School merger talks progress between Barker, Lyndonville

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CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITIES: Members of an advisory committee that was created to study the effects of a merger between the Lyndonville and Barker school districts go over some data that was presented Thursday at Lyndonville High School. Holly Toal/Staff

July 16, 2010

By Holly Toal Lockport Union-Sun & Journal The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Fri Jul 16, 2010, 01:20 AM EDT

LYNDONVILLE — If the Barker and Lyndonville school districts in neighboring Orleans and Niagara counties were to merge, many areas of the districts’ operation would be affected; therefore, an advisory committee was formed to study the effects a merger would have on the students, staff and residents of both districts.

On Thursday night, the committee met at Lyndonville High School to discuss instructional programming; William Silky and Alan Pole of Castallo and Silky educational consulting firm of Syracuse presented their findings.

If the districts do merge, one of the challenges that will have to be tackled is how to arrange the grades.

Currently, Barker’s elementary school includes students in pre-kindergarten through fourth grade, and the middle school includes grades 5 through 8. At Lyndonville, the primary school houses pre-kindergarten through first grade, the elementary school includes grades 2 through 4, intermediate includes grades 5 through 6 and the middle school houses grades 7 and 8. Both districts have high schools with grades 9 through 12.

If the two districts were to merge, a common grade configuration would have to be agreed upon, the consultants said.

Looking at every level, the daily schedules vary slightly between the two districts, but Silky explained that creating a common schedule would likely not be a major adjustment for students.

At the elementary and middle school levels, Lyndonville currently has fewer classes in each grade than Barker, but the class sizes are larger; the class size at the high school level is similar in both districts.

However, Lyndonville Superintendent Barbara Deane-Williams explained that next year, the district will have to reduce its staff to coincide with the student population, so class sizes will increase at Lyndonville.

Regarding elementary curriculum, if the districts were to merge, they would have to consider an agreement on common textbooks and programs in almost every subject area, as they have different reading series, mathematics programs, textbooks for social studies, physical education curriculum and textbook series in science. Lyndonville uses BOCES science kits while Barker uses hands-on activities developed locally by teachers.

As far as student achievement at the elementary and middle school level, results in English language arts and math are comparable at the two districts, according to the data presented Thursday.

“The results seem to be more similar than different,” Silky explained. “While every district has to use New York state guidelines, how you get there can vary from district to district.”

At the high school level, performance on the state Regents exams has been similar.

It has been determined that when it comes to curricular offerings at the high school level, both districts have solid core programs, including English, math, science and social studies. It seems to be in the area of extracurricular classes, however, that the two districts vary. For example, while Barker offers both French and Spanish, Lyndonville only offers Spanish.

Pole said it’s no surprise to see that Barker offers more elective classes, since it has a larger student population. According to the findings presented Thursday, a merger would significantly enhance the high school offerings that are currently available to the students of both districts.

Athletic participation is also important to both districts, and currently, Barker has more opportunities for its students. In the fall, this includes football, cross-country, golf, cheerleading and field hockey. However, Lyndonville offers boys JV and varsity soccer, which is not currently available to Barker students.

In the winter, Barker offers swimming, while Lyndonville offers indoor track; and in the spring, Lyndonville offers modified baseball, while Barker offers tennis.

According to data, the number of students participating on teams in both districts is becoming close to the minimum number of students needed to make up a team, and given the predicted enrollment decline in the districts, athletics could be in even more jeopardy in the future. Merging high schools would greatly increase the number of athletic opportunities available to students.

However, with the increased opportunity for participation will come increased competition to participate, Silky explained. Also, it was pointed out that if the two districts merge into one, it could move up a class in competition level, which could be considered a disincentive to athletes.

At this point, an analysis of clubs has not been completed, and the consultants will also be looking more closely at music programs for future discussion.

Pole explained that school districts looking to share services is not a completely new idea. “It’s a fairly new phenomenon, but it’s happening more and more,” he said.

Picking up from the previous meeting, it was discussed Thursday that a decline in enrollment at both districts is a trend that is likely to continue.

“We believe that if the districts were to merge, K through 9 enrollment will continue to decline,” Silky said. He continued to say that he doesn’t believe — in either case — that the decline will be enough to close one of the buildings at either district, if they don’t merge.

July 1, 2011, is the date that the merger would be made final and a new district would be formed. However, the actual implementation of merging the districts would take place gradually over a period of time after public votes.

The next meeting will focus on finance and state aid history and will take place July 29 at Barker.

Contact editor Holly Toal at 798-1400, ext. 8225.

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