The North Colonie School District followed suggestions made at a budge forum on enrollment numbers held on Nov. 30, and discussed the topics of redistricting and the possibility of closing Maplewood Elementary School, which was annexed in 2008.
Involved in the considerations for redistricting in the North Colonie School District, the district would have to look at continuing to maintain the seven elementary buildings and establish consistent class sizes.
There is also a possibility of reducing Latham Ridge to a two-deep building by creating a one-deep K-6 building at Maplewood Elementary. Redistricting could also mean that the district would have to change boundary lines for some of the elementary school children, placing them in different schools than what they are already attending.
In a study, the projected enrollment for the 2011 school year from grades K-6, Latham Ridge would have 359 students enrolled while Maplewood would have 115 enrolled.
In the case of closing down Maplewood, students from that school would most likely be moved to Latham Ridge, creating a combined enrollment of 475 students. District Superintendent Joseph Corr said a transitional plan would have to be put in place so the children could properly assimilate to their new surroundings.
The Maplewood elementary building would still be under the district’s ownership, so it suggested a few options as to what could be done with the building that would also benefit the community in that area as well.
Options available to them were leaving the space to child-centered organizations or using the building as a center for the community groups.
Closing the school could result in a $600,000 cost savings along with some energy and maintenance savings, and could bring in $75,000 in revenue from the leasing options. While there would be some money generated from shutting the school down, the district made sure to go over the reasons as to why Maplewood was annexed in the first place.
At the time, according to the presentation, Maplewood was facing increasing financial troubles along with a drop in enrollment. Corr said that the annexation would provide better educational opportunities for students and would bring in more state aid.
North Colonie was set to receive $30 million in Annexation Initiative Aid and would see an increase of 48 percent to 68 percent in State Aid for New York State Department of Education approved building projects.
Also experienced through the annexation was the tax rate per $1,000 was cut by a third for those living in the Maplewood community.
The district maintains that it provided a better learning experience as well from combining the staff from Maplewood with the staff from North Colonie.
A cost analysis was completed on November 17, through Questar revealed that if the district was to implement a full day kindergarten program; they would receive $2,412 for each student increase over the previous year. They could also see cost savings of $376,476 from three positions left vacant and $298,575 could be acquired through possible lease agreements.
Corr said a lot must be looked at when considering cost savings, and the closure of Maplewood has been a topic that has come up previously in the community and during budget discussions.
`I think what we have to do in these difficult budget times is to look at lots of different options for cost savings,` Corr said. `The Maplewood families feel very attached to their school and it is a part of their community. They’re reluctant to at it as an option for cost savings and would for us to consider other options.“