Though the school was initially spared last year when the Kingston City School District’s Board of Education chose Frank L. Meagher for closure to address dwindling enrollment, Woodstock-based Zena Elementary recently found itself back in the crosshairs as trustees consider adding another building to the chopping block.
Zena, one of 11 elementary schools currently in operation in the district, is the only building in the district serving students who reside in Woodstock. While the original Meagher closure plan would have left Zena untouched. A minor redistricting plan five years ago brought a handful of families formerly within the attendance boundary for Harry L. Edson to Zena.
Among the children impacted by that move were those of Rattiya Hill, a KHS Class of ’85 alum who moved with her husband to a home in Kingston, in part because of her own memories of going to school at Edson. After the redrawing of attendance boundaries put their home in the Zena zone, Hill was so pleased with the school that when they moved to a second home, they decided to keep their children at Zena. The couple’s eldest son, who started at Zena in the 3rd grade, is in the 8th grade now. Their other children are still Zena students, and like many of the school’s parents, they’re not pleased that a building spared a year ago might still wind up being closed after all.
“Any parent would find any school closure disheartening, and I don’t want any school to close,” Hill said, adding that the school board should stick with the plan that originally included closing only Meagher. That plan, at least under its most recent configuration, was rejected by trustees at their meeting on Wednesday, January 4.
The meeting was the last for outgoing Superintendent Gerard Gretzinger and it would split the current student population at Meagher roughly down the middle, with half moving to John F. Kennedy Elementary and half to Edward R. Crosby Elementary. The closure of Meagher under those terms has been estimated to save the district $704,952. The current discussion, where Meagher may be joined by one or two more schools in being closed at the end of the current school year, picked up steam in mid-December, when Gary Tomczyk, Sr., the district’s treasurer, revealed that if next year’s spending plan was the same as the current operating budget, Kingston schools would have to come up with another $12.5 million to cover it. The figure does not include the savings realized by the closure of Meagher, a relative drop in a very large bucket.
The budget and the need to make up the difference is partly why Zena — along with the Anna Devine and Sophie Finn elementaries — has come back into the conversation of late. And for some members of the Zena family, that’s not acceptable when there are other areas yet to be considered.
“As a parent, what bothers me the most is that they are going for the things that affect the children directly,” said Jillian Fisher, a Zena PTA member with a child in the school and another who also attended there. “I’m not a financial person, but I could look at a budget and say, ‘Let’s wipe out a school; that will save us some money.’ I think it’s harder to go in and really look through administration and bureaucracy and make cuts there. I don’t see them doing that, and it’s frustrating me as a parent. It’s also frustrating to me because I’m a product of the Kingston school system.”
Fisher said that she thought the focus should move away from school closure until it’s at least given careful consideration to administrators at the district and school levels. A KHS alum, Fisher remembers attending high school at a time when the student population was much greater, yet there was just one principal, one vice-principal and two deans in the school.
“We really haven’t even fully engaged in the budget discussion,” said Chris Farrell, a longtime trustee. “This is part of a redistricting plan, and part of it is budgetary, but part of it is in the interests of downsizing the district. We’ve had over 1,000 fewer students since I’ve been on the board over the last 10 years. That’s the equivalent of three elementary schools. The reality is, that process is beginning at our next meeting and going on until we present the budget in April. We’re going to be looking at other areas. This is only a small fraction of the budget.”
While it is a small fraction of the budget, the closure of two of the three elementary schools in the conversation would make up a considerably larger fraction of the budget than Meagher will. While Sophie Finn would realize an estimated savings of $674,116, Anna Devine could nearly double that, at an estimated $1,114,341. Zena’s closure, it’s believed, would save even more money: $1,116,172. The plans to close Zena and Anna Devine include the elimination of five teaching positions apiece; the closure of Meagher and Sophie Finn would each result in the elimination of one teaching position. Other savings realized in closing any school would be largely comprised of other staff, including the building principal and school nurse.
New superintendent’s options
Meanwhile, the Zena family has enacted a number of efforts to balance the dollar amount with what amounts to a two-pronged approach to saving their school, collecting 419 signatures on a petition along the way. The first, most obvious approach has been to illustrate the school’s value, both in the community and the district itself. The school consistently ranks among the highest in the district in standardized testing.
On the other end of the spectrum, Zena defenders have tried to point out how difficult it would be for the district to find an alternative use for the school should it close. In their reasoning, the comparatively isolated location would make the building less than ideal for use as an alternative high school or district office, options under consideration for other possible closed facilities. Furthermore, some Zena parents have pointed out, the location and facility itself would also make it difficult for the district to find a buyer should the school be put on the open market for sale.
“I think one of the things we tried to help the board see was that if you close down Zena, there are still going to be costs,” Fisher said. “Zena does not have any municipal services, so I don’t know what you would use that building for. There’s no city sewer, there’s no city water.”
Among the Board of Education, there appears to be a sense that decisions may be made fairly soon, but that the new superintendent, Dr. Paul Padalino, should be given an opportunity to either support any of the options currently on the table or come to them with something entirely new.
“Certainly if the new superintendent presented a plan, I’d be open to it,” Farrell said. “My personal preference would be for the Meagher closure to be finalized and for the new superintendent to present any other closure plans he might have, and for that to be settled soon. And then we can move on to furthering our discussion about other budgetary items.”
Shaughnessy said he hoped a decision could be reached in “another month or six weeks” and still come off effectively in time for the beginning of the 2012-13 school year. Even with the budget conversation about to begin in earnest, redistricting isn’t likely to fall by the wayside.
The perceived indecision, Fisher said, is making the entire district anxious.
“I don’t think any elementary school is safe,” she said. “They did a comprehensive study last year, and then they studied the study and made their decision based on a lot of time and effort. And now they’re not sure they want to close Meagher and they’re starting over again. I don’t think this is a way to run a business. And now I think that every school is feeling that this might be done swiftly. There’s fear, and I don’t think any elementary school is off the chopping block.”++
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