The New Paltz Central School District (NPCSD) held a community forum last week on the potential closure of Duzine Elementary School. While the district has yet to make any decision, a recommendation for closure earlier this year by the School Board’s Facilities Committee began a process that officials stress is being reviewed with great deliberation.
The forum held at Lenape Elementary School on Monday, May 13 drew a large crowd. Most did not give their names as they shared their thoughts, and most were if not directly opposed to the idea, hopeful that Duzine could remain open.
As presented in February, the committee’s recommendation would see all Pre-K through fourth grade students consolidated at Lenape, and the fifth grade moved to New Paltz Middle School.
To accommodate the influx of students, Lenape’s playground would be expanded, and ongoing plans to renovate the school’s parking lot would be modified to support increased traffic. The updated design could expand bus capacity from 16 to 29 buses and provide additional parking. Officials emphasized that further study is needed to assess the feasibility and logistics of transporting all elementary students to a single campus before any final decision is made.
Student enrollment across the district has declined significantly since 2000. At Duzine, enrollment has dropped from 510 to 306 students, excluding 54 pre-K students. Lenape has seen a similar decline, from 601 to 368 students. Middle school enrollment has fallen from 568 to 379, and high school enrollment from 712 to 626.
But the committee’s recommendation also includes the possibility of enrollment increases. The proposal includes a contingency plan for additional classroom space, should student numbers rise and require more elementary sections. That possibility was on the mind of at least one unnamed speaker during the community forum.
“The population of the town is growing,” he said. “It’s grown by 7.4 percent since 2020. Housing is also increasing, so when we look at and make these decisions, think about the long-term changes that we’re expecting to see.”
Matthew Elkin, a first grade teacher at Duzine, questioned whether Lenape would be equipped to handle the entirety of the district’s elementary school population.
“It’s important to recognize that it feels more spacious than it truly is because it’s not filled with students and teachers and staff,” he said, adding that he’s not opposed to change when it makes sense.
“Change is constant,” Elkin said. “(But) I resist it because I do not believe it is a wise and sustainable decision for the district logistically, financially, pedagogically and it’s short-sighted, which is a word I think may keep coming up.”
Kristen Frappier-Kay is a music teacher at M. Clifford Miller Middle School in Kingston, with two children in the NPCSD, a seventh grader and a high school freshman. She said that while the possibility of Duzine closing wouldn’t affect her children, she had first-hand experience seeing how moving fifth graders into middle school worked during a period over a decade ago when the KCSD dropped from eleven to seven elementary schools.
“During a period of proposals and community hearings, the Kingston community was promised that their fifth graders would be housed in a special way and kept separate from the older population,” Frappier-Kay said. “It was impossible to keep the students separate. They ride the buses together. They pass the halls for classes together. They all need to access the cafeteria, the gymnasium, the art classrooms, the music classrooms, the library, the technology rooms.”
One unnamed speaker said that while he values education, he voted against the district’s operating budget proposal for the first time last year.
“The reason I voted against it is because the community is changing,” he said. “It’s aging. There are a lot more of us looking at retirement, a lot more of us on fixed incomes, and a lot more of us looking at our property tax bills over the last 15 years, and seeing that three, four, five, whatever percent (increase) it is, is not sustainable. I get that everyone who’s got kids in the district, as I do, is focused on that, and you need to be focused on that…Birth rates are down. Kid populations are down.”
In an interview with Hudson Valley One, superintendent Stephen Gratto said he understood why the idea of closing an elementary school that’s been open since 1963 is difficult for some members of the community.
“Consolidating a district is a big deal and people care a lot about the school (district) and about their own particular building and so they have a lot to say,” he said. “And that’s the best way to make decisions is when you listen to what people say.”
Former Ulster BOCES Superintendent Charles Khoury has been engaged by the district to study the possible Duzine closure, and while there’s no timetable set for his full report, it’s likely he’ll share an update at the Wednesday, June 4 meeting of the school board. Khoury was present at the community forum and said he was appreciative of the community’s responses.
“We’re not in a rush,” Gratto said. “He can take as much time as he wants and so he will he will…The facilities committee did their due diligence. They did their research, but the board wanted an outside opinion and that’s what I’m waiting for.”
In the meantime, the public can continue to share their thoughts on the possible closure of Duzine Elementary.
“We’ve got an open door on community involvement,” Gratto said. “At any point people can write to me and send me their opinions. I’ll forward them to Dr. Khoury…And people can speak at any board meeting.
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