Evans: ‘No’ vote on merger may jeopardize programs

By Diana Fredenburg | Manor Ink

Livingston Manor, NY – As many residents of the Livingston Manor and Roscoe Central School Districts know, a merger study funded in part by the state has been in process since December 2021.

On Monday, July 25, a draft of the merger study report was presented by Alan Pole and Deb Ayers of Castallo & Silky, an educational consulting firm from Syracuse, to the two boards of education for their review. If the boards decide to pursue a merger, there will be a public straw vote in October. If that vote passes in both districts, there will be a binding vote held in December.

Throughout the study, the public has been invited to attend each of the five Steering Committee meetings, either in person or by Zoom. The recordings of these meetings are available online on each of the districts’ websites, along with the meeting agendas, notes, PowerPoint presentations and additional resources. There were also three Focus Group meetings, held during the week of July 18, where members of the public were invited to bring their questions and concerns.

Manor Ink spoke to John Evans, superintendent of both the Livingston Manor and Roscoe School districts, to address some of the concerns that residents have.

• Bus routes: “Even without a merger, bus routes change every year,” Evans said. “There is no way to predict with certainty how the routes will look in a merged district. The new board will make every effort to keep every child’s bus ride as short as possible.”

• Financial solvency: “There is no indication that either school district is facing financial insolvency,” the superintendent said. Actually, the districts’ financial situations improved during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the buildings being closed to students, no transportation costs, etc. “While things had been getting difficult before,” Evans said, “the closure helped the financial situation of both districts. Each district has a fund balance, and voters have consistently supported budget proposals in both districts. Anyone with questions about the districts’ financial futures is encouraged to contact their local district office to get more information.”

• Taxes: “If a merger goes through, the new district will continue the shared services that have been occurring for the past several years,” Evans said. There will also be other duplicated services that will be combined, thereby saving more money. “Taxes in both districts will initially drop due to these cost saving measures.” With taxes increasing each year as they normally do, it is expected that “it will take four years for the taxes in the current Roscoe School District and seven years for taxes in the current Livingston Manor District to get back up to where they are today.”

• What happens if the merger is not approved?: “This is a difficult question to answer. Immediately, the answer will be ‘nothing.’ Both districts will continue on as they have,” Evans said. “The state is not going to come in and close the schools.” However, the future of the services already being shared remains uncertain. As it is now, each of the schools has trouble fielding teams for several sports. “Down the road, it’s hard to say what will happen if the merger is not approved,” said Evans. “If the districts can’t work together and come together as one, will it be possible to continue to share sports programs? Will there be hard feelings on either side? There are low class rosters in many high school classes. Will these classes continue to be offered?”

Residents of both districts are encouraged to access information on the districts’ websites and to contact their local school with any questions they may have. The LMCS website is lmcs.k12.ny.us; RCS information can be found at roscoe.k12.ny.us. Both administrations are also willing to discuss merger details with community and civic groups; reach the LMCS at 845-439-4400 or the RCS at 607-498-4126 to schedule a time to meet.