Mount Vernon (New York) district wants to close 3 schools

Facing daunting financial problems, the Mount Vernon (New York) district is looking to close three K-8 schools before next fall.

The Rockland/Westchester Journal News reports that district administrators have concluded that K-8 grade configurations in its elementary schools are too costly in the face of declining enrollment.

Closing those campuses would save the cost of repairs to those buildings and reduce operating inefficiencies as enrollment continues to fall.

The schools on the chopping block serve a total of only 920 students. They are Cecil H. Parker School, Mount Vernon Leadership Academy, and Mount Vernon Honor Academy.

The district cited three reasons for targeting these schools for closure: lower enrollments, substantial repairs needed, and the marketability of these buildings.

“We are in fiscal distress,” said Acting Superintendent K. Veronica Smith. “We need to make changes to get out of this situation.”

The Parker School, built in 1936, needs $2.5 million in priority repairs, according to the district.  The Leadership Academy, built in 1924, needs $3.3 million in priority repairs, and Honor Academy, built in 1954, needs $5 million in priority repairs.  

Mount Vernon reorganized its schools eight years ago. The district’s two middle schools were eliminated, and grades 7 and 8 moved to 13 elementary schools.

The K-8 model was intended to keep students in their neighborhood elementary schools for two more years, so they could avoid the social pressures of a less personal middle-school campus.

But after eight years, district leaders decided the K-8 configuration for all elementary schools was too costly.

Inefficiencies in the K-8 model became apparent when the district had to reassign staff for 7^th and 8^th grade students. With the K-8 model, the 13 schools each have between 48 and 95 students total in grades 7 and 8 – not enough to sustain fulltime teachers in some subject areas. Some teachers are assigned to two or three K-8 schools.

Closing the three schools would mean reassigning about 920 students.

Complicating the situation in Mount Vernon is the steady decline in school enrollment. Over the decade from 2013 to 2023, the district’s enrollment plummeted by 20%, from 8,060 students to almost 1,600 fewer.

A study projects further enrollment declines over the next decade, predicting an additional 20% drop by 2033. This would mean losing another 1,315 students, with enrollment dropping to to 5,168.