School Closings 14 comments
Indian Lake Central School, ca. 1935
Many upstate New York communities, including several in the Adirondack Park, are considering closing their schools in the face of decreasing populations. Many have fewer than 50 children enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade. Raquette Lake Central School closed its doors in 2006, and students attend school in neighboring communities. Local officials are debating whether to keep Lake Clear Elementary open.
Some schools are making an effort to welcome students from other areas to boost student populations. Newcomb Central School enrolled 6 foreign-exchange students in 2008 and Keene Central School has considered enrolling students from larger areas, such as Plattsburgh.
High school sports are affected by dropping enrollment as well. Several Adirondack schools have already taken measures to keep sports programs alive: Newcomb Central now has a combined team with Minerva Central and Long Lake Central plays with Indian Lake Central.
Supporters of school closings or mergers argue that these actions save resources: the expense of teachers, transportation, and building and grounds maintenance. Eliminating these expenses could save taxpayers and the school district money. Children attending larger schools have more social and academic opportunities than at a smaller school. Smaller schools are often unable to facilitate students with special needs. Some small schools are unable to provide a full-time nurse or school superintendent.
Those opposing school closings or mergers argue that students in smaller classes receive more one-on-one attention from teachers than they might in a larger classroom setting. Time spent on a bus or in a car being transported to another school would increase greatly for some students. Perhaps most importantly, schools carry a strong sense of community, which would be lost with a school closing.
Tell us what you think. Do you support closing shrinking Adirondack schools? Or, should efforts be made to keep these schools open?
My children receive a better education in Indian Lake with it”s small classes than they ever could in a larger school. If consolidating schools is necessary, why not build a central school in Blue Mountain Lake? A school here could serve Blue Mountain, Indian Lake, Raquette Lake and Long Lake. We’re equally distant- miles-from all of those towns.
If offering opportunities to children is the main objective, then it seems reasonable that you would send children from sparsely populated areas to a more centrally-located area that offers more academic, athletic and extra-curricular opportunities.
Another objective might be to think of the fiscal side of running a school building:whether you have 25 or 125 students in a building, your expenditures for just keeping the building open and functional are still going to be substantial. Is the money that would be expended to conduct school for just a few students justifiable to those who have to pay for it?
smaller schools have a greater sense of community and are more able to serve individual needs because of shared experience and history.
I believe that with long distance learning opportunities available, efforts should be made to keep students within a reasonable proximity of their homes.
one must be fiscally prudent these days and if children can safely be transported to surrounding larger, more fiscally sound schools, then so be it…
If schools are progessively closed, families will tend to move to other areas, threatening a stronger decrease in the population.
However, the argument for preserving resources is also valid. In order to maintain these schools open, children from inner city schools could be offered the opportunity of coming to the Adirondacks as borading students, so in the encounter between students from different cultures there can be an enrichment opportunities.
Promoting Magnet schools with given specialties, like a forestry focus or an environmental focus could rbing students for a semester or year and infuse life to these schools. Cultural exchanges where children from the Adirondacks could also visit different schools might help.
Please keep schools open
Why are Adirondack towns losing school-age population? That is the most important question. Are communities sustainable when there are few jobs that pay decent wages? Are communities sustainable when housing is affordable only to folks from “downstate” as seasonal residences? If we don’t acknowledge and address basic problems, our towns and villages will slowly become second-home enclaves. Many young people — potential parents of school children — simply cannot afford to live here.
Perhaps an additional ‘luxury’ or ‘2nd home’ school tax on the vacation home would be appropriate; it would provide continuing sources of income for the schools. In addition, towns could require luxury or 2nd home fees for developments or the purchase of a 2nd home. It should not be too much to expect people from outside the area to help keep the schools going - after all, who is going to provide the services they want if no one is left?! Primary, year - round residences would of course be excluded from these taxes / fees.
Small classrooms are indeed better for students; the research proves this time and again. Yet, the suburban schools seem to be the best model at this time - class sizes usually aren’t too large and they have a lot of choices for the students because that is where the money is. Unfortunately, rural (and many urban) schools cannot compete given this and rural students do miss out on expanded class choices and extracurricular activities. The idea of mixing sports teams and / or creating some specialized schools for local area students are intriguing and creative ideas - keep them coming.
As an fyi: I am someone who had to leave the ADKs for all the reasons you are referencing and that was 30 years ago so this is not a new problem. Don’t give up - stay creative Adirondackers and keep your minds open to the possibilities. Good luck.
I pay full school taxes on my second home without the star rebate and I do not use the service. What more do you want from us? I love and respect the Adirondacks as much as a native to the area. I generate income to the area by the money we spend in addition to the taxes paid. Think before you want someone else to pay more!
Keep the little schools going, that is an Adirondack tradition (the independent spirit of small communites rules!!)
i think that the schools should try to stay open because w/o them the community looses one common ground
They should keep these schools open. Why should the children have to suffer.
I feel the smaller schools can be run efficiently and individual attention can far outweigh any advantages of bigger schools. When my folks moved to Saranac Lake in the late 50’s from down state I couldn’t read but the individual attention I got from the Saranac Lake School System saved me. My teachers and even the superintendant of schools took an interest in me and helped me overcome my disability. I am grateful. Keep the small schools open.