JAMAICA-The town will soon hold a vote to determine whether to permanently close Jamaica Village School - a potential first step in making NewBrook Elementary in Newfane into a regional elementary school hub.
The Selectboard has warned an article to be voted on by Australian ballot on Tuesday, Jan. 14, asking voters to authorize the board to close the school, "such that the Jamaica Village School would not be used for an elementary school or provision of direct educational service by the district to students, with the closing to happen on or before June 30, 2025."
Voting will take place from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Town Office at 28 Town Office Rd. An informational meeting on the subject is set for Tuesday, Jan. 7 at the Town Hall, 3735 VT-30, at 7 p.m.
The town will also ask voters if they will approve the purchase of the school building from the district for $1.
Wording for the articles was finalized at the West River Modified Union Education District's Dec. 9 meeting.
Jamaica Village School, which serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade, has been closed this year, with most of its students attending Townshend Elementary. It continues to be used for a pre-K program.
School officials have said that if the pre-K program were to continue at Jamaica Village School, the district would need to cut about $567,843 to avoid exceeding an excessive spending threshold set by the state. If the pre-K program were to move to another location, the budget would need to be reduced by about $436,758 to stay under the threshold.
In an interview on Dec. 17, WCSU Superintendent Bob Thibault said that the state Agency of Education (AOE) had "just corrected their own numbers and gave us updated numbers, so that will probably be changing and not in a good way."
Thibault said that he would be notifying not only the West River Modified Union District board but the other school boards as well so they could hold special meetings to review and discuss the new numbers.
If Jamaica Village School is closed, it is estimated that it would save the district $131,000 in building operations annually, plus the district would would no longer need to invest in repairs or future capital projects.
A report issued by the state on the building determined that it needs improvements.
"A lot of systems were working at near, or at, the end of their useful lives and so you're not investing future money into that," said Thibault.
Looking at scenarios
Though it could take 18 months to implement, one proposed plan would close Jamaica Village School and Townshend Elementary School and merge with NewBrook Elementary School in Newfane.
While Thibault listed some challenges to the NewBrook site - particularly increased travel time for some who are not centrally located - he said such a move would offer some educational, social, and emotional benefits for students.
One benefit would be expanding the number of classrooms per grade from one to two.
"It allows kids to have more peers to interact with, a more varied group of people," he said. "So if you have two kids that have been in school together since kindergarten but really struggle to get along, you can separate them into different classes. If you have a kid who really is struggling and needs his or her good buddy with them to really kind of focus them, then you can put them together. In general, it gives them a larger social group to make friends with."
Thibault said the change would also allow teachers to work together more closely. He said that teachers doing remediation or interventions could, with a broader population, more effectively reach students in groups based on their abilities.
Up in the air
Thibault said that the regional scenario could take 18 months for construction of modular structures at NewBrook, including six to nine months to get the permits, do an engineering study, prepare the site with electric, water, and sewer, and construct the buildings.
Though the scenario includes educating Townshend students in Newfane, no plans have emerged for a vote to close Townshend Elementary.
Other variables include tax and state legislative implications, although Thibault said some of those are beginning to become clearer.
The potential first step in developing any plan will be the upcoming vote to close Jamaica Village School, he said.
"Once the Jamaica residents make that determination, then the board, I think, would decide what's next," Thibault said.
This News item by Brandon Canevari was written for The Commons.