Parents continued to question the fate of East Elementary School at the March 8 Board of Education meeting, as school officials told residents that they are holding firm to a commitment they made two years ago to keep the 82-year-old school open amid concerns that the district will close it.
The potential closing of the school, first proposed in 2008, remains a major issue among residents. At the school board’s budget meeting, several asked about it, and some said that the school should be closed so the district can conserve money. Others argued that it should remain open to continue to provide education for students and to maintain property values.
In January 2009, the board postponed closing East School for two years while it consulted with experts and monitored enrollment. It has since become clear that the two-year time frame involved no deadline.
According to the Long Beach School District, East School’s enrollment was 326 in 2008-09, 332 in 2009-10 and 339
this year.
Built in 1929, the school is the oldest — and most deteriorated — school building in the district, and the board considered converting it into an administrative building as part of the district’s preservation plan to upgrade its buildings. Since the postponement, however, the topic has sparked heated debates between those who feel the school should remain open and those who disagree.
West Pine Street resident George Costello told the board that he believes the school should be closed soon, citing the likely declining enrollment in the coming years. “I think instead of dragging our feet on this East School thing, we can close it down and benefit the other three remaining [elementary] schools and save lots of money,” Costello said. “Our taxes grow every year and it’s a burden on everybody.”
Several trustees disagreed. Board President Dr. Dennis Ryan said that the school is “more than just a building.” “It represents a significant number of families in this community,” Ryan said. “We are going to give it much more thought.”
Resident Lisa McKay pointed out that education is funded by property taxes. “If you close the school, and thereby lower the property values in a certain section of the town, it’s more of a binding system than to just say, ‘We shut the building down and we save some money.’”
Many parents and East School PTA members contend that the school should be renovated and remain open, to ensure that the district’s other elementary schools are not overcrowded and that students are properly educated. Patrice Krzeminski, co-vice president of the East School PTA, who has a son in kindergarten at the school, expressed great concern over its potential closing.
“From a parent standpoint, there’s about 22 kids per class,” Krzeminski said. “If we close that school … and have to put kids in other elementary schools, you’re increasing the number of students in classes. Kids aren’t going to learn.”
Krzeminski said that she supports spending cuts in the district, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed salary cap for school superintendents. She also said she believes in consolidating districts to save money rather than shutting down the school.
“They’re doing some work in the building, so I don’t think, structurally, there’s any reason to close it,” she added, noting that the second-floor bathrooms have been refurbished and that a new elevator has been installed in the building.
“Let’s step back and look at this,” Krzeminski said. “How will our kids benefit from this? We need to cut in other areas. We need to educate our students.”
Jodi Gusler, a co-president of the PTA, said she wasn’t sure whether — in the event that the East School is closed — there would be overcrowding at other elementary schools, but she believes it should remain open. “That remains to be seen,” Gusler said of the prospect of overcrowding. She added, “It’s important for all the students in the district that we remain a four-choice school district,”
Board Vice President Patrick Gallagher said that there was “misinformation” regarding the board’s commitment of two years, and that “the number of two years was a very generic number” that was not meant to be specific.
Gallagher added that district-wide construction projects that are part of the preservation plan approved by voters in 2009 must be completed before a decision can be made about the school [See story, page 6].
“The issue really is that right now, until the Lido Complex is completed, and until the other facilities are done … it’s a moot conversation,” Gallagher said. “It’s a moot conversation for probably about another year.”
The board said that a final decision is pending.
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