“The superintendent’s report today is going to be about a very serious and long overdue topic. It’s one that has been discussed. People have opinions and ideas, but as this board has made clear moving forward, it’s very important to listen to people; we must make the decisions on facts,” said school board president Christopher Ross.
John Belmonte, acting assistant superintendent for Finance and Management Services, was called to the podium to introduce a guest speaker. Belmonte said that among the chief topics would be “building utilization” and “boundary study framework” against the backdrop of declining enrollment and the possibility of closing down a building.
“We don’t have a preconceived notion of which building we prefer,” said Belmonte.
The cost of the study was approximately $34,000 for hiring Ross Haber & Associates LLC from Western Suffolk BOCES to conduct the research. Belmonte said the district should receive the monies back from BOCES aid.
Haber was commended by Belmonte for driving through “hours and hours of traffic” from New Jersey for the meeting.
Haber said it was important to note that he had only conducted research for “process” and “timeline” and had not incorporated data specific to the district at this point in the analysis.
Reiterating Belmonte’s statement on neutrality, Haber said that the study would be conducted with no bias.
The study for building utilization, according to Haber, would include factors like class size, enrollment demand vs. building capacity, and assignments to buildings.
Another analysis that would be conducted would be to analyze the student enrollment from different attendance zones for factors like reduced student enrollment.
“The key question will become, if you have declining enrollment… how does that impact your facilities?” said Haber.
With enrollment data from the 2025-2026 school year, the numbers will be updated on Sept. 1.
In addition to the attendance zones, there will be a physical walkthrough of the building, classroom usage, and determination of surplus or deficit of student/staff capacity at each school.
Haber, a former principal of 25 years, said during the physical walkthroughs this fall, they would have the opportunity to discuss the building usage with current principals.
The report is expected to be completed and data available before Christmas of this year to allow for usage and guidance for the 2026-2027 budget.
“You’re not a very large district, but you are a large project because it really touches every part of the district,” said Haber.
Trustee Linda Brown asked what other information, especially financial, would be available aside from capacity, e.g., transportation capacity, staffing.
“This is not a financial report per se, okay, but there are things we automatically know that stem from this,” said Haber.
When Brown reiterated her question, Haber said that those factors she listed would be addressed.
“This is the perfect time to remind everybody that this board has only been together for a short time. They are getting to know each other. They already knew each other as human beings and people, but as board members. I’m going to implore everybody out there on a microphone, tell everyone to give them a little space. This can be a very emotional thing. We have a company that does this for a living… they’re not going to base it on cold hard numbers. They’re going to take all the facts in for consideration,” said superintendent John Dolan at the conclusion of the board’s inquiries.
“I’m going to say it publicly: we have a suitor. We have an organization that’s interested in renting a building,” said Dolan.
Explaining that a rented building would yield more of a return than a closed, shuttered, unoccupied building, Dolan said that the possibility of having a multi-year lease could help the district back to some stability.
Dolan also addressed that the 2017-2018 enrollment report the district commissioned had expressly noted a decline in students, yet in the subsequent school years, board members voted for expansion of the budget.
“We have seen a tremendous amount of human pain because we ignored the obvious… we’re going to know by December and everyone’s going to get a chance to have their say. We will listen to everybody, but let’s do it in an orderly fashion,” said Dolan.
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