The Locust Valley Central School District Board of Education has expressed its strong opposition to the State Department of Education’s newly implemented
regionalization plan, which aims to standardize educational services in schools across New York. Board President Lauren Themis detailed trustees’ concerns at the Oct. 29 board meeting, emphasizing the potential impact on Locust Valley’s local governance and school resources.
“This emergency regulation bypasses the usual approval process and directly impacts us, without any local input,” Themis said.
She added that the emergency nature of the regulation, which took effect on Sept. 25, leaves school districts like Locust Valley subject to decisions by the Nassau Board of Cooperative Educational Services superintendent.
“We are part of the Nassau BOCES system,” Themis explained. “This plan means our regionalization will be governed not by our district, but by the BOCES superintendent.”
The regionalization initiative, presented by NYSED as a collaborative planning process, includes all school districts outside Albany, Buffalo, Mount Vernon, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica and Yonkers.
The department’s stated goal is to expand educational opportunities, especially for smaller and financially strapped districts, by pooling resources across regions. Themis argued, however, that the plan is vague in detailing how resources will be shared and how districts like Locust Valley will benefit.
Themis explained the process behind the department’s emergency regulations, and stressed that they are meant for cases of significant and immediate concern.
“Emergency regulations are generally reserved for crises — natural disasters, pandemics — not for initiatives that could be discussed and adjusted through regular channels,” she said.
On Thursday dozens of superintendents, politicians and concerned residents gathered outside Locust Valley High School to express their frustration with the regionalization plan. Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz called it “an existential threat to everything that makes Long Island and its schools a great place to live.”
Blumencranz also announced that he planned to introduce new legislation, called the Our Rules Act, which “puts the future of our schools back where it belongs — in the hands of our local communities.” State Sen. Jack Martins added that he has also sponsored legislation to oppose the measure.
Locust Valley Superintendent Kristen Turnow also spoke, saying that she was “deeply concerned” about the way the Education Department had handled the plan, especially the emergency mandate. She also claimed that it didn’t take students’ needs into account.
“I want to emphasize that our students are not mere data points,” Turnow said. “Only our dedicated educators and administrators truly understand the unique needs of the children that they serve daily.”
The Education Department’s published objective for the regionalization plan is to “create equitable educational opportunities for students and improve operational efficiencies” across the state. As described on the department’s website, the initiative is not intended to enforce mergers or consolidations, but rather to foster “cross-district conversations” and encourage shared programs and resources among component districts in each of the state’s 37 BOCES regions. The regional superintendent, known as the BOCES superintendent, is tasked with leading these discussions and overseeing the resulting plans.
While the Education Department frames regionalization as an opportunity for schools to leverage shared services, the Locust Valley board sees it as a risk to local control. This shift, according to the board, undermines local governance and could reallocate local funds to support students from neighboring districts without additional state compensation.
Concerns were raised at the board meeting about logistical and financial challenges if students from other districts access Locust Valley resources.
“There’s no clear outline of how our district will be compensated for such services,” Themis said. “We would still be responsible for educating our students while potentially subsidizing resources for students from other districts.”
Board members also questioned what regionalization would mean for future staffing.
“The proposal includes ‘shared staff’ without defining how that would work,” Themis said. “Does that mean our teachers would work in other districts, or that we’d lose staff to other districts?”
The Education Department plan outlines a timeline for component school districts to develop and implement regionalization plans by the 2026-27 school year, with updates required every 10 years.
Themis urged the Locust Valley community to engage actively in the ongoing public comment period, which remains open despite the regulation’s immediate effect. The board has already submitted a formal letter of opposition to the plan, and intends to provide additional information on the district’s website.
“We understand that some districts face challenges with funding, staffing, and resources,” Themis concluded. “But we should not have to sacrifice our local control for a plan that offers so little clarity on its benefits or its execution.”
