GUILDERLAND — Excess space can be a matter of definition, the school board learned on Tuesday night.
Faced with declining enrollment, stagnant funds, and empty classrooms, the board hired a consultant to advise them. Paul Seversky caused an uproar when, in June of 2014, he presented a report that concluded with six scenarios — five of which involved closing an elementary school to save between $1.2 and $2 million annually; the sixth scenario was to keep the schools as they are with no savings.

Protests followed, mostly from Altamont residents and its mayor, who wanted to keep their neighborhood school open. The board backed off and a task force was formed to explore several options for using the excess space.

Ultimately, the board favored renting space to pre-kindergarten programs, which the task force concluded was a community need.

On Tuesday, the board discussed a report with data amassed by school principals on how many extra classrooms were available in each school.

“It sounds simple,” said Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders in presenting the report to the board. But, he said, in reality, there are very few, if any, classrooms available.

Seversky had reported that pupil capacity at the elementary schools is under-utilized by about 14 percent; the middle school is under-utilized by about 25 percent; and the high school is under-utilized by about 25 percent. Enrollment has decreased from 5,323 in 2008 to 4,925 district-wide this past school year.

Sanders likened it to a situation at home where, after the kids move out, parents convert the kids’ bedroom to a home office.

“If we have extra space, we find ways to use it to benefit teachers and instruction,” said Sanders.

He also explained that there were two different methodologies at play in defining excess space.

Seversky had looked at class-size guidelines, taking the maximum number of pupils the guidelines allowed for at any given grade, and then figuratively filling classrooms to capacity with those students.

“Here,” said Sanders of the current counts, “the analysis is finding physical space.”

Each school principal was asked to assess the space available and to come up with the impact it would have on student learning — low, moderate, or high.

“We have the ability to free up space; it just comes at a cost,” said Sanders.

The number of classrooms available with low impact is 10, with moderate impact is 18, and with high impact is 57.

Toward the end of the discussion, Christopher Sanita, the principal of Pine Bush Elementary School, gave an example. He said a couple of classrooms had been freed up when an early childhood education program moved out.

But, since the Board of Cooperative Educational Services rents rooms from the school for special-needs students, those empty classrooms were then pressed into service so that the BOCES students could, for example, work with a psychologist.

They had previously been using hallways and storage areas for such meetings, said Sanita. “It was not in any way ideal.”

“We need to narrow it down,” said board member Christopher McManus of what schools should be considered. “There is really only one option,” he said, referring to Farnsworth Middle School since more rooms are available there than in the elementary schools.

Superintendent Marie Wiles disagreed. She asserted that a pre-K provider may well like to use the few classrooms available at Altamont Elementary or at Pine Bush Elementary because the elementary schools have playgrounds and may be close to residents’ homes.

Wiles pressed the board members to state what level of impact they would be comfortable with. The consensus was no higher than low impact.

“I would accept zero or less,” board member Gloria Towle-Hilt said of the impact to students. “We’re here to educate.”

Board member Seema Rivera said that low impact would be the most she could accept.

Board President Allan Simpson rattled off a long list of things the district would need to come up with, including a business plan, looking at market share, and developing a capital plan.

“The only viable thing is the middle school,” reasserted McManus.

“If you go to the plan we didn’t like, you could close an elementary school,” responded Simpson, referring to Seversky’s report.

“We’re providing a space; they pay rent,” said Towle-Hilt of the pre-K providers. “This is a business coming to us; it’s their responsibility to do the marketing,” she told Simpson.

Sanders said he’ll have projected enrollment figures ready for the board’s next meeting, on Oct. 20.

Rather than having pre-K classrooms scattered in different schools, “You should do one good solid program,” said McManus.

“We’re early in the discussion for that,” responded board member Judy Slack.

“I’m not early,” said McManus who worked on the task force group that looked at pre-kindergarten programs.

The goal is to have a plan in place in time for next year’s budget.