My turn By Timothy Finn Greenwood Lake belongs In Warwick

It has been with passing interest that I have listened to the debate regarding where Greenwood Lake students will attend high school. I do not live in Greenwood Lake and am not affected by this issue. I could care less but it is still fascinating to me. I attended Tuxedo High School and was valedictorian of the 1995 graduating class and would like to cast a dissenting opinion to Tuxedo.
As a matter of full disclosure my father, John Finn, is a member of the Greenwood Lake School Board but these opinions are alone mine. Anyone who remembers me will know that.
It just so happens that logic is hereditary.

Albany decides education

To the current and future high school students from Greenwood Lake, you belong in Warwick High School, not Tuxedo. (Chester makes no sense to me, but whatever.)
You are a resident of the Town of Warwick. Many of you have limited association with the politics of the Village of Greenwood Lake and are legally more tied to Warwick than you realize, e.g., Indian Park, Furnace Brook, Forest Park/Knolls, Old Dutch Hollow, etc., with the notable exception of your school.
Greenwood Lake should have always sent its high school students to Warwick.
Tuxedo was a marriage of convenience during a time of necessity, and, like most shotgun marriages, it is time for a divorce.
Where you attend high school in New York State at a public level (in Orange County) will have little impact on your education. Your education is decided by Albany. The sole difference is the size of the student body and what non-required classes and activities are offered.
All you are doing now is choosing between a green apple and a red apple. It is still an apple.
Warwick has lots of apples.

‘That is life’

High school is not a unique experience. A certain percentage of you will always be better students, better athletes, better musicians, etc. Others will wear black eye makeup and combat boots and pretend they do not fit in. The majority of you more likely than not will coast through and forget it even happened.
When I was finishing Tuxedo I was tired of the people I had known since pre-school. I wish I had attended a bigger high school with more choices.
Maybe I would not have been a big fish in a small pond like I was but sometimes a more diverse pond is better for your real education.
Life is what you make of it. You will make the same number of friends wherever you go to high school. You also will likely not speak to them a few years after college when you realize all that you had in common was your birthplace.
That is life.

Be a Laker

You are not entitled to play school sports. That is what private leagues are for. You are not entitled to be in the school band. That is what the garage is for.
Your only entitlement is to be provided a state-mandated curriculum. In the real world, merit matters more and you need to earn inclusion.
Do not pay attention to politics because that defies the merit-based argument. Everything in life has strengths and weaknesses.
Warwick will provide more opportunities than you realize. The threat is overstated. Tuxedo cannot provide much of what Warwick offers.
I looked at the school clubs on their websites and there is no comparison. It is a function of size. Right now, you can decide.
In life, though, you do not always have a choice; sometimes it is made for you. In the end, you are not a resident of Tuxedo, you are from Greenwood Lake and you are basically a bunch of orphans and the compensation is good for the guardians. Be resilient and proud though, that is what defines you as a Laker.
I am one.

No control

To the parents advocating Tuxedo, open your eyes and see the writing on the wall. You have no control over anything. Tuxedo charges you what it wants because it has all the power to do so. That education is not worth the premium you pay in additional taxes. Trust me, I went there and most of you did too now.
The fundamentals you learn in middle school are far more important than facts you will forget after graduation. Ask yourselves why Tuxedo taxes are so low. It is because they have you to subsidize them.
Every Greenwood Lake student is a coupon for every Tuxedo homeowner. That value is roughly $5,000. You pay a million plus dollars more per year for the same standardized tests. Tuxedo may scramble now to lower their offered tuition rate but it will not matter. You will always pay more for less.
You are, though, residents of Greenwood Lake, which happens to be in Warwick, and many of you vote not for the Greenwood Lake Mayor but the Warwick Town Supervisor.
You call the Warwick police department. You pay Warwick property taxes. If you do not like the arrangement, try seceding.
But, first, think about what a million dollars could do in Greenwood Lake to provide better services, better recreation, better activities, etc. for your children in their own town. Demand that of your elected officials.
You are wasting your money financing Tuxedo.
Further, the ongoing attachment to Tuxedo mystifies me and I find it myopic and nostalgic.
Before Tuxedo there was Monroe.
Before Monroe there was Warwick.
Can anyone honestly say that any of the other choices of high schools would provide a worse education or learning environment? Do not believe education statistics. Any statistic can support any argument, particularly that espoused by emotive parents or those with obvious biases.
There is no foolproof evaluation mechanism for students or teachers. It is no better than an opinion to state that the teachers of one school are better or worse than another. Everyone has an opinion.

Simply business

There is no home solution either. Greenwood Lake cannot have a high school, nor should it since it would sub-optimal just like Tuxedo or Florida. Warwick is the natural choice.
Consequently, how can you hold hostage an entire community that pays exorbitant taxes because of this fixation with Tuxedo?
Prove that the education is better.
Who cares whether Tuxedo has to close its school in a few years or their staff may lose their jobs?
That is Tuxedo’s burden, not yours.
It is no disrespect to the families or staff there, some of whom now retired I am very appreciative of, it is simply business. Education is nothing more than a business; as soon as you appreciate that you will make the smart consumer choice.
Warwick High School is not some school in the south Bronx and Tuxedo is definitely not Exeter Academy.
Maybe it is just about the red color scheme to purple….

‘A new paradigm’

In the end, the only individuals who may suffer are the few students who during the transition phase may no longer be the best in a subject or sport or activity if they choose to leave Tuxedo early.
Perhaps though it will bring out more in them as students through simply having competition, of which there is very little at Tuxedo. Most students will pick up right where they left off.
Those who never attended Tuxedo will never know a difference. (Stop telling them that they will. They are eighth graders.) In the real world outside the narrow valley we were raised in competition and diversity is the new paradigm.
Moving to Warwick now will benefit the children of Greenwood Lake (and Warwick) in the long run and ease the tax burden on all property owners to betterment of Greenwood Lake alone. It is the logical choice.
And, for the students, at least there will be different people to look at after staring at the same classmates since pre-school.

Timothy Finn recently started a PhD program at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, where he received his master of public health in 2005. Finn will be focusing in applied epidemiology for the design and evaluation of tropical disease programs. He has spent most of the last six years in Sub-Saharan Africa (South Sudan, Mali, Chad, DR Congo, Rwanda) working on various public health programs with pit-stops in Greenwood Lake.