Greenwood Lake school down but not out

Effort to build high school revived after Chester turns aside overture Greenwood Lake — “We are disappointed because this looked like a viable idea to us,” Greenwood Lake Superintendent John Guarracino said after the Chester School Board last week voted not to look further into accepting Greenwood Lake high school students at Chester Academy. “Chester thought they had built a 1,000-child high school but that is not the case,” Guarracino said. “The classrooms would be big enough but the common areas - the cafeteria, library - are not.” Chester Academy currently holds 498 students from grades 7 through 12, according to Mary Luciana, Chester school board president. Adding Greenwood Lake’s students would bring that total to 856, nearly 250 more than the capacity of the building, according to figures Luciana received from the builder. In addition, the building would not have enough lockers or science labs. Additional staff would be needed as well, including in guidance, a psychologist and a social worker. Greenwood Lake is a kindergarten through grade 8 district which has outsourced its high school students to Warwick, Monroe-Woodbury, and, for the last 23 years, Tuxedo. The cost to send a student to Tuxedo is about $12,000, according to Tuxedo superintendent Joe Zanetti. The estimated cost to go to Chester would be about $8,500. Tuxedo receives much less aid than either Greenwood Lake or Chester, but, since the students attend a Tuxedo school, the aid for them is based on Tuxedo’s demographics. Greenwood Lake has been trying for years to build a high school but the state Education Department has said no. The district even held a referendum last year where voters overwhelmingly approved building a high school. Instead, the school board contacted neighboring districts late last year about taking its students on a tuition basis. Guarracino said his district still has other irons in the fire. They haven’t given up on their campaign to build their own high school. After the Chester meeting, residents stood on line to sign a petition that is going to the state Education Department encouraging them to allow Greenwood Lake to build a high school. Guarracino also said local politicians are looking into the possibility of getting more aid to his district through excess cost aid. Right now, since high school students attend Tuxedo, the district is reimbursed for special education students who attend other facilities at the Tuxedo aid rate, which is much less than the Greenwood Lake rate. If they stay in his district, they would be reimbursed at a much higher rate. “We’re still plugging along,” he said, confirming that his community is very happy with Tuxedo’s education standards, just not the cost involved. “This was a longshot, but we thought it could work. This would have disrupted their world in Chester. We understand that.”