As noted here last month, the North East School District is facing an enrollment decline and needs to make adjustments. Also, as noted, falling enrollment is happening to school districts everywhere. In nearby Warren County, a board meeting tonight will be considering the closure of the high school portion, grades 9 through 12, of two schools, the Sheffield Area Middle/High School and the Youngsville Middle/High School. They recognize what is happening and are making necessary changes.
The NE School District needs to deal with this issue now adjusting future plans and spending accordingly. Business as usual will not work.
Richard Locke says
If North East would close a school, where would the students go? Harborcreek?
Has any of this issue been discussed?
Dennis Kershner says
NE schools have way too much overhead. The first order of business would be ONE administrator/Principal per school. No assistants! The next step would be to consolidate elementary and middle schools. Our grandparents were likely educated in a one-room schoolhouse. They probably got a better education than what we have today. Having students K through 8 in one building makes more sense than the school sprawl we see today. The Amish teach kids in a one-room school through 9th grade. I guarantee you they all can read write and do simple math better than some 9th graders in our current school systems. We have made basic education way too complex only to justify what a good education is really about. Reading, writing and arithmetic! Some life skills like home ec, shop and a good civics course wouldn’t hurt! I know, I am showing my age, lol.
Ruth Anne says
As always thank you for providing this information, Paul. The NE school boards move to install air conditioning in the high school is not prudent, considering we may not need the building much longer. As a former NE student and parent of NE student, the high school building will be the obvious building to go, which warrants no further improvements.
If the board wanted to be proactive, the high school could be converted to a trade school or charter school for neighboring areas, including New York State.
Jeffery L Buchholz says
Trump has suggested “school choice” but of course we don’t know how that would work, if it actually came about.
Unfortunately for reasons I don’t understand, a number of students (100?) have chosen cyber school, home schooling or church related schools instead of attending NE. The district loses state aid that flows based on the student population. I would hope the district would chat with parents/students to determine why our school does not meet their needs. That is a loss of close to $1,000,000/year.
A good question would be how the number of students going elsewhere compare with students leaving other districts.
If school choice eventually comes about, I suspect a large number of Ripley students/parents might prefer a 10-minute ride to NE versus a 50-minute drive to Chautauqua Lake.
The district, like any business, needs to be run efficiently and the suggestions offered may have significant merit, however, it might be a bit premature to do some of the points suggested.
School choice could shake the very foundation of public education. I believe our physical facility, our history of student academic success, athletics and our music program will serve our community well.
Regards to all,
Jeffery Buchholz