Petition Started to Close Middle, Elementary School

A West Islip resident has created a petition on Change.org to have one WI middle school and one elementary school closed for next year's school term.

Glenn Montes, who wrote the letter, said that closing two schools "saves the most money and is therefore better financially. It will allow the inevitable cuts in staff, programs and services to be less deep by up to $400,000."

So far the petition has garnered 32 signatures. 

The Board of Education said they have narrowed down their consideration to four school closure options.  They will be making a decision sometime early next year.

The rest of the petition letter reads like so:

It will not effect the quality of education any student receives; and, in fact, data shows it may actually lead to better academic performance. Sixth graders will benefit enormously from an extra year in elementary school as is evidenced by numerous studies and data which show moving kids to a middle school setting too early has resulted in lower test scores, lower achievement, greater disciplinary issues and less on time high school graduation rates, among other concerns.

From a sense community connectedness, having all of the town's 7th and 8th graders in the same school will build a better united community. In a couple of years time all of the future 7th and 8th graders of West Islip will have a feeling of attachment to one school...together. No more intra-town sense of separation for the students, and their parents.

Click here to view the entire letter.