Lake Clear School may well close doors in 2009
By EMILY HUNKLER, Enterprise Staff WriterSARANAC LAKE - The Lake Clear School is very close to being closed after this school year, as a 9-1 decision by the Lake Clear Study Group has recommended.
In a teary-eyed statement, the chairwoman of the group, Saranac Lake Central School District Board President Debra Lennon, announced the group's decision at Wednesday evening's board meeting.
"It was not an easy decision to make," Lennon said. "It was heartbreaking. It was not a happy moment, but it was a decision most of us, as our vote recorded, thought was the best."
The group's findings will be put on the agenda for the school board's next meeting, to be held at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Petrova school library. The period for public comment on the findings was also extended to that date to allow members of the community to attend the meeting and voice concerns or questions.
"I'm grateful to the committee for taking a serious look at this and getting all the information and coming to a decision," said Lake Clear's acting principal, Ray Dora.
Lake Clear School educates children in kindergarten through third grade. This year, a total of 55 students attend, the greatest number of whom, 17, are in third grade. If the school closes, these displaced students would be sent to both Bloomingdale and Petrova elementary schools.
Bloomingdale Elementary School houses kindergarten through fifth grade, and Petrova Elementary has first through fifth grades.
"It's never a good thing when your school district is getting smaller," district superintendent and study group member Gerald Goldman said. "I was touched and speechless at times by how concerned people were with the greater good."
According to its report, the study group met at least six separate times and met with several school officials in order to have a comprehensive view of the school.
One meeting was spent discussing population trends in the area.
School district Business Executive Mike Kilroy spoke with demographers at Cornell University and SUNY Plattsburgh.
According to the report, the Cornell data shows a steadily decreasing population of women of child-bearing age in Franklin County. For example, in 1990, there were reportedly 14,525 women in their child-bearing years, compared to nearly 11,700 for 2010 and 9,926 for 2020.
The total annual savings in the report were estimated at $222,885. This number reflects transportation cost savings, teacher salary savings and building maintenance costs that would no longer exist, for the most part.
However, Lennon and Goldman emphasized the group's attention to the unquantifiable value the school has in the Lake Clear community.
"It was a very emotional decision for so many of us," Goldman said. "It had to be an incredibly, incredibly difficult decision for those people that have family and friends in the Lake Clear community."
Goldman added, "I don't think I have ever been prouder than I was serving with the group of people on this committee," a sentiment that was echoed by both Lennon and Dora.
"A lot of heart-wrenching conversation went into this, and until the very end, no one knew," Lennon said. "It's just a testament to the people in this community, being able to work together toward one goal."
Members of the Lake Clear Study Group included Lake Clear student parents James Carpenter and Tom Tucker, school board members Darren Dalton and Tracey Schrader, student parents Katie Fischer, Annette Scheuer and Paul Woodruff and Jon Vinograd, whose children graduated for Saranac Lake High School in the late '90s.
Carpenter was the only member of the committee to vote no to the school's closure.
Contact Emily Hunkler at 891-2600 ext. 24 or ehunkler@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
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Jimmyboy
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09-18-08 4:33 PM
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As an alumni of Lake Clear School, it will be sad to see it close. I agree that it is best for the district and the taxpayers. I am hoping Larry Miller can come up with a good occupant for the building, as he had envisioned for the Armory. It is such a nice piece of property, it would do well to be back on the tax roles.
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