56.0°,
Mostly Cloudy N. Bellmore officials: One school will close
Parents concerned in district that cuts across North Bellmore-North Merrick
One of six North Bellmore elementary schools will close starting next fall, officials announced at the Oct. 13 North Bellmore Board of Education meeting. District officials are yet to determine which school will close.
The announcement shocked many parents who attended the first two meetings of the Committee to Explore Educational Options, which was formed recently to explore options to save the North Bellmore district money in order to meet a state property-tax levy cap that will take effect in 2012.
The law states that the levy — the total amount in taxes that a school district must collect in order to meet expenses — cannot rise more than 2 percent a year, unless 60 percent of voters in the district approve a larger increase.
In addition to its five elementary schools in North Bellmore, the district takes in Park Avenue Elementary School in North Merrick.
Some 400 parents attended the last meeting of the CEEO on Oct. 6 at Saw Mill Road Elementary School. At that time, committee members presented findings on switching to the Princeton Plan, in which schools are organized by grade level rather than geographic location. The committee since learned that busing costs to implement the Princeton Plan would amount to just over $1 million, and so the committee pushed aside the proposal, though it did not rule it out as an option.
Superintendent Arnold Goldstein said that closing a school makes sense with enrollment for the 2015-16 school year projected at 70 percent of capacity across the six buildings. Gunther School’s projected enrollment is 50 percent, and Dinkelmeyer’s is 59 percent. Closing a building would allow for better use of space and resources while maintaining the small class sizes and programming that North Bellmore students and parents have grown accustomed to, Goldstein said. In real dollars, closing a school would save the district $1 million annually in maintenance costs, he said.
The district would “spend less and, at the same time, maintain the quality,” Goldstein said.
