At last week’s Guilderland Board of Education meeting, seven of the nine board members voted to direct Superintendent Marie Wiles to refocus the discussion about a consultant’s report and set aside its recommendations to close schools.  I applaud the seven members’ decision.

I also praise the Altamont community, which advocated for its elementary school in a very professional manner these last months.  They provided helpful feedback to the school district despite the understandable emotion that was engendered by the report’s recommendations to close Altamont’s Blue Ribbon School.  

Now that the report’s options are set aside, we are hopeful that there will be a more diverse conversation district-wide about the topic.

The task at hand is to find a way to turn the conversation around from the last two months’ focus on closing Altamont’s elementary school.  The feedback from its citizens about the report’s flawed data, the report’s erroneous economic assumptions, and the disconnect between the report’s conclusions and its original charge has apparently helped the board recognize the problem that inhibited dialogue.

Wiles told us last week that the district will look to clarify data that residents have raised questions about.  This is very smart and very necessary.

Others in the district have to be educated about the resource issues and to be drawn into the discussion because they are affected as much as Altamont’s parents.  The district has to seek the full attention of the “silent majority,” as The Altamont Enterprise noted in a recent online editorial, to become involved. 

The editor suggested that the district have “brainstorming” sessions with the community to list without prejudice all possibilities before targeted focus discussions occur.  I agree.  The district’s approach to provide information and expect to launch discussion around a set of limited consultant-generated suggestions will not work if you want dialogue and community input.

The Altamont Enterprise proposed an idea that the district consider moving all sixth-graders at the middle school to the elementary schools, and rent out the space newly available at the middle school.  Members of the community have suggested moving all fifth-graders to the middle school.

The district is contemplating the Princeton Plan, which looks to modify the neighborhood school model into schools grouped by grade levels rather than by geographic location.  Others are suggesting redrawing the current attendance zones.

Rather than shuffling children around, I have a suggestion as well, one which I have mentioned throughout the summer and one which I think would strengthen the district’s programs, make the district more attractive to parents looking to move to our district, and use existing space already available in the current elementary schools.

Try expanding the district’s early-childhood program by collaborating with a service provider of the program while paying the district rent.  I believe one variation of this already exists in at least one elementary school.  It would strengthen the district’s early education program at little or no cost, address the unused space issue, and would reap financial benefits.  It’s just a suggestion, but I hope it will be thoroughly investigated, too.

Lastly, there has to be a more candid discussion about current economic realities.  To retain the perspectives drawn from the 2008 economic debacle and to describe our situation as very weak creates an impression that closing a school is inevitable.  There is a need to clarify and expand understanding on the district’s fiscal issues before any decisions are made. 

Relief may come in the form of keeping taxes level rather than providing tax reductions as some rhetoric suggests.  New property tax revenues that are already coming into the district this September because of new construction in the town — at least $425,000 for the school district this year; the upturn in the economy, the promise of relief in state gap reduction aid; changing political environments; and new efficiencies that will come out of a larger conversation will help clarify whether losing a school is foregone conclusion or not.

All assumptions and facts should be on the table so we can make judgments that will retain the healthy school community we have come to expect rather than base a decision on a narrow perspective.