By EVAN NEMEROFF
Responding to the current economic crisis at last week’s school board meeting, Fitzsimons proposed a plan to relocate all fifth-graders to the middle school and close one of the district’s four elementary schools. The plan could also involve moving pre-K and kindergarten students out of the Number 4 School.
“When I started here, we were on a contingency budget,” Fitzsimons said. “We closed the Number 1 School that year because of the loss of enrollment. We have more buildings than are needed to house our children, and it is a huge expense. Closing a school can lower our expenses, and it is fiscally prudent.”
The state is dealing with a $1.5 billion budget deficit this year and a projected deficit of $12.5 billion in 2009-10. District 15 faces a possible midyear reduction in state aid of $844,000, a cut of nearly 10 percent.
“Nobody likes to close a school, but with the crisis we’re in, we can still close a school and accommodate our students,” Fitzsimons said. “Doing this will also lower our operating costs.”
Fitzsimons’s proposal includes the possible closing of either the Number 4, Number 5 or Number 6 School and the relocation of fifth-graders to the middle school. The age difference between fifth- and eighth-graders would not be a problem, according to Fitzsimons, since this is common in the high school.
“I’m not worried at all about the age difference,” Fitzsimons said. “There will be adequate supervision at the school. The fifth-graders will be housed in one corridor and will be integrated with the sixth-graders during lunch and recess. This could also be positive for the kids because the eighth-graders can serve as role models for the fifth-graders. There could be peer interaction between both. The high school is mixed in age, and there’s no problems. An older kid is a good role model for a younger one.”
The Number 2 School, in Inwood, is not being considered for closure because 50 percent of the district’s students live in Inwood.
Two kinds of plans are being considered, a “traditional” plan and a “Princeton” plan. Under the traditional plan, the students from the school being closed would be dispersed throughout the other three elementary schools. Under the Princeton plan, pre-K and kindergarten children would be at one school, while first- and second-graders would be housed at another, and third- and fourth-graders would share the remaining school.
Fitzsimons proposed closing the Number 4 School because it is the oldest building in the district and is in generally poor condition. It is the only school, however, that is suitable for pre-K and kindergarten children because of features like lavatories in the classrooms. If it were closed under the traditional plan, it would save the district $5 million, while savings under the Princeton plan would be $4.9 million.
“I included Number 4 in the proposal because it’s the oldest building, and it’s in poor condition,” Fitzsimons said. “Why should we put money into a building that is in such poor condition? It’s a unique facility that serves the children, but we could still have solid programs at other buildings if this school was closed.”
A second school that could possibly close is Number 5, which is in good condition and has a small gym, playgrounds and fields. If it were closed, the estimated savings would be $4.3 million under the traditional plan and $4.2 million under the Princeton plan.
The other choice for closure, the Number 6 School, is the district’s largest elementary school, measuring over 80,000 square feet and occupying 6.7 acres. It was built in 1955 and is in good condition. Its loss would cost the district athletic fields that are used by the high school’s girls’ teams. There are also good core facilities inside the building, like the auditorium and gym.
“If the Number 6 School closes, Lawrence girls’ athletic teams that use the site will still go on,” Fitzsimons said. “There are other options in the area for the teams to use. Right now, the Lawrence Country Club is used by the girls’ tennis team and the boys’ golf team. The boys’ tennis team uses North Woodmere Park. It may be inconvenient for the teams, but there are other options available.”
Closing the Number 6 School would save the district $7.5 million to $7.7 million, depending on the plan.
Some parents in the community are outraged at the possible closure of another school. “I personally would hate to see any building close,” said an Atlantic Beach resident who attended the board meeting but declined to be identified. “I still don’t understand what happened to the money from the closure of the Number 1 School, which should have gone to our children. I feel the board is manipulating the numbers for their own good to get what they want.”
Andrew Levey, a public school advocate who ran for a seat on the Lawrence school board in 2007, believes the board should not just look at numbers when thinking about which building to close. “The proposal only talked about how much the district would save, but not how it could impact the kids academically,” Levey said. “The community should hear both sides of the problem. We want to hear what would happen if a school was closed and not closed. This was mostly about numbers first regarding closing a school. But what programs would be cut or how much would taxes increase if we didn’t close a school? We deserve to hear both sides of the issue that affects our kids.”
Fitzsimons asked the school board to make a decision by its next meeting, on Dec. 16. “I want this plan to take effect for September 2009,” he said. “We need to begin making preparations as soon as possible for next year’s budget.”
Comments about this story? ENemeroff@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
