‘If it wasn’t okay then, why is it okay now?’
The Warwick Valley School District posted on its Facebook page that Kings Elementary may be used to house administrative staff this fall. The newer, more spacious school will be used for a handful of office staff and Park Ave. Elementary will be overcapacity with children condensed into smaller classrooms.
Had Kings been the school spared, the extra space could have comfortably housed all of the students, additional administrative staff, and recreational sports and clubs without paying to keep the other school operational.
The latest unofficial student count at Park Avenue is 550 kids. That places the school well over capacity. If this is correct, it’s 110 percent of the “rated capacity” presented in the 2/4/2010 budget presentation.
It’s 106 percent capacity using the original 2013 BOCES demographic study and it is 102 percent capacity using the new readjusted capacity.
It doesn’t matter what definition Administration picks this week. The school will be overcrowded.
The last time Park Avenue Elementary had numbers like this, teachers and the PTA complained about conditions and the Space Needs Committee, on which Dave Eaton actively served, determined that we needed a new elementary school. They proposed and citizens approved a $42.5 million dollar building project, which included a new 41-classroom elementary school.
If it wasn’t okay then, why is it okay now?
The District has also says on its Facebook page that the much advertised $2.6 million savings of closing a school did not account for any occupancy of Kings Elementary or the additional assistant principal at the Middle School. The projected savings appears to be shrinking, but this information is not being actively shared. Parents heard about occupancy of Kings through the rumor mill. Had they not asked, when would we have learned that the District planned on relocating staff there?
If you have a child attending Park, expect it to be unnecessarily crowded.
If you are a taxpayer that is expecting Administration to save $2.6 million by closing an elementary school, expect to be disappointed.
Connie Wright
Chester