George Zini
Superintendent
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George Zini
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With the goal of reducing costs and increasing opportunities for students, the Schodack and Ichabod Crane Central School Districts have participated in a Reorganization Feasibility Study.
The first phase of the study began in May 2011 with the creation of a Community Advisory Committee. This group of 30 residents, representing each community equally, has met every few weeks to examine data about the districts and provide input for each district’s Board of Education. The committee met 12 times by the time it finished its work in May 2012.
The study was organized by SES consultants, a group of three former school superintendents. Schodack and Ichabod Crane school districts received a $49,500 state grant to pay for the study. Each district is responsible for $2,750 in matching grants.
SES consultants provided detailed information on enrollment trends, program offerings and other data to the committee. They then facilitated committee discussions about the data and uses the feedback to create a report. The report, which provides an overview of what a merger between the two districts might look like, was completed in mid-May.
After the final report was completed, community forums in each district were held Monday, May 21 at 7 pm in Maple Hill High School’s auditorium and Tuesday, May 22 at 7 pm in Ichabod Crane High School’s auditorium to explain the findings and provide opportunities for community members to ask questions.
As part of the process, New York State law requires two votes in each community before any school district merger can take place. Therefore, after the report was released and reviewed by the public, the Boards of Education had to decide whether to proceed with community votes after the report was completed.
At its public meeting on Tuesday, June 5, the Ichabod Crane Board of Education decided that a merger would not be fiscally prudent for the District and a referdenum will not be held. However, the data from the report will be used to examine areas for shared services between the districts.
To help our communities follow the process, summaries and data from Community Advisory Committee meetings are provided below.
Click here to download the final report…
Click here to download the data sets used for the report…
If you have any questions, please call the district office at 758-7575 ext. 3002.
January 25 Community Advisory Committee Meeting
(Updated June 8, 2012)
