Bedford District Officials Consider Consolidating Schools

BEDFORD, NY — With enrollment expected to continue declining, Bedford school district officials are considering closing up to two elementary schools. Officials posted an update on their long-range facilities plan on the district website that starts with two facts:

1. Erollment in BCSD is declining, much like many Westchester County and New York State School Districts.
2. BCSD's five elementary schools all have excess capacity, which will continue to grow into the future.

Bedford had 3,915 students last year, down by 10 percent from 4,367 students in 2013-14. By 2028, district enrollment is predicted to decline by 28 percent.

Bedford's five kindergarten-5th grade schools are located in and serve each of the communities of the district. They are at 66.5 percent of capacity.

Fox Lane Middle School is at 65 percent of capacity and Fox Lane High School is at 79 percent of capacity.

After spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the previous 2o years to upgrade and enlarge the facilities, since 2016 district officials and residents have been pondering the declining enrollments, starting with a Space and Enrollment Committee and moving on to hiring first a demographics consultant in 2017 and then a long-range planning consultant, Interactive, Inc. in 2018.

"This work has been thoughtfully and purposefully transparent with frequent public updates and information shared and placed on our website," Superintendent Christopher Manno said in his message.

Manno said the school community is keeping five key objectives in mind:

• Preserve the quality of education for our students
• Increase the efficiency of our organization
• Minimize disruption for our school community
• Be responsible stewards of taxpayer resources
• Invest in maintenance and repair

A presentation on the issues will be made at the next Board of Education meeting Oct. 2. The trustees meet at 7 p.m. at Fox Lane Middle School in the Little Theater.

Next, Interactive, Inc., plans “Stakeholder Engagement” activities this fall. They will be convening focus groups and community forums, supplemented with web surveys.

Then Interactive, Inc. will share the results of its analysis, along with earlier demographic and program analyses, and the results of the community engagement activities, to the Board of Education. The goal is to make decisions in 2020.