The value of students at Sullivan West

By KIMBERLY M. WEYANDT

LONG EDDY, NY — In the far corner of the Sullivan West School district sits the town of Long Eddy and the outraged owners of 175 signatures on a petition to secede from the Sullivan West School District.

In the era of the Delaware Valley School District, the town of Long Eddy was divided between the Hancock and Sullivan West school districts by a zig-zagging line. With the Delaware Valley elementary building, Long Eddy residents want out.

“We can pay the higher taxes, we might have to scrimp and scrounge or pick up another job, but the issue is the safety of our children,” said Brad Meyer at a community meeting held in the basement of a Long Eddy Church on Sunday, July 17.

“Do you know where Klondike Road is? Do you know where Anderson Road is? I bet you never traveled those roads at 6:30 a.m. on an icy snowy morning, and I bet you never drove a bus up there,” said Long Eddy resident Rhonda Gillow.

“We live and work in Delaware County. Why should our kids go to school in Sullivan County?” demanded Meyer.

In a special meeting with Sullivan West Superintendent Alan Derry, residents were informed that in order to secede from the district they would need the approval of the Sullivan West board of education, the Hancock board of education, the district superintendents from both counties and the state. Although it rarely happens, the secession may have been possible any other year.

“The cost of moving the Long Eddy residents to that district would be $50,000 in lost revenues and $500,000 for all of Delaware County,” Derry said, “so the question before the board was threefold. One, could they afford the $50,000 [to lose the Long Eddy students]? Two, could they afford the $500,000 [to lose all of the Delaware County students]? And three, what would the impact of the loss of students be?”

Derry’s recommendation to the board reflected the hopelessness of the situation,

“I said that in good faith I can’t recommend that they do this because we just went through the budget process and we didn’t budget in a loss of $50,000 or $500,000 dollars. If we were going to do this it would have to be built into the budget. Right now the money is not there to do that. We can’t afford a half a million dollar loss and it’s just that simple,” said Derry.

For Long Eddy residents this answer was not acceptable.

“The problem is they’re [Sullivan West school board] worried about the money more than they’re worried about the safety of our children and the desires of the parents and the people on this petition,” said Gillow, “so they’re holding our children hostage.

“Go find the money somewhere else,” Gillow told the school board on Thursday, July 7. “The safety and education of our children is much more important than your budget. We resent the fact that you can find extra money for Mr. Derry’s raise, and you can find extra money for unnecessary programs, but you cannot find the money for our children. You doom our children for lack of funds.”

“It’s 12 miles from my house to Hancock” said Long Eddy resident Steve Nebin. “My children have friends and it’s a tough choice for me as a parent, but my kids will not be going to Sullivan West.”

“Each school has the right to decide what they will do with outside students, accept tuition, accept them free or not accept them at all,” said Derry.

“Hancock said that they are waiting with open arms for us,” said Gillow.