Two towns, one district?

Rockland revisits the merger possibility

By Osei helper | Manor Ink

Livingston Manor, NY – Once again, a school district merger between Livingston Manor and Roscoe is being considered.

Due to declining enrollment across all of rural New York, but specifically between these two districts, a merger between the two has been considered multiple times in the past. The schools’ small size also make it difficult to have more options for students, such as AP classes and individual sports teams.

Though a merger has been considered before, each effort to consolidate the districts has failed. Back in 2012, a study for the merger was rejected by Roscoe’s school board because there seemed to be a lack of community support. Even though the districts had been sharing some sports teams, there was still a fear on the part of Roscoe that they would lose their school due to the fact that they are the smaller district. But John Evans, superintendent of the Roscoe, Livingston Manor and Downsville school districts, thinks things will be different this time around.

While Evans acknowledges that with small rural schools, there’s immense pride in the community, the school and its athletic teams, he makes a point that in reality the situation for small schools is quite different today.

“We have students who are a Wildcat one season, another season they’re a Blue Devil, and then even some seasons they’re a Downsville Eagle,” Evans said. “So we don’t have a singular identity that the whole school and the whole community can kind of get behind. If the districts were to merge, then one of the things that takes place when the new school district is created is the creation of a new mascot and new school colors – all of those things. It’s an opportunity for the students in the two districts to develop their own new single identity.”

Studying the merger possibility

An advisory committee, currently being formed, will work with the districts’ school boards to review the merger option. The NYS Education Dept. and consultants from Castallo & Silky, an educational services company from Syracuse, NY, will advise the committee and keep the community up to date and informed. A study of the merger is in the planning stage, with information and initial data expected to be released soon. But executing a merger of the two districts, should the communities decide to proceed, will still be a lengthy process after completion of the study.

The first of a series of meetings with the advisory committee will occur on Tuesday, Mar. 1. A draft report on the study will then be reviewed in late July and will be sent to the state’s Education Dept. The report along with the study will then be reviewed by the NYSED, leading to a final report to be presented to the joint Manor-Roscoe advisory committee in mid-September. A public discussion will follow in October and November.

As for the actual votes themselves, there will be a total of six balloting sessions. The first will occur in October, requiring both school boards to vote to affirm the merger before any further votes. There will then be two community votes for each district in December and February 2023 respectively.

“Both communities have to vote ‘yes’ twice for a merger to occur,” said Alan D. Pole, a senior associate at Castallo & Silky. In that event, the combined district would begin operations on July 1 of next year.

“Most times, districts end up not merging,” Pole said. “It depends on what the study is going to find in the end. Sometimes it’s a good idea and sometimes it’s not.”

Ninety-five percent of the time, Pole said, communities embrace the study. Where things go after that depends on the data.

“What happens is often, the merged school district is able to offer more programs for their students,” Pole said. “They’re able to offer more math classes than they are currently, maybe additional science electives than they currently offer because they don’t have the student population to warrant it. They may offer more college-level courses because they have a greater student body.”

How will a merger affect students?

While the timeline for consideration of a merger is clear, how would bringing together Livingston Manor and Roscoe as a single district actually affect things? What would change for the better? For the worse? While more detailed responses to those questions must wait for the study to be released, both Evans and Pole attempted to address some of the community’s concerns.

The merger will obviously affect each hamlet and especially their students. According to Evans, a recommendation from a similar study done in the 1990s suggested that Roscoe’s school building could be used as a facility for elementary students, while Manor’s would serve as the town’s high school. While this is only one scenario, if it were to be adopted as part of the current merger plan, there would definitely be a change in where students would attend school. It will also mean an expansion of current busing routes and student travel times.

As consultant Pole noted, a merger would also bring about further opportunities for students. “The benefits are increased educational opportunities, increased extracurricular opportunities, both in sports and in non-sports,” said Supt. Evans.

An added benefit of combining districts would be an increase in the student body. With more students, extracurricular activities such as drama, choir and band that previously were difficult to fill, would have more participants. Increased financial aid from the state could also go to more academic and extracurricular programs, and might even decrease the burden on local taxpayers.

Cost of the merger study

The only current costs to taxpayer are those of the study. Evans noted that they received a grant from the state that funds 50 percent of the study. “The study itself costs $54,000. Half of that, $25,000, comes from the Department of State, and then the other half is split equally between the two districts,” Evans said. “So that’s the only cost right now to the taxpayers or to the school districts.” He added that with increased state aid, the financial impact on the two communities in the event of a merger would be minimized.

There are also concerns about teachers and school faculty losing their positions due to redundancy. “I don’t think there have ever been situations where people have involuntarily lost their jobs,” said Pole. Evans thinks there might be more job openings due to staff retiring rather than go through with the merger.

“Change is hard for everybody, and if the merger is to go through, there are lots of changes that will occur,” said Evans. Some students may express concern about having to take classes with kids from a rival school, but Evans has a different outlook.

“I think it’s something that would help bring the communities together,” he said. “It’s been looked at a number of times over the years, and for various reasons didn’t go through. But a lot has changed between then and now – a lot has changed in education. Right now, both buildings, as we are structured separately, are starving for space. Education has changed a lot. If you walk into an elementary classroom that has 15 or 20 students in it, the room is full. We have learning centers, we have group work areas. It’s no longer 25 desks in rows, all facing the front of the room.”