What will this vote mean to the children?

To the editor: Warwick and Greenwood Lake residents should be aware of the overcrowding issue that will exist if the proposed plan to incorporate Greenwood Lake students to Warwick Valley High School is passed. At his presentation, Dr. Greenhall failed to fully convince me that merging Greenwood Lake with Warwick would be the right decision for the children in both communities. He easily dismissed the concern of overcrowding at the high school by commenting that there are 200+ available lockers to accommodate these new students. The issue he did not address, and what it took a WVHS sophomore to raise, is the fact that there are no vacant classrooms currently available in the High School. The plan is to use a roaming schedule for teachers to conduct classes while other teachers are on break. How long can a system like this last? If we max out the high school now, it gives us absolutely no room for growth without expanding infrastructure. Increases and decreases in the housing market are cyclical. If and when the housing market turns around, we will be unable to handle an influx of new students in not only the villages of Warwick and Greenwood Lake, but also Sugar Loaf, which resides in the Town of Chester but has zoning for Warwick Schools. Another important matter is the special education families of Warwick that have been denied space in the Warwick School District because, as they were told, there is not enough room. Yet, now, instead of figuring out a way to keep members of their own district here in Warwick, the school board has found the space to accept 300 more students from another district and continue to let our own children be sent outside the county for services. A yes vote will essentially dissolve George F Baker High School and mean the uprooting of the remaining Tuxedo students. If this three-year plan does not work and the districts decide to abandon this endeavor, GWL will not be able to return to Tuxedo because there will be no high school to accept them. This three-year plan will then be permanent. Think carefully about what this vote means to the children of Warwick, Greenwood Lake and Tuxedo. Dan Dixon Warwick