As Usual - Newsday Loves To Create Drama

Quote from Newsday 12/18/1010: “...Stephen V. Waldenburg Jr., president of the Northport-East Northport school board, said he would consider every option in an effort to provide his students the best education at the most reasonable cost. ‘I think we may be interested to hear what they've got in mind," he said. "It never hurts to listen. I can't say what will come out of it. It would need to be beneficial to the Northport district.’...”

Ohh Newsday and Mr. Waldenberg, the Elwood BOE has nothing specific in mind; we are simply looking at the grim news coming out of Albany and asking ourselves what would it look like if we consolidated with a neighboring school district from both an educational and financial perspective. We want to explore every possible solution to protect our children’s opportunity to have a competitive 21st Century education. Elwood residents have an abundance of pride in our school community - academically, athletically, and artistically. Our children are well served and there is little doubt that many residents have a continued desire to take care of our own. Nevertheless, the current economic conditions and the intent of our new Governor to take away the will of the people and impose a tax cap have us exploring every possible solution to maintain the principles of education that we hold sacrosanct in Elwood. In other words, the only thing we have in mind is an exploration of possibilities to be considered as a community.

EXPLORING THE POSSIBILITIES

If you have not heard already, there is a loud buzz in the Elwood community about the merger, or as the NY State Education Department refers to it, “consolidation” of the Elwood School District with one of the neighboring, contiguous districts in Huntington Township. As usual, the rumors seem to take on a life of their own filled with political gaming, exaggerations, and partial facts that can completely distort the real story. So, as a member of the Elwood Board of Education I can give you some plain perspective and a little insight to my thinking, and the thinking of the Board and Superintendent on the reality of the situation.

First, my initial reaction is that I have NO desire to merge the Elwood School District with any of the potential candidates; i.e., Harborfields, Northport, Commack, Half Hollow Hills, or South Huntington. Furthermore, while it has not yet been discussed in detail by the members of the BOE, I would be surprised if any of my BOE colleagues had a strong desire to consolidate. The Superintendent made it clear in a statement during the December 2nd BOE Work Session that this has nothing to do with the desire to consolidate districts; rather, it is an exploration to educate the Board and Elwood community on the process of school district consolidation.

It is necessary to explore big ideas and to make sure that we move into the future prepared for anything rather than scrambling in a reactionary, impetuous fashion if the financial crisis worsens and the constituency of Elwood is no longer able to support education over the long-term as we have always done in the past. The fact is that the will of the people to support our schools may be taken away by state legislation. The legal process that currently exists gives communities the final say on funding their public schools, but now there is an inclination in our state government that it must mandate and control the will of the people. (This outrages me on many levels, but I will save that opinion piece for another time.)

The BOE supported Superintendent Scordo’s thinking that the current fiscal crisis for public education is not ending anytime soon. The looming combination of further reductions of state aid funding along with a tax cap that has been promised by the new Governor can bring apocalyptic results to public education, to an Elwood education, as we know it. The Board simply wants to be knowledgeable of all alternatives as we look into the future. I would hope that regardless of your personal stand on taxes, education, and community, that you would want the Board of Education to explore and be knowledgeable of every possible alternative that will allow us to hold onto educational opportunities that offer our children a competitive K-12 education in an abysmal financial situation. This is our collective mission, our pledge, to the children of Elwood.

District consolidation is one “big idea”, but is it the right idea for Elwood? Does it provide superior educational opportunities to children while achieving greater financial efficiencies and lower tax rates in the future? Would one of our neighboring districts even be interested in consolidation? How do you merge unions and collective bargaining agreements? What does the State Education Department look for in a feasibility study? These questions must be answered and approval must be sought by multiple Boards, the State Education Department, and the voting constituency of both districts before any merger can take place.

In case you want to know where I stand on this personally, I can tell you that without the necessary information on the process and a review of all the facts, I will keep an open mind. Nevertheless, I do not currently believe that district consolidation is something I would want to embrace. I strongly believe there is an intangible value in a school / community environment with a specific identity, a specific culture, a sense of heritage and pride that profoundly affects children. However, this is just one opinion of many and it is the collective decision of two school communities that make the ultimate decision.

To begin the education process, the entire community has been / will be invited to a panel discussion that will take place on January 6th to hear from, and dialogue with, State Ed experts on the subject, Elwood administrators and the Board, and possibly administrators from neighboring districts, on the details and process of district consolidation.

While few things can be considered certain, I can guarantee you this: we will learn together and decide our future collectively, as a community.