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Message From the Superintendent |
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Welcome to the Lake Shore Central School District web site.
In an effort for the Board of Education to continue to meet their goal of:
By June 30, 2010, the Board of Education will continue to demonstrate fiscal responsibility by examining current programs, practices and facilities and their use, by completing two (2) formal program evaluations, and will base budget decisions on the results of these evaluations and emerging needs.
The Board has been doing their due diligence and studying two critical issues within the District. The first issue was a review of the current grade level configuration throughout the District, which is comprised of five elementary buildings with grades kindergarten through fifth; a middle school with grades sixth through eighth and a senior high school housing the remaining ninth through twelfth grades.
The investigation centered around the review of the feasibility of moving the fifth graders from the elementary buildings to the middle school, thus creating a fifth through eighth grade middle school. There was a comprehensive committee, representing all constituencies, formed and charged with conducting this research. Over a four month period of time, the committee reviewed numerous research documents, conducted several visitations to area schools that utilize a 5th through 8th grade middle school structure and they received a great deal of feedback from the school-community.
In conclusion, on Tuesday, January 19th, the committee presented its findings to the Board of Education, which included advantages and disadvantages of the configuration change. Based on this information, which can be found on the District Website (www.lakeshore.wnyric.org), the recommendation was made to maintain the current grade level configuration across the district and that the 5th grade remain part of the elementary structure. The recommendation was unanimously supported.
The second critical issue that the Board of Education is continuing to study is the consolidation of the District’s five elementary buildings. Over the past decade the District has had a declining enrollment and for the first time the enrollment has dropped below 3000 students. The five elementary schools possess enough capacity for 90 instructional classrooms with only enough enrollment to fill approximately 60 of those spaces.
The Board of Education has been essentially reviewing two consolidation plans at this time. The first plan would be to consolidate the Brant Elementary School and distribute the students to both the A.J. Schmidt Elementary School and the J.T. Waugh Elementary School. The Brant Elementary School would then be marketed for the sale of the property. The resulting savings over a four-year period of time is projected to be $470,000. The second consolidation plan that the Board of Education is reviewing would be to consolidate both the Brant Elementary School and the W.T. Hoag Elementary School. The W.T. Hoag Elementary building would be retained by the District and repurposed for continual use for District services. The elementary attendance zones would then be redistricted and the students could attend the A.J. Schmidt Elementary School, J.T. Waugh Elementary School or the Highland Elementary School. This consolidation plan could yield a projected $750,000 in savings for the District over a four-year period of time.
The Board of Education will continue to review all aspects of the proposed consolidation plans and hopefully be in a position to make an informed decision in the very near future. The first and foremost critical goal for the Board of Education is to preserve and continue to enhance the educational programming for our students, while maintaining fiscal responsibility. This decision will be measured against this important responsibility.
On another note, it is important to be aware that New York State continues to be in financial difficulty as a result of the Global Fiscal Crisis. This situation will have another significant impact on school districts across the state as the Governor’s proposed executive budget is calling for a 5% reduction in state aid being paid to school districts. The result for the Lake Shore Central School District could be as severe as a two million dollars reduction in state aid. It is important to note that we have been working very hard at identifying areas that we can maximize our efficiencies and reductions in our budget plan for the next school year. All portions of the budget will be reviewed and priorities will be determined as we move forward and make difficult decisions in order to preserve the educational experience for our children.
The next Eagle Express, which will be published on March 25th, will detail both the proposed consolidation plans and budget development process.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey R. Rabey,
Superintendent of Schools
January 2010
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Last Updated ( Monday, 25 January 2010 )
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