LIMESTONE, N.Y. -ðLimestone residents and students are sending
out an “SOS” -ðSave Our School.

A Board of Education public hearing is scheduled at 6 p.m.
Tuesday in the Allegany Middle-High School Auditorium to gather
public comments about the proposed closing of the Limestone
Elementary School, but some residents and students believe their
right to express opinions has so far been suppressed.

Deb Watson, a staff member at the school, said staff and
teachers are being told to reassure the children they will be taken
care of without really directly answering questions, and she
believes the children’s voices should be heard.

“I talked to the superintendent and she referred me to the
building principal, who deemed we were not to discuss it,” Watson
said. “It’s their lives. Kids aren’t stupid. They know what’s going
on. I can’t say that the administrative part have responded fairly.
Not being able to talk about it with the children, nobody’s
bothering tending to their feelings. I don’t like being told we
can’t discuss it. It’s almost being dishonest to the children.”

A Limestone teacher and taxpayer, who wished to remain
anonymous, said she feels like they have a gag order on them.

“We’re supposed to tell them no matter what happens, you’re
going to be well taken care of,” she said.

Superintendent Diane Munro believes, while at school, students
should concentrate on learning.

“I want when children come to school that they do school work
and learn,” Munro said. “Wearing buttons and putting signs up
around school is a distraction to their lives and contributes to
the emotionalism. What they do outside of their school day in terms
of active involvement, I have no concern, but within the school day
I don’t want that type of activity because it’s a distraction. When
they’re in school, they should be focusing on school work.”

“You can’t tell people how to feel,” Watson said. “They’re
telling us how to feel about what they’re doing. I feel like we’re
being told to be very quiet a lot. It’s almost to the level of
intimidation.”

The Limestone teacher said students had come into school with
“SOS” painted on their faces and were told they had to wash it
off.

“We’re not supposed to be wearing (“Save our School”) pins or
shirts,” the teacher said. “It’s a violation of their rights. They
should be allowed to say what they feel without being disruptive.
It’s not impeding education or a detriment to the educational
process.”

Munro explained how the proposed closing of the school
developed. The school board brought in a consulting team from
Syracuse in March of last year that looked at the region, economic
trends, birthrates and facility utilization, among other items. In
October, they submitted a very thorough report to the Board of
Education and recommended the school should have been closed
already due to the number of students and the decline in the
Limestone and district population. The report also gave some
guidelines the board could use and examined the potential usage of
the school.

The Limestone teacher said the study shouldn’t have been done
and is “like a slap in the face.”

Two public forums were held to obtain public thoughts on
configurations and findings. There were a few more meetings after
that, concerning the decision making process and a timeline.

Three programs were presented. The first on Dec. 20, 2005,
talked about some of the things that were going really well in the
district as well as some problems in the building and needs of the
middle high school.

At another meeting on Jan. 3, there was a discussion about the
fiscal impact. At this meeting, it was anticipated the school would
be able to reduce two classroom teachers and additional positions
as well as other fiscal issues. The preliminary cost projection was
$281,000. Munro said there have been some changes since that time
and updated projections may be available on Tuesday night. There
was also discussion about keeping some of the better elementary
staff members on by reallocating them to the middle high
school.

At a third meeting, Roy Rogers, director of transportation for
the school, addressed the concerns of Limestone residences about
longer transportation times if the students had to go to school in
Allegany. Rogers suggested that a third bus route could be added to
the existing two, keeping route times relatively the same as they
are now.

“We don’t want the school to close, but this showed that the
district is listening,” Munro said. “My role is to provide the
board with the best possible information, and they make the best
possible decision. I still don’t know what the board’s going to
decide.”

Watson said assurances were given when the elementary school
merged with the Allegany Middle School that no elementary school
child should attend school outside of their community.

“They give people assurances that this is what we promise you
and this is what we’re going to do, and then a different school
board comes in and says they don’t have to honor that,” the teacher
said.

“I just wish that the board would stick with the assurances from
the former board,” Julie Chartreau of Limestone said. “The former
board worked very hard to come up with this offer during the
merger, and they were very concerned about the Limestone residents
and how they felt. They never wanted this school to close and to
have the small children sent out of the community.”

“It was my understanding that the (former) board promised that
the school would stay open for the foreseeable future,” Munro said.
“They could not technically promise that and could not make that
binding action. Having said that, I understand how the Limestone
people feel. They feel promises are being broken.”

Chartreau -ða concerned resident and mother of Ethan, who will
start kindergarten at Allegany-Limestone in the fall if the school
remains open – said Sunday she is “not happy about (the proposed
closure) at all.”

Chartreau said she was concerned both about the long bus ride
for the young children and also that in the event the school
closes, the students will be placed in larger classes. She said she
feels it will negatively affect the students’ education to be in
larger classes with not as much one-on-one, teacher-student
interaction.

“Our kids are socially and economically disadvantaged, and our
kids do as well or better than kids do in state testing,” the
teacher said. “It’s the small school atmosphere. As soon as you
walk in, you feel like you’re home.”

Chartreau said there are about 100 students in kindergarten
through fifth grade at the school now.

The public hearing that is scheduled for Tuesday was originally
scheduled in Limestone, but the place of the hearing has been
changed to Allegany.

“They should make it over here,” Watson said. “There are people
working and in school, and they have to drive all the way over
there at night with young children. If three more people can show
up because it’s here, then have it here.”

The board will have a meeting on Feb. 21 to finalize their
decision, and Munro said she doesn’t know what direction they will
go.

Chartreau said she and others supporting the school staying open
have been mailing flyers in the community and asking everyone to
come to the meeting Tuesday.

Watson said they’ve gotten no direct answer to the question of
what people can do to keep the school open. If it’s a money
situation, Watson said Limestone residents are “ready to soak up”
$40 to $80 more per year in taxes.

“It’s pennies to people that believe in it,” Watson said. “If
you have something that’s good and it works, you should try to fix
it. We feel it’s priceless. There’s things that you just can’t put
a dollar sign on.”

Watson said if the school closed it would be devastating to the
Limestone community.

“It will rip apart our community,” Watson said. “People won’t
move here. Every youth will be lost. The school is the center of a
lot of activities for the children. Younger families will look
elsewhere because they can’t afford it or don’t like their kids
being bused that long.”

“You’ll find the community folds up,” the teacher said. “There’s
nothing else here. Youth recreation is based here. There’s men’s
basketball and a kids’ zone program that’s all based out of the
school. They’d have to be taken to Allegany to participate, and a
lot of residents would have to travel to pick them up. It’s quicker
to take kids to Bradford than Allegany.”