School referendum date set

Warwick - Warwick Board of Education set the date for its referendum on the transfer of students from Greenwood Lake for December 12. The referendum will ask residents if the school district should enter into an agreement with Greenwood Lake to accept high school students from that town into Warwick Valley High School. The Village of Greenwood Lake will hold a referendum on the same date for their residents. If residents approve, the proposal will allow approximately 320 Tuxedo High School students to transfer over a three-year period. To give residents the opportunity to pose questions to the school board on the subject, a public hearing will be held in each town on successive nights. Nov. 26 and 27 have been set for the hearings, but a firm decision on which town will hold its hearing on which night is still to be announced. There is unanimous approval for the transfer of students from all of the school board members and superintendents from both Greenwood Lake and Warwick. But there are dissenting voices from teachers at George F. Baker High School in Tuxedo, which has approximately 400 students. If the transfer of students does go ahead, the student enrollment at their high school will drop to around 100, placing the teacher in the firing line. Erich Ottos, President of the Tuxedo Teachers Association, argues that New York Education Law section 3014 C and D, will insist that if Warwick should accept students from Greenwood Lake who were formerly educated at Tuxedo, then the teachers also must transfer to Warwick with them. Dr. Frank Greenhall, Superintendent of Warwick School District, has said that the school district’s attorneys say that this regulation does not apply in this situation. At the school board meeting this week Ottos said, “According to NYSUT legal department 3014 does apply.” Legal action by the union representing the Tuxedo teachers remains a possibility should the transfer go ahead and those teachers lose their jobs. “I remind you that this battle is not with the Tuxedo Teachers Association it is with NYSUT, 585,000 members strong,”Ottos said, Tuxedo Superintendent of Schools in Joe Zanetti doesn’t hold back his opinion on the outcome for his district. “It would result in devastation to to the community as a whole,” said Zanetti, “The agreement we have with Greenwood Lake generates $4.5 to $5 million each year into our community.” In the high school the impact would be immediate. “Clearly there will be a reduction in staff but class sizes will increase,” said Zanetti, “There would likely be an increase in taxes because there are still going to be costs despite the smaller population. Laying off teachers and cutting costs is easier said that done.” “If I lived in Greenwood Lake or Warwick I’d ask, ‘what are the numbers that are going into the contract?’ said Zanetti, “It’s the contract that is going to drive the agreement. “Ultimately it’s about value,” said Zanetti, “What are you getting for your buck in both Greenwood Lake and Warwick.” Zanetti has not given up on the hope that the students from Greenwood Lake will remain. Zanetti said, “Our number one priority is to keep the students from Greenwood Lake in our schools.”