F.S. district pauses reconfiguration proposal

The Franklin Square Union Free School District’s Board of Education made an announcement on Wednesday, March 16, at it’s regular monthly meeting, that it would put a hold on it’s proposal to reconfigure the district — a plan proposed nearly three weeks ago to create a middle school, and save the district $1.8 million by 2014-15. Under the plan, all Kindergarten, first-grade and second-grade students would be housed at the John Street and Polk Street schools, and fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students would be housed at the Washington Street School.

Over the past month, Patrick Manley, Franklin Square’s superintendent, attended several Parent-Teacher Association meetings and parent-teacher conferences to discuss the proposal with parents. Manley said throughout the month, he received a lot of feedback from parents, who consistently asked for more information and details about the proposal, including specifically how transportation would work under the proposed plan, as well as the true costs of implementing pre-Kindergarten and foreign language programs in the schools — another aspect of the reconfiguration proposal.

“Our Strategic Planning Committee will evaluate the feedback and create sub-committees to determine how we can address the concerns offered during our public meetings,” Manley said, adding that sub-committees within the committee will research specific suggested alternatives.

In a statement issued to residents last week, the district stated that its Board of Education and administration remain concerned about the fiscal crisis facing public education in New York — a cost that the district had hoped its money-saving proposal would help alleviate. “The possibility of a property tax cap, coupled with increasing retirement system contributions, will be detrimental to schools. Retirement system contributions for the Franklin Square School District are increasing by $701,000 for 2011-12. The district would be over the 2 percent property tax cap by $235,000 simply because of the state-mandated retirement system contributions,” the district’s letter stated.

Dennis McDonnell, a Franklin Square resident, and senior staff designer at Gibbs & Cox, Inc., said he is disappointed that the plan will not be implemented for the 2011-12 school year, but is not surprised by parents’ resistance. He explained that three years ago, the district conducted a study about reconfiguration, and many parents were opposed. Some parents were concerned about not having their children close to home, under the proposal, and others were worried the plan would cause traffic congestion, or even take bus transportation away from students living too close to schools, among other concerns.

However, McDonnell said, these concerns pale in comparison to the overall benefit that would come from the plan, including an improved special education program.

“My own daughter had been transported by bus to outside districts due to her special needs requirements. This was done to provide for the best possible educational program available for her. I reminded the Franklin Square parents that their priority should be the same,” Donnelly said. “A short bus ride is a better alternative than to accept lesser programs, larger class sizes and inferior facilities … the changes are intended to provide a superior learning environment. …”

However, Donnelly said, he is pleased that an evaluation and preparation of the plan will continue, and it is not simply being thrown out.

William Cook, a Franklin Square resident and parent to a Polk Street School student, said he was very upset when he first found out about the district’s proposal, via a letter he found in his child’s backpack. Not only did he feel the district could have better informed taxpayers about the potential plan, he felt it hadn’t done enough research on its proposed pre-K program — one of the most expensive programs to implement for a district, he said. Pre-K costs roughly $18,000 per child, and the state required pre-K programs to have three adults per 18 students, Cook said. “This is one of the most expensive entitlements for a district, at a time when the state is cutting back, and a 2 percent tax cap is in the works,” Cook said, adding that he didn’t have faith in the proposal’s positive numbers. “When you say this is free, I say it has to come from the taxpayers,” he said.

Another concerned parent in the district, who will be referred to as “Andy” because he requested to remain anonymous, said he is opposed to the district’s plan because it would force his two daughters, ages 5 and 6, to take two different buses to two different schools each day. “They would not be in the same school until the oldest is in 5th grade, which is over 4 years away,” Andy said. “This may sound like a small thing, but imagine families that have two parents working, and who need to hustle as it is, and now we have succumb to the ‘Patrick Plan,’ and explain to our kids why they are being ripped apart.” Andy, a Garden City South resident, added that one of his daughters was once put on the wrong school bus while coming home from school, and he believes the plan would spur similar bus “chaos.”

Ashley Garcia, a resident of Garden City South, said she is opposed to the plan because she believes fourth- and fifth-graders are simply too young to benefit from departmentalized classes. “They would lose time to form the necessary relationships with their teachers, and would be introduced to a bigger ‘world’ far sooner than is necessary by going from 100 kids in a grade to 300,” Garcia said, adding that she believes the plan would negatively impact property values, since schools would be farther away from homes, under the plan. “Their plan has several holes, weak arguments and has been presented with a lack of research,” she said.

Garcia said she believes the district’s decision to hold off on the plan is a great idea. “There is an opportunity now to study other configurations and their correlation with student performance, bus travel options, effects on the community, and weigh all of those pros and cons against the budget shortfalls,” she said.

Manley said the district is currently pursuing legislative action to provide mandate relief, in addition to conducting research for its proposal. “We need to develop a suitable plan in case legislative relief does not occur,” he said.

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