Due to dwindling student enrollment, the New Paltz Central School District (NPCSD) Board of Education is considering closing Duzine Elementary School. Because the process is still in its preliminary stages, the board is unable to foreclose an estimated decision. However, per the facilities committee’s recommendation, the step could save the district $1 million in savings per year.
The committee, tasked with evaluating future expenses, proposed the idea after reviewing areas in which the district could save money. Many factors were considered, including budget, staff employment, taxes and the students. With student numbers slowly declining since the 2000-2001 school year and plummeting to its lowest after 2022-2023, maintaining tax dollars with minimal class attendance was not an advantageous maneuver for the district.
“We have to put up a fiscally responsible budget every year, so if we have a situation that isn’t fiscally in the best interests of our tax payers, we have to address that,” said NPCSD Superintendent Stephen Gratto. Plans to support this fiscal responsibility point in the direction of eliminating one of the district’s school buildings. Though Gratto repeated the move isn’t fully certain, he held space for what the Board of Education might determine.
There is also the issue of school staff, which has been weighed into the process. With a financially susceptible space growing in Duzine composed of both students and teachers, Gratto said “the possible opportunity” of closing the school comes into play. He acknowledged that the decline in enrollment would affect employment rates, saying, “it has led to a reduced need for staff and also for space.”
However, the idea of closing the elementary school leads to another issue. With Duzine gone, the local area would be left with only one school for the same grade levels, isolating Lenape Elementary. Gratto said, “the general concept is that most of the Duzine students would move to Lenape.”
Moving the students to Lenape may not be entirely possible, as the elementary school would be unable to accommodate all of Duzine’s student body. Another option includes the incorporation of fifth grade Duzine students into a new elementary level section of the New Paltz Middle School. This would integrate Duzine’s students into different district buildings.
The act of shutting Duzine down would benefit the NPCSD’s fiscal duties by reducing annual costs for both school facilities and staff requirement while also fulfilling the expectations of taxpayers, but the proposal is not all about budgeting.
“Money isn’t the only thing. We also have to make sure our students are getting a great education,” Gratto said. Knowing these plans could affect students at a closer level, Gratto continued, “Those are the two things we must balance, the students and the fiscal responsibility of the district, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Gratto noted that while the facilities committee made the proposal, only the Board of Education can determine the final decision. To gain external perspective and counsel on Duzine’s future, the board plans to include an “outside organization.” This organization would be “viewed as completely objective” and contribute “opinions and ideas based on their past experience,” said Gratto.
Public reaction to the board’s possible plans are not decisive in any particular direction. “I think it’s too soon to say,” Gratto stated. “I think there’s people who support it and people who don’t, but most of all I think people want to know the information, and a lot of information is not available yet.”