By Mary Malloy
, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Santo Barbarino said in an address to the Chamber of Commerce at its monthly meeting on Sept. 24.
"We have a beautiful school, " Barbarino said, referring to the high school. "We are very proud of it - but the building is crowded. These kids have the longest day of education in the county." To spread classes out, the 10-period schedule stretches from 7:30 to 3. "They need more room, more space ..."
Enrollment has peaked at the high school, with approximately 1,050 students. The building was built to accommodate 950. Demographics reveal that the current school population will level off at perhaps 1,000, Barbarino said, which is still too many. "People are moving into the district, and that's a nice compliment, but can we continue to house [the students] comfortably?"
The district's Building Utilization Committee has offered possible solutions to some of the problems plaguing the schools. One idea is to keep the Kindergarten Center where it is, in the administration building on Atlantic Avenue, and move the central administration to another building in the village. This would create eight extra high school classrooms (the high school is across the street from the administration building) but would required a renovation of the building. Students would have to cross the street to get to some of their classes. A second option would be to add on to the school, building a theater as well as more classrooms and expanding the cafeteria and library.
The district's two middle schools, North and South, are small buildings with split services that need reconfiguring, Barbarino said. One way of remedying this would be to rearrange the grade levels so that North would become a sixth-grade center and South would house seventh- and eighth-graders. Services would not have to be duplicated, and such an arrangement would increase the program possibilities.
The elementary schools - West End, Marion Street and Waverly Park - have uneven populations, with Waverly Park having the smallest enrollment and Marion Street the largest. Redesigning and reconfiguring them should be considered, Barbarino said.
With all of this in mind, the Building Utilization Committee has split into three groups to determine the needs of the elementary, middle and high schools. They will then bring their findings to the Board of Education, which will consider them and ask for further input from the community.
"As commercial taxpayers, we all have a vested interest in the decision, from both the educational and the financial aspect," said Jeff Greenfield, the Chamber's vice president of governmental affairs. "But who will eventually vote on it?" Barbarino explained that he and the board understand both aspects, and that everyone will have a complete list of costs for every item, and whether the approved renovations and reconfigurations would become part of a bond or of the district's budget.
Chamber member Harold Reese, of Harrontine Corp., asked how next year's state aid - which, he said, would probably be lower than this year's - would play into these plans. "I can't tell you how much that worries me," said Barbarino. "But the kids still have needs. I can't say what Wall Street will do, or what the governor or the legislators will do - I just know these are issues that need to be addressed.
"Would you consider consolidating the two middle schools?" asked Chamber President Harry Levitt. "Then one of the schools could be used for administration." Barbarino said that the entire population of both schools could not fit into one building - not without making more major changes.
"We are looking forward to hearing the recommendations of the committees," said Board of Education President Cathy Papandrew. "It's important that we have a strategic planning process for the future. "
Comments about this story? MMalloy@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 202.
