ROSCOE – With a combined student population of a little more than 700 students, the Roscoe and Livingston Manor central school districts have started talks to possibly consolidate their districts.
“Both schools have seen declining enrollment over the years,” said John Evans, superintendent of the Roscoe Central School District, of why merger talks are starting, “and as small schools we struggle to offer our students the depth of educational and extracurricular activities that many larger schools around us do.”
A merger study started this week with a public meeting in Roscoe Tuesday. Evans said it’s just the beginning of gathering public input, which is expected to culminate with a final report before a joint meeting with both school boards in July or August of next year.
“There seems to be a certain level of support,” said Evans, “which is why the Roscoe and Livingston Manor boards decided to conduct the study.”
And the study, when completed, is expected to be informative for the public and the school boards, so they can decide to move forward or not with a possible consolidation.
“The overall goal is to gather the information that the boards and communities would need to make an informed decision,” said Evans. “In the end we hope that a transparent and open merger study will allow everyone to decide on whether a merger would provide increased educational opportunities for children.”
