School Boards continue fact-finding for Greenwood Lake students
Warwick Since December when Superintendent Dr. Frank Greenhall first raised the issue of possibly accepting Greenwood Lake students at Warwick Valley High School through tuition, school board members from both districts have explored the impacts. John King, a resident of Warwick whose child attends Park Avenue School, said he is concerned about the future of the district if this comes to fruition. Although Warwick’s superintendent said a short-term contract with Greenwood Lake would allow either party to exit the agreement if it wasn’t working out, King said Greenwood Lake had a different story. “They said it is not a problem if Warwick doesn’t want to renew because we won’t leave unless we have another place to go,” King said of a discussion at a Greenwood Lake School Board meeting. “This concerns me. I’m not clear on the academic or financial benefits to Warwick. We must also weigh the cost. By Warwick inviting Greenwood Lake, we are destroying the Tuxedo School District. Eighty percent of their teachers will be laid off. They may possibly close the district.” Greenwood Lake high school students make up 75 percent of the George F. Baker High School population. However, there are large real estate development projects before the Tuxedo Planning Board that could add hundreds of kids to the school district in the future. Warwick School Board President Mike Meinhardt said the district is not in a position to make a recommendation at this time. The process began in December with the superintendent’s recommendation to look further into the possibility of adding the students to Warwick. A joint meeting between the two district’s boards was scheduled for Tuesday night but cancelled because of the impending snowstorm. According to Greenhall, that meeting probably will not be rescheduled until early March. But Meinhardt reiterated that the districts are simply exploring the possibility and gathering facts before going to the voters for a decision. “This is not a secret ploy to get Greenwood Lake Students here in Warwick,” said Meinhardt. “Both boards are continuing to discuss it.” Patrick Higgins, a resident of the Sanfordville district in Warwick, voiced concern with the district’s numbersboth financial and enrollment. He said the money gained in Warwick by adding the Greenwood Lake students would amount to about $650,000 in revenue. Declining student population projections would require about eight teachers to be cut, allowing the district to save, he estimates, $560,000 through attrition. With 1,450 students currently in the high school, adding Greenwood Lake Students would bring the total to 1,637, just about a dozen shy of the maximum for the current high school, he said. “What if the numbers are wrong,” Higgins said. “Monroe-Woodbury built a 10-year addition that they outgrew in one year. What’s wrong with keeping the schools small?” Greenhall said the figures mentioned were a “great fabrication of truth.” “We are only in the fact-finding stages. The taxpayers would be upset if we didn’t look for other means of funding,” said Greenhall. “There have been no agreements, secret or otherwise, with Greenwood Lake. If the board wants to go ahead, we would go to a referendum.” The public in Warwick and Greenwood Lake will decide this issue. Greenhall said that if all of the information is gathered in time, a public hearing, separate from the budget public hearing, would be held and the issue would be on the ballot on May 15. If the board does not feel enough information is available, the issue will not be on the ballot in May. In the meantime, Greenwood Lake’s contract with Tuxedo expires in June. Because of the state aid structure in Tuxedo and Warwick, tuition in Warwick is estimated to cost about half of what is currently charged in Tuxedo for the Greenwood Lake students. The Greenwood Lake district would be responsible for transportation and its special education students.