Suffern to shut elementary school as growing population sends kids to private yeshivas

HILLBURN – The Suffern school district’s population is growing. But public school enrollment is shrinking.

Many of those new families moving into the district are opting for private schools, Suffern schools Superintendent Erik Gunderson recently explained. That's mostly yeshivas that serve the Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish community. The enrollment shift is most pronounced in the earliest grades.

The school district, which Gunderson said is in fine financial shape, is at a crossroads with fewer public school students.

The district has been studying if and how to consolidate its five elementary schools into four buildings. At an Aug. 22 school board meeting, trustees and Gunderson expressed support for not only reducing the number of elementary schools in operation to four but also restructuring the grade levels in each of those buildings.

Shuttering a school is a controversial move for any district. There's neighborhood history and familiarity, a general reticence to change.

But there's also opportunity, Gunderson said.

Schools could have dedicated support staff, instead of sharing school psychologists and other jobs among buildings with a small number of students. Each elementary campus would have more equitable resources, like more parents to help out with PTA, more kids to participate in music programs and plays. And, there's more chances for children to form friendships with classmates from outside their neighborhood.

'Have to tackle this at some point'

Gunderson has repeatedly said the district is not being forced to consider a change because of finances. While the district is in good shape now, though, keeping schools functioning with small enrollments adds fiscal strains.

Gunderson and board members have also made clear that a closed building would not be sold. "Never, never lose a school building," he said, "especially in this region."

Rockland BOCES has interest in renting a school for one of their programs, Gunderson said. "It would be used as something that benefits the children of the district and of Rockland."

Suffern Central school board members and the public got a first look at three consolidation options at the Aug. 22 board meeting. School Board President Matthew Kern said the board should consider narrowing the choice at its Sept. 5 meeting and making a final decision on whether to proceed by mid-October so the plan would be ready to launch at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.

"This has been something that has been talked about, whispered about, rumored about," Kern said, throughout his eight-year tenure on the board. "We're going to have to tackle this at some point."

Five into four, paired in twos

The district has five elementary schools: R.P. Connor, Montebello, Sloatsburg, Cherry Lane and Viola. All house students in kindergarten through grade 5.

The consolidation would use a modified "Princeton Plan," with schools grouped by grade level rather than geographically.

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Two schools would house grades K-2 and two schools would house 3-5. Students would move together from a K-2 school to a 3-5 school.

Gunderson said decisions would be made to balance the schools' population of children who are English language learners, from low-income homes, and other considerations.

Skye Pisco, a Suffern resident, has a son starting middle school this year and a daughter entering third grade at R.P. Connor. She sees opportunity in the plan for added support at each campus, especially for a growing number of Spanish-speaking families.

Here are the options, detailed at the Aug. 22 school board meeting:

Plan 1: R.P. Connor and Sloatsburg would be K-2 campuses; Connor students would go to Cherry Lane and Sloatsburg students to Montebello for grades 3-5. Viola would be repurposed.

Plan 2: Sloatsburg and Cherry Lane would be K-2 campuses; Sloatsburg students would go to R.P. Connor and Cherry Lane students would go to Montebello for grades 3-5. Viola would be repurposed.

Plan 3: Sloatsburg and Viola would be K-2 campuses; Sloatsburg students would go to R.P. Connor and Viola students would go to Montebello for grades 3-5. Cherry Lane would be repurposed.

Many factors to weigh

Gunderson said at the three smaller schools, the district barely has enough students to cobble together two classrooms per grade.

But having lower enrollment isn't the only factor to consider when deciding which school to shutter, Gunderson said. For example, even though Sloatsburg has the lowest enrollment and is the farthest for most kids in other parts of the school district, repurposing it would cause problems for children in that village, who would have longer bus rides. It would also disrupt a YMCA pre-K there. Sloatsburg is located at the northwest tip of the district, up Route 17 and bordered by state parkland.

Certain buildings are also better suited to accommodate certain grades. Sloatsburg is a small building, Gunderson said, so would be good for smaller children. Montebello is right next to the middle school, so it makes sense to have older students go there.

Melissa Rokosa, a Sloatsburg resident with a 1-year-old and 3-year-old, said she is concerned with logistics. "It makes sense," said Rokosa, who grew up in the North Rockland district and said her younger siblings did well under a school consolidation plan there in the early 2010s. Her kids won't start school for a couple more years. "I'm lucky," she said, "there's time for the kinks to be worked out."

Gunderson said for many district children, the bus ride would likely be longer at some point, depending on which school they attend. He estimated that the ride could be about 13-15 minutes longer, at most, compared to a neighborhood school trip. He added, though, that the district has had complaints about kindergartners riding buses with fifth-graders, so that issue would be addressed. The district provides universal busing.

Gunderson said that he didn't anticipate layoffs, because there are planned retirements. But the building consolidation, he said, would bring "long-term efficiencies."

The district has held several community discussions and plans more, Gunderson said.

Population shifts

In the 2010-2011 school year, Suffern Central had a K-12 enrollment of 4,707. In 2020-2021, total enrollment was 3,943.

According to state Department of Education statistics, more than 28% of school-age children who lived within district boundaries in 2021-2022 attended private schools. That was the 11th highest rate of private-school enrollment in the state.

Meanwhile, the district's overall population has grown. In some areas, that growth is much more pronounced.

The Village of Suffern's population increased by 6.7% between the 2010 and 2020 U.S. census. Montebello’s population pretty much held steady; Sloatsburg and Hillburn, also within the district, saw small dips.

Wesley Hills, which has a sliver covered by Suffern schools in its eastern section, grew by 8.7%.

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Other areas with large Orthodox Jewish community representation saw a significant population increase in the decade between census counts. The Viola postal district, with a third in Suffern Central, grew in population by nearly 20%. The Village of Airmont, split between Suffern and East Ramapo, grew nearly 18% between 2010 and 2020. Suffern Central also covers a sliver of Monsey, a hamlet that saw its population soar by more than 46% between census counts.

Meanwhile, Suffern schools have seen a 12% decline in student enrollment over the past decade, according to Gunderson. At the elementary level, it’s even more stark, with enrollment dropping 23% in the last 10 years.

Enrollment data show the precipitous drop in the youngest enrollees: 346 kindergartners attended Suffern schools in 2010-2011 and 227 in 2021-2022; there were 326 first-graders in 2010-2011 and 223 in 2021-2022.

Staff writer Donna Dombrowski contributed to this report.

Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy for lohud.com and the USA Today Network New York. Reach her at ncutler@lohud.com; follow her on Twitter, Threads and Instagram at @nancyrockland.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Suffern school district to shut elementary school as more use yeshivas