Community Corner

Letter: LES Closure Proposal 'a rushed decision'

(Below is a copy of a letter from Lewisboro Elementary School parent Larry Martin)

Dear KLSD Board of Education and Miss. Harckham,

Last night I attended the hearing on the LES Closing proposal and I want to thank you for the forum and let you know that I appreciate the time your Board invested in addressing the concerns of the community.

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As you observed, it is quite apparent that the audience last night made it crystal clear that the LES community does not want this school closure to happen next year and at this time, does not believe it is in the best interest of the community or children.  Last night Dr. Kreutzer stated that the closure is "about improving efficiency and not being done out of absolute necessity".  With that said, there was in my opinion, no clear case made that could justify the potential damage to our community and kids over the desire for “efficiency”.  Simply stated, a 2% savings gamble that would disrupt 30% of the school population is a reckless trade off with limited information, questionable data, fuzzy math and is a rushed decision.

As I understand, it took the Board eight months to reach the point they are at now with just wondering “can” and “should” you close a school.  I have absolutely no faith that in a two month time period, you can gather and conclusively decide that you have properly evaluated all of the necessary information to make a sound, appropriate decision that will affect 1200+ children and their education. Last night you didn't have answers to majority of the questions that were raised and those lack of answers created quite a stir in the community today as a result.

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Among the biggest concerns I walked away with were:

·         Capacity Musical Chairs - There were a lot of unanswered questions around the data that is being used to determine capacity across schools.  Inaccurate numbers were pointed out and the assumptions appeared to not leave a lot of room for error with many questions raised about the risks of closing a school when the numbers are that close.  Perhaps you should engage the PhD in Applied Math that pointed out the inaccuracies in the displacement numbers presented last night in your model?

·         Demographic Data - Although the Board seems 100% hook-line-and-sinker convinced in the validity of the data around demographics. The audience pointed out glaring issues surrounding the length of time used, the fact that the data is over a period of economic downturn that is not accurately reflecting natural ups and downs, the fact that it is not considering the recent growth of home sales, does not consider the impact of implementing full time kindergarten, and lastly the fact that it’s based off an analysis of women in their 20’s.  I was told a gentleman from Katonah presented enrollment assumptions and actuals from the past that illustrated the district being wrong about the numbers before in KLSD because of similar economic climate. As pointed out, if Ridgefield and Chappaqua both experienced flawed projections, what makes you so confident in your crystal ball?

·         Economic Savings - The main issue that was discussed is that although $2.2 million may seem like a lot, it only represents a very small portion of the school budget (compared to the 80% tied to comp and benefits) and taxpayers are not likely to see any benefits from closing a school because the money will be quickly reallocated to new costs or other programs. In addition, because it is not addressing the main cost drivers of the budget, we are likely to be in this position again in 1-2 years and what will we do then when there is no sacrificial quick fix? The Board was not able to answer this question sufficiently. At one point, Dr. Kreutzer said, "It’s not about the money – it’s about efficiency".  Are you really ready to disrupt a community over “efficiency”?

·         Public Knowledge of Full Day K - Points were made that full day K is something that should be formally communicated and planned for now, so people can actually register for our school and potentially draws more families to the area that are currently looking to move to Westchester from city with elementary kids (I know of two such families).  What are your plans for this?

·         Red Herring – In my opinion this school closing is an easy way to distract the community from the real issue at hand, the union labor costs.  The teachers union contract was raised multiple times as an issue and a potential cost savings if renegotiated properly, but there were no answers as to when this would be complete and/or what the benefits would be.  In my opinion this issue alone is the real reason for the financial moves for “efficiency” and this closure has little to do with cost savings or decreasing enrollment.  Why else would a school district look to close the best performing school with highly desired student to teacher ratios?

·         Community Impact - Shouldn't we carefully examine all the potential impacts in our towns before we rush to a decision?  For example, did you know that there are studies (Bogart & Cromwell 2000) showing that school closing cause an decrease in home value of 9.9%?  What impact will this have on local businesses including after school oriented businesses for kids that won’t attend now due to increase bus travel?

·         Timing – Last night I heard over seven people ask why there is such a rush to make this decision.  Perhaps I missed it, but I never heard a real answer.  Many points were raised around the timing and whether the system can handle closing any school by the proposed 2014 school year - the main topics were around the following:

-Redistricting: You have not formalized the redistricting plans - all numbers that we have seen are just possibilities at this point, so more analysis and planning is needed and will be rushed.
-Transportation: You are hiring a transportation consultant to analyze how to develop a new transportation strategy - the plan is not defined or in place yet and no one disclosed the cost.
-Educational Impact: You are still waiting for an educational impact study to be complete to understand what the impact of closing a school will have on the education of our children. 
-Common Core: There has not been any work to analyze how we could effectively manage a school closing during the first year of fully implementing common core. In addition, if teachers are moved around they might need to switch grades and this will be another major adjustment for our teachers and our children. 
-Our Children: There is no plan in place right now to communicate and manage our children's concerns and questions around closing a school. In fact, it was brought up that our children are starting to ask questions and raise concerns. There are many recommended strategies on how to effectively manage a school closing to help the children - including doing cross-school events and trips, planning school site visits, joining up the PTAs - but with a decision being made in January – the community’s ability will be limited. 

In the end, I am simply writing to express my opinions, conclusions, doubts, concerns and reiterate questions that remain unanswered.  Personally, I think it would be a great detriment to our children across the district to rush into this decision without the thoughtfulness and with rushed planning.  I plan to personally explore every avenue available to stop this closing and will be investing my time and money.  I would ask that you all vote against the school being closed and realize that one more year of data will not only help alleviate the majority of the community concerns, but might actually present some additional solutions that don’t exist today.

Regards,

Larry Martin (father of 4 children under age of 9)


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