Citizen Advisory Committee - Close Nesconset Elementary

By Stephanie Healion

John Nolan with committee membersAt the January 5^th Citizen’s Advisory Meeting on Instruction and Housing, the official vote was held for the closing of either the Nesconset Elementary School or Mills Pond Elementary.  Running the meeting was CAC co-chair and district director of curriculum Jennifer Bradshaw, and district director of technology and co-chair John Nolan. Despite seven absentee voters out of twenty-eight, the ballot came in as seventeen for closing Nesconset Elementary and four for closing Mills Pond Elementary.  Even with those seven votes, it would not sway Nesconset Elementary from being chosen although the vote will be finalized after those seven members vote.

Due to declining enrollment and an expected budget gap for the 2012-2013 school year, each of the district’s nine elementary schools were considered for closing, eventually getting narrowed down to Nesconset Elementary and Mills Pond Elementary.  Among the reasoning for choosing Nesconset Elementary over Mills Pond Elementary was the fact that Mills Pond numbers more classrooms than Nesconset, therefore able to accommodate future growth.  Decisions regarding what students would be relocated where if Nesconset were to be closed were not finalized in any way.

The Citizen’s Advisory Committee’s vote is a recommendation to the Board of Education, which ultimately makes the final decision.  During the meeting on January 5^th, theJohn Nolan and Jennifer Bradshaw tallying votes  Committee continued discussion on the Princeton Plan, which outlines grouping students in schools based on grade instead of where they live, grouping grades K through two together and grades three through five together.  A large part of the discussion of the Princeton Plan involved the issue of transportation.  One of the biggest problems with the bus transports was the seemingly inevitable increase of time the students would be on the bus, one plan detailing a possibility of over an hour for some students, another plan with a time increase of fifteen to twenty-five minutes.  Committee member Paul Graf laughed out loud at this, “Can we all agree this is a bad idea?”  Many other members were inclined to agree.   

In addition to the vote for which elementary school should close, a number of other items were voted on as well, including a recommendation for further study of the Princeton Plan.   Eleven members voted against the recommendation, content that enough time had been put into obtaining information for the plan.  Committee members questioned Bradshaw earlier in the meeting as to why they were still going over it when they had just about done away with the idea.  “I would say that we are doing this to meet the various constituency groups concerns, because we do have a majority of parents here and school community members and we need to meet everyone’s concerns,” Bradshaw explained.

Other issues that were voted on include the possibility of renting or selling the vacant elementary school, the relocation of the administrative offices from the New York Ave administration building to existing spaces within the district, the renting or selling of the vacant New York Ave building should relocation occur, and a recommendation for further study of the selling of vacant, undeveloped land.  In the cases of the rent or sell votes, majority voted to rent.  The rest of the items on the agenda were voted “yeses”, with only a few members who opted not to choose.

Present during the entire meeting was Superintendent Edward Ehmann.  Before the meeting began, he said “Ultimately, they are going to close a school.  The matter at hand is which one.”  After the vote, when asked on how he felt about the results, Ehmann replied, “We’ve been doing this for a year and a half, and we still have another six months to go.  I am very proud of our community here.  I’m proud of the decision they’ve made, and the time and input they have put in.”

The CAC still has two meetings left, and will be busy drafting their report to the Board of Education regarding the elementary school vote, as well as the rest of the issues they discussed.  They will meet next on Thursday, January 12^th at 7 p.m in room 222A at the New York Ave administration building.