Future of Duggan school discussed again

Budget squeeze is on

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — The superintendent was careful to say that no decision has been made about any school, adding that when a decision is made, it will be the community that makes it. The consultant was careful to say the same thing. But one line of the report said that if the district decided to close an elementary school, at first glance, the Duggan School seemed the likely choice.

The venue was the Monticello Central School District board meeting on February 4, and it began with superintendent Patrick Michel making it clear to the more than 100 residents on hand that the district is facing a serious budget problem in the 2010-2011 school year.

In February 2009, Michel was expected to recommend that either the Cornelius Duggan Elementary School in White Lake or the Emma C. Chase Elementary School in Wurtsboro be closed to save the district money and avoid a steep tax increase. But at the 11th hour, the federal government stepped in with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and granted the school district $2.7 million, and the talk of closure ended.

According to Michel, the district was supposed to receive the funds over two years; it received the first years’ funding, but New York State has already spent the rest of the money, and school officials are once again looking at a bleak budgetary landscape.

Michel said if the district wished to avoid any tax increase at all, officials would have to find a way to slice $5 million off the $76 million dollar budget. He said that’s no easy task because 80 percent of the budget can’t be touched due to state mandates or contractual obligations.

With that background, Dr. Paul Seversky, a consultant, launched into a presentation about the district’s buildings and their capacity. The four elementary schools are operating at 21.3 percent under capacity, and capacity was calculated using the minimum number of students per class, which is 22 in first and second grades and 25 in third through fifth grades.

Seversky said there is more than enough room to teach all of the elementary school students in three schools rather than four. Moreover, over the next five years, the elementary student population is not expected to increase significantly, if at all. Interestingly, while the number of live births in the district has been growing slightly over the past decade, enrollment in the schools has declined as people with young children either move out of the area, send their children to non-public facilities or home-school them.

The closing of one of the elementary schools would save the district upwards of $2.2 million but, in his report, Seversky recommends that if the district chooses to close one of the elementary schools, the school should be mothballed and maintained at a cost of about $50,000 per year, as it may be needed for students again after five years, depending on the progress of the many housing developments proposed for the district.

After the presentation, residents of the Town of Bethel, where the Duggan School is located, warned board members that the closure of the school would have negative impacts that would adversely affect the community.

Board member Robert Kunis said one way to address the problem of skyrocketing taxes would be for the state to make changes to the laws regarding tax-exempt properties, and he urged residents to demand that Albany consider such changes.