South Huntington officials unveil proposals to realign schools, look to expand pre-K   

South Huntington school officials have shared details of their proposals to reconfigure the district’s elementary schools — a move that would expand the prekindergarten program, but which was met with concerns and questions by parents.

Schools Superintendent Vito D'Elia, at a board meeting Tuesday, presented four options that the district is considering.

"We’re still at that stage of gathering more information for everybody to be more informed regarding what potential decision might be made down the road," he told Newsday.

In addition to expanding pre-K, he said, the district was seeking to move away from portable classrooms and increase the district's school bus fleet as part of the plan.

However, some parents were concerned that some academic opportunities, and rezoning with diversity in mind, would be overlooked. 

The schools impacted by the proposal include the Countrywood and Oakwood primary centers that serve kindergarten-to-second-grade students; the Birchwood and Maplewood intermediate schools that serve students in grades 3-5; and Silas Wood, which is a sixth-grade center. The district is planning to reincorporate the former Memorial Junior High School building, which is currently being leased by a private school.

Exploring four options 

Officials are considering these four options:

• Option A would convert the Silas Wood center into a universal pre-K center. Countrywood, Oakwood, Maplewood and Birchwood would be converted into K-4, while the Memorial building would house fifth- and sixth-graders.
• In Option B, the Memorial building would house pre-K and sixth-grade students. The other schools would become K-5 buildings.
• Option C requires the least number of changes but proposes that Memorial house grade 6 and Silas Wood become the pre-K center.
• Option D would provide the most changes of all the plans. Countrywood and Oakwood would become K-1 buildings, while Maplewood and Birchwood would house second- and third-graders. Memorial would be the new home for fourth- and fifth-graders, while Silas Wood would remain a sixth-grade center. Universal pre-K classes would be provided at Countrywood, Oakwood, Maplewood and Birchwood.

The changes also would impact bus times and routes. 

This week's meeting was the first of several that will be held on the topic this month. District officials said they're aiming to incorporate the changes for the 2026-27 school year, but it's unclear when the board will approve a plan.

The district currently seats 150 prekindergarten students and has a waitlist of about 60 students. The proposals, according to D’Elia, create an opportunity to more than double that number of seats. He noted that the district lost more than $900,000 in state aid allocated for pre-K classes because of the lack of space.

While many of the parents said they supported the push for pre-K seats, they also expressed concerns about how the reconfiguration would affect other parts of the schools.

Parents' concerns: Busing, costs, more 

Cortney Enderle, a parent with two children in the district, said the presentation left her with many unanswered questions about the hard cost of these changes and how they would impact her children’s extracurricular activities and academics.

"If we’re introducing more kids into the program, I just don’t see how everyone is going to get a fair chance in that," she said regarding a theater program in which her children are enrolled. "... They need to make sure our current students are supported."

Enderle, 35, of Huntington Station, also echoed a concern voiced throughout Tuesday’s meeting regarding an option that would place younger students on school buses with older kids. “But my daughter, going into kindergarten, going on the bus with fifth-graders, I don’t think so,” she said. 

Patricia Swanson, 38, of Huntington Station, asked school officials to address how the change would impact "the diversity of students, not only based on race, but also socioeconomic status."

"Who is being the voice for those parents and those students who have more hurdles in their education?" said Swanson, who has two children in the district.

Dana Padilla-Vinces, 30, of Huntington, echoed that worry, adding that she is concerned that the changes could create a "segregated environment."

School officials highlighted the diversity of the district during the presentation. It was noted that 53% of students are Hispanic, 31% are white, 7% are Black or African American, and 5% are Asian, while the remaining 4% were two or more races.

D’Elia said current boundaries were developed about 30 years ago and have been equitable.

"In any plan we have moving forward, we would want to keep that diversity," he said.