Set to study school zones in Lynbrook

In what they described as a lack of transparency and knowledge about the district’s decision to dissolve the Marion Street and Waverly Park School optional zone, several community members made complaints over the last several weeks.

As a result, officials have publicly apologized for the delay in getting the information out to the public, and are now ready to take another step: a comprehensive examination of school zones slated to start in the next coming months. The study, officials hope, will help them explore other options and take a wider look at zoning within the district. “It’s preliminary now because one of the things we said is to devote a good amount of time to it during this summer,” said Schools’ Superintendent Santo Barbarino.

The study will come a little more than a year after the resolution was passed to do away with the optional zone, which residents were formerly able to choose which school their children could attend. Last spring, the Board of Education adopted the resolution, which affected certain addresses on Alden Road, Davis Street, Carmen Avenue, Davison Avenue in East Rockaway, Grant Avenue, Main Street, Salem Road, 24-30 Flint Road and 42-100 Plymouth Road. Starting this school year, those select homes are only zoned for Waverly Park and no waver option will be offered. However, families with children already in Marion Street will be grandfathered into that school for any new siblings entering the school system.

Officials cited the lower enrollment at Waverly Park as an important reason for their decision. Currently, Marion Street has about 450 students, a sizeable increase from 205 students at Waverly, according to Barbarino. “It was a matter of trying to populate a school that was unpopulated and relieve some pressure on the school that is overpopulated,” said Schools’ Superintendent Santo Barbarino. “What we owe to our schools is to have a proper balance in the schools so that’s why we felt we had to make the move and in fact, that is what we did.”