Panel will advise against closing Bakerville School Insufficient savings cited BY KURT MOFFETT REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN NEW HARTFORD — A committee of the school board has decided to recommend not closing the Bakerville School — for now. The consolidation task force voted unanimously Thursday to adjourn indefinitely until the board decides to reconvene it. The committee decided it would not save enough money to make it worth closing. Selectman Alesia Kennerson, one of the committee members, presented an analysis which showed a potential annual savings of $47,357. She arrived at that number by estimating a savings of $136,272 by eliminating the full-time kindergarten program that is supposed to be implemented in the fall minus the $88,915 it would cost the town to maintain the building. Committee member Denton Butler said he did not think that $47,357 was a large enough savings. “I don’t think there is a financial justification for it,” he said. Administrators, while not voting members of the committee, were asked for their opinions. Michael Luzietti, principal of the New Hartford and Bakerville schools, showed an analysis that the district could save nearly $2.5 million over nine years if one classroom position were eliminated per year until there were only three teachers at each grade level. Another $1.1 million could be saved in special education teachers, tutors and specialists. Student enrollment is projected to decline from 506 students in 2014-15 to 412 in 2022-23. Superintendent Philip B. O’Brien said he would prefer to have a principal in one school for the entire day, rather than splitting his time between two schools. Antolini School Principal Amanda Shaw said there would be no impact educationally on her students; the decline in enrollment would simply mean there will be more space in the building for students and staff. She did note that if Bakerville did close and students from there attended Antolini, it would make it difficult to fit all the students in the gymnasium/cafeteria for assemblies. Antolini enrolls grades three through six, while Bakerville has kindergarten through grade two and New Hartford, prekindergarten through grade two.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:02:07 +0000
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