The Onteora Central School District is currently considering plans that would result in the closure of at least one elementary school – Woodstock, Phoenicia or Bennett – and as many as two.

Concerned parents, students and community members at large must band together now to tell the administration we want to keep our schools open!

The Board of Education is acting on outdated and incomplete information to make their decision on the future of our schools, and we hereby call for them to delay the vote until more information can be collected using up-to-date and complete methodology. 

Among the problems with the district's approach to address the problem of declining school enrollment:

- No cost analysis: The report they are basing their decision on, compiled by educational consultant Dr. Kevin Baughman in 2019, calls for a thorough cost analysis on the large-scale construction necessary to accommodate students in fewer buildings. No such analysis has been done, and costs on such a project could easily stretch into the tens of millions compared to an estimated savings of between $400k-$900k/year from school closures. A 2006 estimate presented by architecture firm KSQ Design placed construction costs on a similar school expansion project in the district at between $60-$70 million.

- Outdated information: The 2019 study pre-dates the large swell of families with young children (0-5 years old) who moved to the district during the pandemic. The administration has made no effort to attempt to measure that population, which is plainly visible to all residents on a daily basis, and the traditional measures used to predict future school enrollment (i.e. current trends of enrolled students starting in kindergarten) do not capture this demographic shift which is only likely to continue with the prevalence of remote work.

- Poor communication: The administration, which consists mostly of members who reside outside the district, has made little effort to include those most affected by the pending decision. A postcard mailer sent out to residents in February was vague in its intentions and came at the 11th hour, and the schools’ teachers themselves were only just informed of the vote mere weeks ago. The District Ad Hoc committee, which will make its recommendation to the board, was only formed in December 2022 and is made up of only administration and board members with no teacher, parent or community representatives.

- Failure to consider alternatives:  The district is seeking to close a local school without considering any alternatives to address the decline in enrollment, such as using classroom space in existing elementary schools to house the district’s Universal Pre-K program or allowing non-residents to attend local schools for a tuition fee, as is currently allowed in the Rhinebeck and Red Hook districts.

- Lack of planning for abandoned buildings: The last time the district closed a school was the West Hurley Elementary School in 2004. That building remains vacant to this day while maintenance costs continue to pile up. Our towns simply cannot afford to lose another hub.

Join Onteora Parents Engaged Now (OPEN) in asking the board to address these shortcomings. We need our schools open for our children and as community hubs, we don’t want our tax dollars being spent without proper planning, and we need the most up-to-date demographic information before any drastic decisions are made.

**UPDATE, April 6: A proposed April 18 school board vote on this issue is now off the table thanks in part to the hard work of OPEN, its supporters and community members. Great work, everyone! But let's keep our feet on the gas pedal.** 

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Survey of future school enrollment for parents of 0-5 year-olds: https://forms.gle/94yaHPJgWRF87RE17

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