the problem isn’t unique to the district, which can be seen in neighboring districts trying to control cost and plan for the future.
`For every school in New York State right now, given the state aid picture, we are trying to be mindful of our community with its costs,` said Swartz.
The study will merely present the district with options and will not make any decisions on the future of the district.“