YORKTOWN — The Board of Education granted the administration permission to move forward with consolidating the four elementary schools, which includes closing the French Hill Elementary School.

Yorktown Central School District Superintendent Dr. Ralph Napolitano gave a presentation before the board and the public during a special meeting on Monday, Feb. 1, in the Yorktown High School auditorium to explain the proposal.

“We’re trying to move forward in a difficult budget year, and we wanted to give the community an opportunity to see what we are facing,” Napolitano said. “This evening is the beginning of the 2010-11 budget process and the consolidation proposal will affect the district budgets over the next several years.”

Due to a decline in student enrollment in the Yorktown Central School District and the severe economic cuts the state has forced upon schools, the board asked the administration to come up with a feasibility plan to idle one of the elementary schools and combine the other three, Napolitano said.

The consolidation plan proposes closing French Hill Elementary School and combining the Mohansic, Crompond and Brookside Elementary schools. Mohansic and Brookside would house students in kindergarten through third grade and Crompond would be responsible for the fourth- and fifth-graders.

Of the five scenarios the administration investigated, with the help of a number of teachers throughout the district, this one seemed to be the most prudent, Napolitano said.
The consolidation would call for staff changes, including John Wells, French Hill’s principal; moving to Brookside, Brookside Principal Kenneth Levy shifting to Crompond; Mohansic Principal Susan Berry remaining at Mohansic; and no position has been announced for current Crompond Principal Lisa O’Shea.

“We are looking at the restructuring and its effects on Principal O’Shea. We’re not telling her she’s out,” Napolitano said.

All four elementary school principals joined Napolitano during his presentation and announced their support for the consolidation.

“We like the K-3 model because it is really focused on the primary educational model and promotes the articulation between second- and third-graders,” Napolitano said. “Having grades four through five in the schools gives us the perfect opportunity to bring those students from all over town together and they get to know each other better.”

A $1.4 million reduction in state aid is one factor forcing the administration into this difficult decision and Napolitano suggested taking the money from the fund balance.
It is one of a number of ways the district can help lower the forecasted tax rate increase of 12.5 percent which, after factoring in items such as debt service reserve, enrollment-based reductions, staff retirements and the elementary school consolidation, should be reduced to 7.2 percent, just under 5 percent higher than last year’s tax rate increase.

The consolidation is expected to save the district $1 million, but the board and administration will still have $2.9 million in order to have a 2.62 percent tax rate increase, the same as last year’s.

“We could save more money but we have been very careful to sustain class sizes. If there is an overlap in services there would be cuts in staff,” Napolitano said.
Student enrollment has dropped about 400 students since the 2004-05 school year, which is the main reason the administration investigated consolidating the elementary schools.
Average class size for each grade in the three elementary schools should be between 21-23 students, according to the district’s school board recommendations. The consolidation should not force teachers from their jobs, but Napolitano did say the district will not look to replace those teachers who are retiring, constituting about seven staff positions.
Because there is still a great deal of money to cut from the budget, staffing and class size may have to be revisited, Napolitano said.

The consolidation committee chose to close French Hill because it had fewer classrooms and more space issues, making it the least accommodating of all four schools, he said.
French Hill closed in 1978, eight years after it opened. It remained vacant and was later used as an alternative high school before reopening in 1995. The board is looking into renting out the school to create a new source of revenue for the district.
The school was briefly discussed at the Feb. 2 Town Board meeting on Feb. 2 turning the facility into a senior center.

Wells spoke at the Monday meeting at the high school where almost every seat in the auditorium was filled, and told those in attendance that although this move saddens him, it is not a building that makes a school but the people inside of it.
The administration addressed a number of questions and concerns from the board and the public following the presentation. Topics discussed included busing, staffing, full-day kindergarten and the need for more state aid up.

Town resident Bari Cariello asked where the other $2.9 million needed to fill the district’s budget gap would be cut from. After moving her children from another school district to Yorktown, Cariello wondered why the budget is increasing so much if enrollment is going down.

David Levin urged the board to look toward Albany for further assistance, but board member J. Mark Drexel reminded the crowd how ineffective the state has been regarding school aid.
Transportation was also an issue among parents, as well as full-day kindergarten and while the busing needs have yet to be fully examined, Assistant Superintendent Thomas Cole said the proposed plan calls for all kindergarten through fifth grade students to be riding on the same buses.

Regardless of the consolidation plan, there is no room in the budget for a full-day kindergarten, said Assistant Superintendent Florence O’Connor, who has been a proponent for a full-day kindergarten.

Jim Puglisi, a town resident, said he went to the meeting to pick a fight, but “facts are facts” and he appreciated the administration’s presentation.
The board and administration will continue budget discussions to determine how to cut the remaining $2.9 million from the budget.

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