First step: select a board

Merger of districts gets underway

By Erick Slattery | Manor Ink

Livingston Manor, NY – Livingston Manor and Roscoe have finally agreed to move ahead with plans to merge their two school districts. Since town residents voted to combine the districts on Dec. 19, many important aspects of the new district have needed to be resolved. One was its name.

At a Thursday, Jan. 9, meeting facilitated by Sullivan County BOCES Superintendent Robert Dufour and District Superintendent John Evans in the Livingston Manor Central School gym, that question was addressed. It was announced that the combined schools’ placeholder name will be the Livingston Manor-Roscoe Central School. The new board will either keep that as the name or settle on a new one.

Forming a new board

The next step in the process will be the formation of a new Board of Education for the district. At the meeting, detailed information about running for the new board was provided.

Supt. Evans explained the timeline involved in the process, noting that the new board will be making all of the decisions for the merged district. He also said that he had taken the initiative to go to other school districts that have merged to gain insight into the process. He said he would be making recommendations to the new Board of Education based on what he learned.

Approximately 60 residents attended the meeting. Future meetings on the new district will take place in Livingston Manor until the Board of Education is established. After that, regular board meetings will take place wherever the board decides to hold them.

One of the first tasks ahead for the new board members will be the selection of a new district mascot and new school colors. In addition, the board will have to address how the buildings in both districts will be utilized and staffed. Board members will need to familiarize themselves with the district’s official contracts, its transportation arrangements, insurance providers, attorneys, and so on.

Educating board members

Some people in the audience had concerns regarding the make-up of the new Board of Education. Would it not be technically possible that seven new inexperienced persons could be elected to the board, thus putting the new district at a disadvantage? Both Dufour and Evans explained that they have no control over the candidates who are elected to the board because the process is dictated by state law. They said, however, that New York requires training for all new Board of Education members, training that will have to be completed within the first year of a member’s term on the board.

Candidate qualifications, board duties

Candidates for the new seven-member school board must be able to read and write, be a qualified voter in the district, and be a resident of the district for at least one year prior to the board election. Those now on the ballot for the Board of Education had to submit a petition with the signatures of at least 25 qualified voters of the Livingston Manor-Roscoe Central School District. Once elected, members will serve staggered terms ranging from one to three years to start.

With the ballot now completed, there will be meet-the-candidate nights the first week in February, with the election to be held the following week. The newly elected board will be introduced to the public at a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

Once established, the Board of Education must develop a budget for the new district, to be voted on by the community on May 20. Additional aspects of the district must be established and functioning by July 1. Supt. Evans suggested that the new board initially hold meetings twice a month because there is so much to do and discuss in preparation for launching the merged district.

Board election dates and details

Nineteen residents of the newly formed Livingston Manor-Roscoe Central School District have filed completed petitions in hopes of being elected as members of the district’s first Board of Education. All the members of the current LMCS board are candidates, as are four of the five members of the RCS board.

Voting will take place between noon and 8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 13, at Livingston Manor Central School.

Absentee ballots are available. Applications for ballots sent by mail must be received by the district by Feb. 7. The last day for ballot applications to be received in person is Feb. 12. Completed ballots must be received by mail or hand-delivered to the District Clerk before 5 p.m. Feb. 13 to be counted. For where to mail or deliver ballots, email District Clerk Marlyn Peters at Marlyn.Peters@lmcs.us.

There will be two meet-and-greet events before the election. They are scheduled for 6 p.m., Feb. 5, at Roscoe Central School; and 6 p.m., Feb. 6, at Livingston Manor Central School.

The seven candidates receiving the most votes will be elected. The candidates receiving the largest number of votes will serve the longest initial terms, with terms to run as follows to allow for staggered elections:

• The top three vote getters will serve through June 30, 2028.

• The next two will serve through June 30, 2027.

• The last two will serve through June 30, 2026.

After the initial three years, board members will serve full three-year terms starting July 1 following their election.

The new district board members will begin their terms on Feb. 18, where they will be sworn in during the organizational meeting of the board. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and be held at Livingston Manor school.

A lengthy process

Voters in the Livingston Manor and Roscoe school districts put an end to the merger process on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, by voting against the proposal in an advisory referendum. It wasn’t the first time. Combining the districts had been rejected numerous times before.

The measure was rejected by a vote of 213 to 197 in Livingston Manor, and 193 to 155 in Roscoe. That ended a process that began at the end of 2021 with the decision to undertake a merger study. Had a majority of voters in both districts approved the proposal, a second, binding vote would have been held in December.

But the Roscoe and Livingston Manor school boards then decided to revisit the merger question in September of last year. Two factors influenced their views. The first was a big financial incentive – $30.7 million, up from $7.1 million, if the merger would go through before June 2025. The second factor was the exit survey results after the budget votes at both schools in May. As part of the survey, voters were informed about the incentive and asked to indicate if the merger should be reconsidered. “In both districts, it was a two to one ‘yes’ that we should revisit it,” said Supt. John Evans.

In October 2024, both the Livingston Manor and Roscoe Boards of Education voted to move forward on the next step toward establishing a merged school district. Each board sought and found enough registered voters who signed petitions in favor of the merger to allow the state’s Commissioner of Education to authorize an official merger referendum vote on Dec. 19.

This time, the merger of the two districts passed overwhelmingly. In the Manor, the vote was 351 in favor to 227 opposed; in Roscoe, it was 283 to 106.

“I want to thank all the people who contributed to making this happen,” said Supt. Evans following the vote.

This synopsis was compiled from stories that previously appeared in Manor Ink.