Sullivan West residents demand their dues

By KIMBERLY M. WEYANDT

SULLIVAN WEST DISTRICT — To many residents of the Sullivan West Central School District, the school board’s decision to close the Narrowsburg and Delaware Valley buildings seemed like a hasty one. But despite their feelings, a contingency budget has been passed and the board has voted 5-4 to close two of the elementary buildings.

On Tuesday, June 21 Shannon Dee Bailey and Nikki Maxwell presented the district and its clerk, Peg Luty, with a notice of petition. Today the notice is in the hands of Sullivan West’s lawyers.

With Education Law as their backbone, Bailey and Maxwell have accused the district of failing to properly post and advertise the public hearing held on June 2, according to State Education Laws 16:32 and 2:64, and a failure to study and research the impact on a rural community of closing the two schools.

The petition states, “According to section 402-a of Education Law, a notice of the proposed closing must be published in the newspaper in the community, posted conspicuously in the affected school district and circulated to elected state and local public officials who represent the affected communities. The school board must also hold a public hearing to evaluate the impact of the proposed closing on the affected district before rendering a decision.”

The petition requires that the district appear to an appeal to answer the allegations put forth in the petition. If an answer is not provided, according to the petition, the “statements contained in the petition will be deemed to be true statements, and a decision will be rendered thereon by the Commissioner.”