Bigger savings
While it is a small fraction of the budget, the closure of two of the three elementary schools in the conversation would make up a considerably larger fraction of the budget than Meagher will. While Sophie Finn would realize an estimated savings of $674,116, Anna Devine could nearly double that, at an estimated $1,114,341. Zena’s closure, it’s believed, would save even more money: $1,116,172. The plans to close Zena and Anna Devine include the elimination of five teaching positions apiece; the closure of Meagher and Sophie Finn would each result in the elimination of one teaching position. Other savings realized in closing any school would be largely comprised of other staff, including the building principal and school nurse.
“Certainly the fringe benefit of this restructuring is that there will be cost savings,” Farrell said. “But we need to downsize. There will be fewer teachers needed at the elementary level and perhaps at the middle and high school levels. For all I know, the new superintendent will say, ‘Let’s change the grade structure at the middle school and high school.’”
The Board of Education heard from parents and supporters of the schools during their last meeting, a trend likely to continue when they reconvene on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at Robert R. Graves Elementary. It will be the first meeting of Superintendent Paul Padalino’s Kingston career, and trustees expect that the redistricting discussion will be on the agenda. While some trustees said they understand there’s a certain feeling of urgency on the matter, they also feel as though Padalino should be afforded the opportunity to either support any of the options currently on the table or come to them with something entirely new.
“Certainly if the new superintendent presented a plan, I’d be open to it,” Farrell said. “My personal preference would be for the Meagher closure to be finalized and for the new superintendent to present any other closure plans he might have, and for that to be settled soon. And then we can move on to furthering our discussion about other budgetary items.”
About a month left
Shaughnessy said he hoped a decision could be reached in “another month or six weeks” and still come off effectively in time for the beginning of the 2012-13 school year. Even with the budget conversation about to begin in earnest, redistricting isn’t likely to fall by the wayside.
“I do think that we are much more familiar with the issues at the elementary schools because we have been looking at them for so long,” Shaughnessy said, adding that there may be possibilities on the table which have yet to be seriously considered.
“We could consolidate seventh and eighth grade into one of the middle schools,” Shaughnessy said, adding that he was speaking as an individual and not on behalf of the board in support of the idea. “We have fewer than 1,000 students in seventh and eighth grade. Seven or eight years ago there were 1,000 students at Miller [Middle School] and 1,025 students at Bailey [Middle School]. Either one of those schools could hold the seventh or eighth grade. What would we do with sixth grade? There are possibilities, and that’s the type of thing we could look at. There are other options on the table that go beyond the scenarios Dr. Seversky presented to us in his study.”
The study Shaughnessy referenced was performed by Advisory Solutions, with the findings and resulting suggestions directed by Paul Seversky. The report, commissioned by the district in October 2009 at a cost of $36,685 and completed nearly a year later, posited a number of options for addressing the declining student population, with the same four schools at the center of the closure discussion now — Meagher, Anna Devine, Zena and Sophie Finn — considered the best option.
Painful choices
Transportation Director Judith Falcon has often stressed that the complexities of the thousands of miles covered each day by the district’s buses makes settling on a redistricting plan sooner rather than later a necessity, though if Shaughnessy is correct, that could happen sometime in February, or even later. That’s difficult to hear for Julie Montera, a Zena alum and sophomore at the University of Vermont working toward a degree in early childhood education. Montera has been spending her winter break as an intern at her former elementary school among kindergarten students. It was Zena, Montera said, that helped form her chosen career path, and it was Zena where she hoped to return one day to teach.
“I’m obviously biased because I went to Zena, but my friends and I who went there since kindergarten, we had a very unique education in a very small school,” she said. “A lot of people think that’s a bad thing, but it totally fosters a tight-knit community, which is really great. It’s very welcoming with so many opportunities. I was so young, and I didn’t realize how awesome it was until I left. And now I can pinpoint so many wonderful, life-changing memories.”
The feeling that your own elementary school, or at least the one where your children are attending, is special is not unique to Zena family. Each school is special to someone, and Zena supporters seem to realize that.
“Each school in our district has its own special qualities,” said Hill. “It’s hard to compare them; they’re not the same. The neighborhoods aren’t the same and the people aren’t the same.”
But despite that realization, Hill said there’s a chance that closing schools could backfire on the district, making even more families move out, taking their tax dollars with them.
“I don’t want to be on a ship that is slowly sinking,” Rattiya Hill, a parent of three former and current Zena students said. “My husband and I made the decision to move back. The school system did wonders for us, and we decided to come back and raise our family here. And now, if the Kingston City School District doesn’t get it together, they’re going to lose people like us, and it’s going to be unfortunate. You can’t have a competitive school district if the schools become lackluster. It’s going to be a downhill slide.”
