Clarkstown School Board Changes Time, Location for Next Meeting

The Clarkstown Board of Education will meet Feb. 5 in the Clarkstown High School South auditorium.

The meeting was originally planned for Felix Festa Middle School.

At it, Clarkstown Superintendent Thomas Morton is scheduled to announce which elementary school he recommends closing at the end of this school year. And of course, the subject matter is the reason that the last two meetings have been moved to larger venues, to accommodate the large crowds.

The last two meetings continued a heated discussion about the district’s demographer’s report, which describes declining enrollments and school buildings at half-capacity; and which comes after more than a year of controversy over Congers Elementary School, closed after one of its walls cracked, then approved for a $6.5 million rebuild in a districtwide referendum.

Rumors about the elementary schools being considered for closure have been rife.

Phil Leiter has been keeping track on his blog, A Clarkstown Parent:

A year later, the BoE has done little except stubbornly maintain that an elementary school must be closed, offering nothing to address the long-term issues facing the CCSD. Their reasoning has not been disclosed, so the community has had little to fuel their thoughts or conversations except speculation. Clarkstown is more divided than ever.

As I wrote earlier this week, this has been especially true since word spread throughout the CCSD that three of the ten Clarkstown elementary schools are candidates for closure, and that the BoE has instructed the Superintendent, Dr. J. Thomas Morton, to decide, by the February 5th BoE meeting at the Felix Festa Middle School, which of the three – Congers, Strawtown or Little Tor – will be shuttered.

The public portion of the Feb. 5 meeting is scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m., after the trustees have met in executive session to discuss personnel.

• RELATED: After Overcrowding, Clarkstown School Board Changes Location for Next Meeting