GWL students need a long-term solution

The Greenwood Lake Board of Education recently made a decision to send Greenwood Lake students to Warwick, Chester and Tuxedo high schools for the upcoming school years. The board has an option of picking one of three schools. Instead it picked all three.

Sending Greenwood Lake students to three different high schools isn’t a long-term but perhaps a temporary fix to keep the residents happy. The Board of Education should reconsider this and pick one high school that would benefit the students the best.

The situation

Greenwood Lake is a village in the Town of Warwick. Logically one would think if Greenwood Lake is in Warwick, then the high school Greenwood Lake students go to would be Warwick. For the past 30-plus years Greenwood Lake students have attended Tuxedo high school in the town of Tuxedo.

Both Warwick and Chester schools have both come in with tuition rates thousands of dollars less than Tuxedo’s. In order to stay in the mix Tuxedo dropped their tuition cost, but it’s still not enough to compete with Chester and Warwick’s proposals. There are many complications with choosing three schools, and Tuxedo dropping their tuition rates.

Problems with choosing three schools

There could be many complications in choosing three high schools to send Greenwood Lake students, too, such as transportation, enrollment and the separation of graduating classes.

• Transportation could cause havoc because there would be numerous busses going to three high schools instead of one. Every time each school has after-school activities such as sports, clubs, etc. ... there would have to be busses going to each school to pick the students up.

If there was one high school, there would only be a couple of busses going to the same place based on how many students were staying after saving money.

• The second problem that is unclear would be estimating enrollment every year. These numbers could fluctuate each year. For example, one year there might be 20 students going to Warwick Valley High School and the next there might be 50. There would be no way determining those numbers.

If there is one high school, there would be a better understanding for this. The number of students in the younger classes would give a good template for future classes.

• The third complication of this could be separating students who have been with each other since kindergarten and not having them graduate together but instead in all different schools. In addition, it would be complicated not seeing one graduation ceremony but three. The whole town would be split into three supporting there graduating classes from three schools rather than united in one.

Problems with Tuxedo dropping their tuition

Tuxedo high school doesn’t receive as much state aid per student compared to Warwick and Chester. In order to stay in the mix of schools bidding on Greenwood Lake students, Tuxedo had to drop its tuition from $13,900 to $12,500. This could be good for the taxpayer’s incentive but bad for the opportunities in Tuxedo for each student.

Tuxedo already doesn’t have very much so reducing this number even more could mean fewer teachers, A.P. classes, activities, sports and clubs if the funding isn’t there.

Students would be the ones to get the worst side of this because throughout high school having good teachers is the key to success. Activities and clubs would also take their toll on students. Without activities, clubs and sports there would nothing for students to look forward to and be a part of at the end of the day.

Advantages of Warwick

Warwick high School would be a long term fix to this ongoing problem of Greenwood Lake’s high school structure. Warwick offers better rates, opportunities and location.

Warwick’s tuition comes in at $8,000, which is $4,500 less than Tuxedo’s current proposal.

Warwick has numerous more opportunities for students with different talents: Electives, sports, clubs and events. Even though getting on one of Warwick’s sports teams might be a little more challenging, there is a much greater chance of getting noticed.

Warwick’s distance wouldn’t play a factor either. Tuxedo and Warwick are about the same distance from the center of the Greenwood Lake. Even though the size of Warwick is much larger this could help prepare students for the even bigger world.

Sending Greenwood Lake students to three different high schools isn’t going to fix this problem. The Greenwood Lake Board of Education should reconsider and only pick one high school that would benefit the students and the community the best. Stop the disputes of where Greenwood Lake is going to high school every year.

Let’s make it a long-term fix rather than a short term.



Paul Palombi lives in Greenwood Lake and is a 2012 graduate of George F. Baker High School in Tuxedo. He is now a student at SUNY Alfred.