The Onteora school board unanimously approved a resolution calling for a K–12 central campus and scheduled a Dec. 10 public vote that sets the stage for a district consolidation and the inevitable closure of Woodstock Elementary School.
The board approved titling a $26.9 million bond proposition “To Create a District-Wide K–5 Elementary School” to specifically tie the renovations to Bennett Elementary to the consolidation.
“To everybody on the board and probably everybody sitting out there, the language is very intentional, that this proposition is to ensure that our fifth grade doesn’t go into the middle school,” Jerome said at the Oct. 21 board meeting.
“That’s why it’s framed to create a district-wide K–5 elementary school, because that’s what we hope will pass and so we can do that.”
Proposition 1, if passed, will fund eight new classrooms, an art room, expanded library, office space, a security vestibule and new bathrooms to accommodate the K–12 campus.
Proposition 2 contains $15 million in what the district considers needed improvements, such as new windows at Bennett, new high school music rooms and improvements to the athletic field, but they are not essential to the consolidation. This proposition will be funded by capital improvement funds saved over the years and approved previously by voters.
Board President Cindy Bishop said the board was “very careful about the price tag” in this reattempt at the capital plan after voters defeated a $70.5 million plan in May that was to be funded with a $50.5 million bond and $15 million in capital funds.
“It’s not that we didn’t want to add a new gym to Bennett. It’s not that we don’t want to do a turf field or field lights or the things that we did get feedback from our exit polling that were just way too over the top, way too much money,” Bishop said.
“Those items can be left for a future bond.”
“It’s been 20 years since we asked our community to finance a bond like we did in May, and we have received feedback on that kind of a process where school districts are encouraged to present a bond to their communities more frequently so that it’s not such a shock.”
Trustees unanimously approved a resolution calling for a K–12 central campus by 2028 that officially seals the fate of Woodstock Elementary, regardless of the proposition outcome. The resolution is reworked from the Sept. 30 meeting, where trustees tabled it indefinitely after emotional pleas from a sometimes raucous and disruptive crowd in support of saving the school.
Trustee Emily Mitchell-Marell, reduced to tears, said, “No one wanted to save Woodstock more than me.”
Mitchell-Marell said she sent a letter to 97 people, many of whom she grew up with and attended Woodstock and are now parents.
“These are sadly the only choices at this point. Renovations with new classrooms and facilities or no renovations and with the fifth grade in the middle school/high school,” she said, reading from the letter.
“With where we are financially as a country, the [‘One Big Beautiful’ federal spending] bill passed on July 4 and the overall size of our school, it just feels like we’re up against a wall, and this is our best chance at this point. It’s not just us. This is happening all over,” she said.
“I think the transition will be hard and heartbreaking at times, but I also think we will come out on the other side, happy about our new shiny school nestled in the mountains, our after-school activities, our athletic fields, our music and art rooms, and one day our big gym, cafeteria, track, field lights, etc.,” she added.
“This is not what I wanted either at all. But sometimes, especially in the terrible conditions of our current world, we have to accept reality and make the best of it. We have to be open to other ideas, paths, often ones we did not picture for ourselves.”
The resolution describes specific paths for grade reconfiguration based on the success or failure of Proposition 1.
If the bond passes, Bennett will house grades K–5, the middle school will contain grades 6–8, and the high school will serve grades 9–12. The middle and high school are in the same building but are separated by doors and hallways.
If Proposition 1 fails, Bennett will house grades K–4, the middle school will contain grades 5–8, and the high school will contain grades 9–12.
Voter suppression allegations
Onteora officials voted unanimously to hold the December 10 vote on a capital plan for consolidation only at the high school, fighting back at accusations of voter suppression.
Superintendent Victoria McLaren had previously touted the move as a way to allow for expanded voting hours from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. instead of the usual 2-9 p.m. hours.
The district has never held an election in December and it argues the earlier sunset poses safety concerns in Woodstock.
The new location, in the high school wrestling room, has an entrance separate from instructional spaces, where Woodstock does not have such a space.
Trustee Emily Mitchell-Marell noted voters can mail in ballots up to 30 days prior to the December 10 election.
“And you can actually get your ballot at Woodstock or Bennett and drop it off at Woodstock or Bennett, which I think will probably make it easier than even voting day-of,” she said.
District Clerk Amanda Gates touted several advantages and said it avoids many issues encountered with multiple polling places.
“One location ran short of ballots, so I had to go from one building and deliver them to the other building, but then that building was concerned that they were running low on ballots. So that was a little concerning there,” she said.
“The final issue that we had, which was a major issue, was one of the machine workers from the Board of Elections didn’t understand how to run a report at the end of the night, so we had to drive to Woodstock Elementary School at 9.30 at night and recount all of the ballots. So that left for a long evening, and that would have been fixed by being able to help the machine worker shut down the machine,” Gates said.
“So being able to have all the supplies in one place will help the vote run smoothly, more efficiently, keep the line shorter, easier to manage, reduce confusion, and help ensure all resources are available when needed.”
Mail-in ballot applications will be available on the district website, onteora.k12.ny.us, and at Woodstock and Bennett schools, Woodstock town offices, Woodstock Library, Olive Free Library, Phoenicia Library and the Shandaken and Olive town offices.
Assistant Superintendent for Business Monica LaClair said state law allows the school board to make the guidelines to determine the number and location of polling places.
School district elections are governed by state education law, not election law.
Locally, Rondout, Ellenville, Saugerties and Highland all have single polling locations.
“And there are probably people thinking, yeah, but they’re much smaller than we are. So Long Lake Central School District, 386 square miles, one voting location. Ausable Valley Central School District, 309 square miles, one voting location. Indian Lake, 265 square miles, has one voting location,” she said.
The Onteora district is 287 square miles.
“If it seems like we’re being a little bit defensive, it’s because we’ve heard a lot back from the community that we don’t want people to vote, and that is tacitly untrue,” Trustee Caroline Jerome said.
“There’s operational efficiencies, of course, of having one location, and we encourage people to vote by mail. We will drive applications to your house if we need to. We want people to vote,” she said.
“Absolutely, we want this to be your choice, and that’s why the district clerk has done a great job of explaining longer hours, that’s another thing that we heard back about, safety concerns over parking. These are real things,” Jerome said.
“Voting at Woodstock in my personal opinion would be extremely dangerous because it would be dark early. And if you noticed voting there, the people were parking on 375 near the golf course. And if it’s dark, seriously, I think that would be extremely dangerous,” Trustee Clark Goodrich said.
“I do just want to say out loud, there is a lot of creative thinking happening and problem solving happening a lot around getting folks mail-in ballot applications and creating locations, even for them to drop them off, not at Central Administration. There’s been, like, we are thinking out of the box,” Trustee Jenny Jared said.
“And we learned this evening that there are multiple ways that you can get that application back in.”
But Woodstock resident Adam Snyder isn’t convinced. He told the boards during Public Be Heard that the only thing guaranteed is what is in the resolution to change the polling place.
“Under New York State law, the closing of a polling place can qualify as what is called voter suppression. Section 17202 of the New York Voting Rights Act states, policies and practices that burden the right to vote must be narrowly tailored to promote a compelling policy justification that must be supported by substantial evidence,” he said.
State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa was notified, he said.
But Bishop defended the move.
“The process that we’ve gone through to make the decision to move to a single location was done with the support of our legal counsel. Not only that, but a lot of research was done by our administration,” she said.
“Our board clerk has been reaching out to local libraries and other common places in our entire district in all five or six towns that make up Onteora. People are giving her permission to drop the mail-in ballot applications at local libraries and such,” Bishop said.
“We stated that we would do anything we can to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to vote.”
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