West Islip to consider closing school

The West Islip School Board has focused on four options for bridging a $6 million budget gap next year. Each would call for closing at least one school.

The district currently has six elementary schools. All house kindergartners through fifth-graders. The two middle schools serve sixth- through eighth-graders while the high school houses grades nine through 12.

A 35-member committee last month offered 11 choices for the board to make. More than 150 parents attended a board meeting last night.

Committee member Kristina Delaney said Wednesday night one option calls for the closure of two elementary schools, another the closure of a middle school by moving sixth grade back to elementary school.

A third option calls for the shuttering of just one elementary school, she said, while a fourth calls for the closure of an elementary, the combining of the two middle schools and the reconfiguration of all levels so elementary schools serve grades kindergarten through sixth; the middle school, grades seven and eight; and the high school, ninth through 12th.

The board is expected to decide on a plan by February.

Deborah Rainis, a parent of an 11-year-old fifth-grade boy in the district and a veteran teacher, argued for the preservation of all of the elementary schools. She supports unifying the two middle schools and moving sixth graders to the elementary level.

But no matter what the board decides, she said "consolidating schools should not mean that our children's education is compromised."

Amy Dowdell, whose son is in kindergarten, said students will adapt to whatever plan the board selects. She said parents need to stop thinking about only their child and their neighborhood school, and think of what works for the entire community.

"Children are resilient," she said. "It's more about how the parents and teachers approach this. If they come to work with smiles on their faces . . . the kids will be fine."

District administrators have said they're in a bind. Although they say they understand parents' concerns, they still might shutter campuses.

The district -- which serves 5,100 students -- laid off 35 people last year. Some elementary schools are only half full.

District administrators say West Islip will be about $6 million over budget next year if it does not make changes ahead of the new, 2 percent cap on property-tax increases.