School Closures, Busing Changes Hot Topics At BOE Meeting

A month after the board of education decided to close two elementary schools, the topic was still in the forefront for some parents at Thursday night’s BOE meeting at the high school.

Beyond the school closure issue and its impact on students district-wide, the forthcoming referendum on extending the busing limits for middle school and high school students was also discussed by meeting attendees.

In January, the seven-member board voted to close as part of a plan to address a drop in enrollment at the elementary level and also to reduce annual costs by $3 million.

Westbrook parents made what appeared to be a last ditch effort to save the school by offering up a petition said to include 300 signatures that asked board trustees to reconsider their decision.

But Steve Gellar, board president, said while he understood that closure of any building would evoke “deep emotions” he added that the decision has been made and that the school district and community needs to move forward.

“We did go through the process and the board made a decision for the good of the community,” he said. “We need to move to the next step in the process.”

Parent Kristine Cantwell said she was not opposed to closing two schools, but was concerned about classroom space at the elementary level should current student population projections prove to be somewhat inaccurate.

“What happens when more students come to our schools?” she asked.

School superintendent Richard Simon responded, saying he is confident that the student enrollment projections the school district has will prove to be accurate. He also feels that the school district will have sufficient room in the four remaining elementary schools should the number of students at that level prove to be a bit higher than anticipated.

Kirdahy parent Catherine Artusa asked if elementary-level class size projections would be discussed during the budget hearing slated to begin later this month.

Simon said at either the second or third public budget hearing that class sizes would be revealed.

Also discussed was the on extending the busing limits by a half-mile for middle school and high school students. If approved by voters in March, middle school students living one-and-a-half miles or less from the school and high school students living two-miles or less from school would not be eligible for bus transportation.

School district officials said changing the busing limits would save $500,000 annually. They also added that mileage to a school is calculated by measuring the distance from the front edge of a home’s driveway to the edge of the school’s driveway.

Linda Millet, who noted she resides in the eastern most portion of West Islip, expressed concerns about having some students walking along Montauk Highway and also having to cross the exit/entrance to Robert Moses Causeway.

“I’m also concerned about high school students having to walk to school at 6:30 in the morning when it is still dark out,” she said.

Simon said changing the busing limits for middle and high school students is something the school district would not be considering if it were not facing “tough fiscal challenges.”

He noted that even with the proposed changes, the school district is within busing limits set forth by New York. The state limit for students in Kindergarten through eighth grade is two miles, and for high school students the limit is three miles.