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HOMES EVERY WEEK! Valley News
May 5, 2018
suncommunitynews.com
• EDITION •
ELCS-WCS merger report ready for state review
NEXT STEPS:
PUBLIC INFORMATION SESSIONS
The merger final report was released to the state Education Department for their approval. Consultants and school administrators are hopeful that state ed will complete their review by June, although it may take until August. After that, school boards will take up the merger discussion. WCS and the ELCS school boards will vote individually whether to move ahead to public information session. If either board votes to end merger discussion, the process stops. If both boards vote to continue, then they would hold public information sessions, working to inform residents in both districts and answer any questions. A non-binding straw poll vote would likely be held in November to see if district taxpayers support a new, combined school district. If the idea to merge is voted down at that time, the process ends. If the straw poll supports continued review, the boards would begin working on a formal proposal, which would go to a final referendum vote in January. ■
Westport, ELCS merger discussion will go next to school boards By Kim Dedam STA FF W RITER
WESTPORT| Presentation of the formal merger study final report to the stakeholder committee last week moves the Westport Central-Elizabethtown-Lewis Central centralization discussion toward school board review. This ends the research phase and begins the voting phase, according to Bill Silky, consultant with Castallo & Silky LLC who led the research team. Elizabethtown-Lewis Central (ELCS) and Westport Central (WCS) schools are considering whether to reorganize into a single Westport-Elizabethtown-Lewis district with approximately 450 students. The consultants did not make any decision to merge. But they provided 16 recommendations for a new district if reorganization moves forward. The recommendations provide a snapshot of what a merged school might look like and offer something of a “road map” forward. Recommendations suggest that it would be “most appropriate” for students pre-kin-
DREAM REALIZED: MURPHY PLACES SECOND AT BOSTON MARATHON Braves rain and cold to finish By Keith Lobdell STA FF W RITER
KEESEVILLE | “We can give up or we can get up.” That’s what Devann Murphy said to a fellow competitor as they went up a hill in the Boston Marathon last month, celebrating Patriot’s Day in the Commonwealth and a personal goal for the hand cyclist. Murphy ended up placing second in the marathon, with the only competitor beating her being a paralympic medalist. “I was very clear in my goals,” she said. “I wanted to get to Boston, finish in under two hours, 30 minutes, and place second because I knew the person who finished in first would be there.”
GETTING THERE Devann Murphy crosses the finish line in second place in the women’s hand cycle division in the Boston Marathon, completing a lifelong dream. Photo provided
Murphy’s dream of getting to the Boston Marathon, one of the most famous races in the world, first started in 1991 after being diagnosed with osteo-sarcoma, a form of bone cancer. » Murphy Cont. on pg. 3
dergarten through Grade 6 to remain in place at their current school buildings in Westport and Elizabethtown. The report suggests that Grades 7 and 8 could be located at a middle school in WCS’ existing school building, and that the high school, Grades 9 through 12, could be established at ELCS. In a merged district, the new district’s school board “should attempt to develop more elective courses for students at the high school level,” according to one recommendation. The final report suggests a new school could be built sometime in the next 10 years at a cost of approximately $50 million. Of that cost, the state would fund 90 percent of new construction, or approximately $45 million. District taxpayers would provide the $5 million balance. Capital project monies could also be used to repair and update both buildings and the school bus garages as they sit without building a new school. » Merger report Cont. on pg. 15
Northway bridges to be rehabbed in twoyear project Work in Westport, North Hudson will reduce traffic to single lane By Pete DeMola EDITOR
WESTPORT | Work to shore up nine bridges spanning the Adirondack Northway began last week as part a two-year state project. The $5.1 million undertaking includes bolstering two bridges over Route 74 at Exit 28 in the Town of Schroon; » Bridges Cont. on pg. 8
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