Saranac Lake superintendent recommends to close Bloomingdale Elementary

SARANAC LAKE | Last week, Saranac Lake Central School District (SLCSD) Superintendent Diane Fox recommended that Bloomingdale Elementary School close, have its students transferred to Petrova, and then move the middle school into the high school. "This is a painful decision to make, but we have to look at the facts and do what's best for our kids," she stated during the Board of Education meeting. "And what's best for our kids is to provide them with as many educational opportunities as we possibly can, and this is how we can continue to do that." On Feb. 25, the Board of Education must vote on three resolutions — one to close Bloomingdale Elementary School and Saranac Lake Middle School; another to reconfigure grades; and the last to reduce the current two AM and two PM runs to one AM and one PM run. Before this vote, there's a public hearing on these proposed reconfiguration recommendations scheduled for Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. in the high school auditorium. At last week's meeting, several locals had already expressed their thoughts and concerns with this sensitive but essential decision. A majority of whom actually asked the Board of Education not to make a final decision at this time. "Our budget problems are not caused by Bloomingdale Elementary School, nor are they solved by rushing to close the school," said Ann Talfer, an attorney at Briggs Law Firm LLP in Lake Placid, who took it upon herself to circulate an online petition after hearing a mom's plea for locals to help save the school by speaking up and writing letters. As of the meeting, 355 people had signed the petition. "Your constituents are speaking, and they're asking you to listen. [...] Slow down. There is no imminent threat." Discussions started back in the late 2010s due to the rising cost of operating three school buildings and the steady decline in student enrollment, which dipped below 1,000 for the first time in decades this year. The district is anticipating a 20% increase in health insurance premiums. Also, under a new state mandate that's set to go into effect in 2027, all new school buses purchased in New York must be zero-emission by 2027, and all school buses in operation must be electric by 2035. E-buses are not only more expensive than the district's current diesel buses, around $450,000 for an e-bus in comparison to a $150,000 diesel bus, but the district will also need to either update its current bus garage with charging infrastructure or build a new one. "Saranac Lake has the largest geographic bus district in the state. With declining enrollment, we don't have the same number of kids on our buses, and electric buses don't give us that same ability to cover our geographic distance that our current buses do," said SLCSD Board of Education President Mark Farmer in a previous interview. "We've done the study. We cannot keep Bloomingdale open and only run one bus district-wide." Several attendees, including St. Armand Town Supervisor Davina Thurston, spoke out about this issue, stating how the electric bus mandate should not be a reason to close Bloomingdale Elementary School. Not only can state school districts facing challenges apply for extensions of up to 4 years, but other factors also need to be considered, such as whether the district's bridges and culverts can withstand the weight of an e-bus and if National Grid has the necessary infrastructure to support them. "As a taxpayer, a community member, a parent, and potentially a future grandparent, I formally recommend that you hit the pause button [and] delay this decision for at least a year or two," Thurston pleaded. "By closing Bloomingdale, you'll be creating more of a problem and less of an opportunity for people to come here and raise their families." Thurston moved to Bloomingdale 35 years ago, and both of her sons attended Bloomingdale Elementary School, Petrova Middle School, and Saranac Lake High School. Like Thurston, several locals have said families have moved to the area to send their children to that specific elementary school. "I just feel it is very short-sighted to close Bloomingdale when we have an opportunity to move forward and entice more people to come here," Thurston continued. "I am just asking you to give the village a chance to prove that the population will come back because once you close it, that's it." This isn't the first time SLCSD has had to face a decision like this one either, as it has closed the Lake Colby Elementary School in 2011 and its Lake Clear School in 2009, both for the same reason — state regulations and mandates that make running a public school a very expensive endeavor, and declining student enrollment due to out-migration and high home prices. "I just think that it's unsustainable for a family to move here," said Fox, who mentioned that the average single-family home in Saranac Lake costs over $300,000. "That's why I think we're losing kids. [Unfortunately], our decrease in student enrollment is actually happening at a faster rate than we anticipated." Closing Bloomingdale Elementary School would save the district around $600,000 a year. "We are in need of some money, [and] in order to maintain programming for our kids, we have to look at all the data that we've got in front of us," Fox said. "We looked at a lot of options, and no changes were not an option." The locals in attendance didn't necessarily disagree; however, several requested that the Board of Education and school officials wait and conduct more research and collect more data before making their final decision. "You're saying that the decision has not been made. Prove to us that the decision was not made, and give the elementary school a chance," addressed Bloomingdale resident Adam Reynolds right to the board. "Mathematically, it doesn't make sense to close. [...] Prove everybody wrong." For more information or updates, visit slcs.org.

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Saranac Lake superintendent recommends to close Bloomingdale Elementary

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