1 Golden Bomber Dr.
PO Box 480
Ilion, NY 13357
Phone: 315.894.9934
Fax: 315.894.2716
Superintendent
Residents look for answers at final community merger discussion
About 40 people turned out on Thursday, Jan. 5 for the district's final community merger discussion. Unlike previous meetings, Superintendent Cosimo Tangorra spent the evening taking questions from the audience. For two hours he covered topics ranging from finances to staffing to how the district might operate.
Following is a summary of the topics discussed:
Where can I get more information?
Visit our merger question and answer section for more questions that have been asked throughout this process. Read the merger study report. Contact Mr. Tangorra at 894-5000.
What is the merger timeline?
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Jan. 10 - Each of the four boards of education will meet separately and vote whether to put the proposed merger before the public in an advisory referendum (or straw vote). If all four boards approve, the merger continues forward.
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Jan. 19 - Each community holds an advisory referendum to determine general interest in the proposed merger. If all four communities approve, the merger moves to a statutory (or binding) referendum.
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Feb. 29 - The NYS Education Department (SED) conducts a statutory referendum in each of the districts. SED is in complete control; the districts have nothing to do with the vote. Residents also vote to decide the number of board of education members (5, 7 or 9) and the length of term for board members (3, 4 or five years). If all four communities approve, the merger becomes official.
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Mar. 1 - Herkimer BOCES Superintendent Mark Vivacqua assumes control of the new district. He files the required paperwork and oversees the startup.
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March - Board of education petitions are available.
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Late March - Board of education elections.
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April - The Board of education seeks a new superintendent, establishes policies and develops a proposed budget.
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May 15 - Budget vote
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July 1 - Proposed district begins operations.
What happens if all four boards or communities don't approve a vote?
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If the boards of education choose not move ahead, the process ends. They would then be free to pursue another course. They could explore merging two or three of the districts instead of all four, consider merging with a different district or explore a regional high school.
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If one or more communities reject the advisory referendum (straw vote), the process ends. The boards of education could then pursue other options as listed above.
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If one or more communities reject the statutory (or binding) referendum AND at least one approves it, all reorganization stops. The districts may not pursue other alternatives.
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The community or communities that reject the referendum may choose to revote at least one year and one day in the future (no earlier than March 1, 2013).
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If there is no revote, the reorganization plan remains in effect for two years. None of the districts may explore other options (merger, tuitioning students, etc.) until the plan expires on March 1, 2014.
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The community or communities that pass the referendum do not revote. (They may not change their mind.)
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What happened to the idea that three districts could move forward?
If all four boards of education fail to pass the board vote or if all four communities fail to pass the advisory referendum, the boards of education could choose to pursue a merger of two or more districts in the future. (Note: The boards have learned that the state will accept a merger of two or more.)
This would require the interested boards to collect the data from the merger study and repackage it to reflect the new configuration of schools. The number of students, staff, and buildings would be different, finances would change, etc. The districts would submit the revised merger study to the State Education Department and the merger process of community meetings, board of election votes, an advisory referendum and a statutory referendum would repeat.
It would take time to revise the merger study and get approval for a new merger process. The earliest a vote might take place would be Fall 2012 with the district beginning operation July 2013.
Could we approve the merger, but not fully implement it until 2013 to give the community and students more time to make the transition?
No. The incentive aid is tied to our district becoming more efficient through a merger. The state will not allow us to make the decision to merge and then delay implementing the merger.
As short a timeframe as it seems, the administrators, teachers and staff of the current districts are professionals who are employed to get the work done. They will do what is needed to be certain that every student and every teacher will be where they are supposed to be in September 2012.
That does not mean that there will not be problems. Every fall, students get on the wrong bus or come to school with messed up schedules. It will certainly happen in the new district.
Can we be ready to open September 1, 2012?
Absolutely. We are not starting from scratch. We do not have to recreate everything we do. We already have the facilities, staff, and policies in place to successfully teach our students.
How can voters approve a merger is we don't know what the program look like?
But, we do know how the program will look. The details of the program are outlined in the merger study. That includes bus rides, where students will attend school and curriculum.
The 64 people on the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) did a throrough job as they worked to imagine how the new district might look. Their recommendations are clearly laid out in the Merger Report.
Unfortunately, many people fail to read that report and have unanswered questions or misinformation.
But what assurances do we have that the new board of education will follow the merger study?
We should feel confident that the board will adopt the majority of the merger study. No one—with the possible exception of the school superintendents—knows more about our school districts than the merger consultants and the CAC. They spent 10 month examining every detail of who we are as communities and what we do as schools. They spoke to our districts' transportation directors to learn about buses, our principals to learn about academic, our athletic directors to learn about sports, our facilties directors to learn about our buildings, teachers to learn about classrooms, business officials to learn about finances, etc.
In the end, no one has a more complete understanding of our schools. to learn about our demographics, enrollments, facilities, academic and extracurricular programs, transportation, staffing and finances. The CAC members are our experts.
The new board of education would be foolish to ignore the best advice of people who know so much about the merger.
How can we guarantee the new board with be responsible?
This is a democratic process. We will get the board that WE elect. It is up to us as residents of these communities to elect experienced and thoughtful people. Our mistake would be to elect anyone who is focused on a single problem or issue. We will need big thinkers who will be willing to invest the time and energy to get this district off the ground.
