After bitter campaign, Greenwood Lake, Tuxedo to renew talks for students

Greenwood Lake may only send on sophomores, juniors and seniors to Tuxedo for high school, By Terry McGahan Greenwood Lake - While school administrators in Warwick face the challenges ahead following the defeat of the student transfer referendum, Greenwood Lake and Tuxedo face a more immediate ordeal. Had the voters of Warwick agreed to the transfer of students from Greenwood Lake, there would have been the ending of a quarter-of-a-century’s old agreement for high school students to attend George F. Baker School in Tuxedo. As it is, the current contract between the two districts runs only until June 2008. Any hostilities that might have arisen during the lead up to the referendum will have to be sat on, at least until agreement to a new contract is made. Happy to be having this problem is Tuxedo School Superintendent Joseph Zanetti, who had been facing a 75 percent cut in his high school enrollment had the transfer gone ahead. “I am pleased that the voters in Warwick overwhelmingly rejected the referendum,” said Zanetti. There are no fears, for Zanetti at least, that the future holds a stable and positive relationship with Greenwood Lake. “Tuxedo plans to do exactly what we have been saying for the past two years - work with Greenwood Lake to establish a new five year contract,” Zanetti said. The bottom line in that contract - the amount the residents of Greenwood Lake have to pay per student to be educated in Tuxedo - will be the focus of much of what they discuss. At present that rate is approximately $13,000 to $14,000 per student. Zanetti and his counterpart in Greenwood Lake, John Guarracino, may ultimately form a new partnership in an effort to convince the state to view their situation as distinct and worthy of increased funding. “Our communities need to work together to address the inequities that continue to haunt our two districts,” Zanetti said. “For example, state aid that fails to recognize the unique educational arrangement we share, school board representation issues, inflexibility of the State Education Department/New York State to help resolve procedural issues in claiming state aid, etc.” As for any lingering resentments following competing referendum campaigns, Zanetti is not concerned. “When you consider what was at stake, it is understandable that the emotions of people may cause them to say and do things they normally would not do,” he said. “The feelings that I have are only about what I believe is best for the students. My goal is to focus our collective efforts on a renewed positive relationship with Greenwood Lake - hard feelings are not part of that equation.” Guarracino, the Greenwood Lake superintendent, is open to what will come in the negotiations with Tuxedo but is still disappointed in the outcome of the referendum in Warwick. “I’m upset that the vote in Warwick was six to one against. That was tough to take.” Funding will, however, also be on Guarracino’s mind when he meets with Zanetti and he is acutely aware of why the state education system makes it so hard on residents of Greenwood Lake. “The problem is that Tuxedo is a high wealth area and therefore they get very little in state aid,” said Guarracino. “The burden falls on us. That is the issue.” Guarracino identified the extent of the disparity between Greenwood Lake and Tuxedo and he hopes state legislators will recognize the problems it has been causing. “In other situations like this (where one town sends its students to another to be educated) the wealth in each district is usually the same,” Guarracino said. “Tuxedo is six times wealthier than Greenwood Lake and we cannot afford their costs.” There has been no lack of effort on Guarracino’s part to get Albany to take notice. “We’ve been to the state three times,” he said, “and I’ve taken the matter to Governor Spitzer’s office who has referred me to John Reid, his assistant secretary for education. “They have got to give us more money,” Guarracino added. “The $400,000 they give us at present barely covers what we need. What we really need is at least a couple of million dollars.” One option that may be brought forth in the new contract discussion is keeping back at least one grade in Greenwood Lake rather than sending all four to Tuxedo as they do at present. The current contract doesn’t allow for this to happen but Guarracino is keeping it as an option. “We could send our 10th, 11th and 12th graders to Tuxedo and keep the 9th here are Greenwood Lake which would save us some money even if we did have to hire some new teachers. We’ll look at this very seriously.” Guarracino, alongside the Greenwood Lake Board of Education, hopes to be meeting with Tuxedo school officials within the next month to begin contract negotiations.