Our Terms & Conditions | Our Privacy Policy
Less than 25 individuals attended a public forum on the proposed merger hosted by Fort Plain Superintendent Lauren Crisman and Canajoharie Superintendent Nick Fitzgerald at Harry Hoag Elementary School on Tuesday. The group was a mix of residents and staff from both districts.
“We continue to struggle, in total transparency, with voter engagement and community engagement,” Crisman said, after an attendee pointed out the relatively low turnout at the forum.
Additional forums will be held in the coming weeks and the superintendents plan to meet with local leaders and community groups to share information on the proposed merger. The district leaders met with their respective faculty and staff earlier on Tuesday and they plan to have discussions with students in the future.
“The idea is to inform people, to make sure they can make a conscious, informed decision,” Fitzgerald said. “And to give our vision, you know, because that’s what they hired us for, to make sure that we have a vision for our districts and for our kids, for the future.”
Outreach is critical ahead of a non-binding straw vote on March 6 to assess public support for the merger. It’s a required step before the state Education Department will consider authorizing a binding public referendum to reach a final decision.
“I think this is a great thing for kids, and the ability to get our kids to the next level. That’s my opinion,” Fitzgerald said. “The great thing about this process is everyone has an opportunity for a voice and a vote and to decide what they want this to look like, or to not go further.”
At least some of the forum participants are already prepared to support a merger, citing the potential enhancement of opportunities for both students and staff. Others noted the districts already share certain resources and some combined sports teams bringing together student-athletes from the previously rivaling schools.
Residents provide input
Fort Plain residents Linda and Gerry Klump don’t see any downsides to the merger and plan to back the proposal.
“It sounds good all around,” Gerry Klump said.
“I just think it will be very positive for the children and for the community,” Linda Klump said. “We should look forward to the future in support of our youth and our teachers. We need to get good faculty here in this end of our county and educate our children.”
Boards of education for both Canajoharie and Fort Plain voted earlier this month to send the proposed merger to the public. School officials have largely concluded the potential benefits outweigh the challenges based on the findings of a merger feasibility study.
The study was led by consultants from Leadership Solutions Advisers and guided by an advisory committee of faculty and community members. The monthslong process gathered input from students, staff and local residents.
The final report found a merger could expand resources and opportunities for students and staff, support long-term financial sustainability through a larger tax base and increased state aid, provide economies of scale and eliminate competition between the rural districts amidst labor shortages.
The study also noted similarities between the districts in terms of enrollment, populations, budgets and tax rates. Yet, the report notes there could still be challenges to aligning school cultures, curriculum, programs, academic interventions, class sizes, schedules and codes of conduct.
This is a concern for Canajoharie parent Ambrose Schaffer based on his previous experience working for a company that merged with another business despite their similarities.
“I don’t think it was appreciated, sort of the cultural differences between the operation of the two companies. And there was a lot of suffering in the beginning — during that merger — and our business suffered as a result of it,” Schaffer said. “And I think if I could project onto this, and knowing that it’s not apples to apples, but that suffering could then result in our children feeling that as opposed to our customers,”
Recognizing the challenges, Crisman said it would be crucial for stakeholder and student groups to focus on the values of the districts to cultivate common norms and negotiate any differences to recommend a vision and standards for the merged district, should the proposal move forward.
Although he recognizes there are potential opportunities from merging, Schaffer is admittedly unsure how he’ll vote and plans to attend additional forums and dig deeper into the details as he continues weighing the decision. His 11-year-old son doesn’t have a strong opinion either way.
“My apprehension and my reluctance comes from the cultural question,” Schaffer said. “It’s more about what is the educational experience that my child gets as he continues, whether it’s with a merged district, or whether it’s continuing on the way it is, so that’s my biggest concern.”
Future possibilities
Officials said both districts currently have strong educational programs and stable finances, but that may change in the future should they remain independent.
Declining enrollment has shrunk the number of kindergarten-age students to 53 in Canajoharie and 49 in Fort Plain. Combined the districts would have just 102 students at that grade level in the graduating class of 2037.
The continued loss of students over time could eventually lead to the elimination of class sections at each grade level based on actual needs, which could result in larger class sizes should the districts remain independent, officials said.
Meanwhile, the larger student body in a merged district could actually keep class sizes lower by justifying the continuation of more sections at each grade level.
“With a potential merger, we could look at really teaching more to the edges. We could enrich the programs that support students who may need remediation and/or specialized programs, special education. We could also then really look to build more robust [Advanced Placement] college now programs, because we would have a larger staff and more students enrolled,” Crisman added.
At the same time, Fitzgerald said state aid and federal education grants are not keeping up with expenses for the districts grappling with rapidly rising health insurance costs and contractual salary increases.
“We’re competing for everything. We’re competing for skilled labor, our bus drivers, our food service employees. We’re kind of driving each other’s costs up because we all want the same pool of candidates to do the same work, and so we’re fighting over them,” Crisman added. “We’re recruiting from the same teacher pool, which is not a pool, it’s a puddle.”
By combining, the district would have a larger tax base and would receive an additional $56.52 million total over 14 years in merger incentive aid from the state. The funding could be invested into the development of programs, purchasing equipment, funding upgrades, staff development and retaining overlapping faculty to support transition work until attrition brings employment to appropriate levels for the merged district.
As for where students would attend school, Crisman and Fitzgerald suggested a possible neighborhood model at the elementary level keeping Fort Plain and Canajoharie kids at their existing buildings. They pointed to possible use of the Fort Plain Junior-Senior High School for all middle school students and Canajoharie High School for all high school students based on the suitability of the existing facilities.
The introduction of a true middle and high school in Fort Plain could have instructional advantages while separating students of vastly different ages and stages of development, Crisman said.
The existing Canajoharie Middle School building could potentially house district offices and additional space for programs through HFM BOCES.
Decisions ahead
Of course, Crisman and Fitzgerald acknowledged decisions about the actual form and operations of the merged district could not be made unless the union was first approved by voters. Residents would then need to elect a new board of education, which would subsequently select a new superintendent to lead the transition process.
“The great part about this is both communities, if they vote yes to move forward, have a great opportunity to mold together in committees and stakeholder groups to really form, you know, something that they want … from the ground up,” Fitzgerald said.
Although it would likely be easier if the state allowed full merger plans to be developed before putting such proposals to a vote, Eddie Watt, who teaches in Canajoharie and served on the merger advisory committee, doesn’t have any major concerns about the districts combining and supports the move.
“I’ve got a pretty unique perspective, I’ve worked for both districts, so I see the benefit directly,” Watt said.
The expanded opportunities for students could also support economic development and revitalization in the region, added Watt, who is also a trustee in the village of Canajoharie and village clerk in Nelliston.
“I hope that people make the decision thinking 30 years down the line, not the last 30 years,” Watt said.
Should the merger eventually be approved by voters, planning would begin this summer or fall before the combination of the districts into a single district would become effective in July 2026.
As both communities weigh the decision, Crisman encouraged residents to cast their ballots based on the outcome they are prepared to support. She suggested opponents should be ready to back school budgets for the districts to remain independent while advocates should be ready to engage in the stakeholder process to form a new district.
“Merged or not, the collaboration is going to need to happen to do what’s best for kids, so think about what path we choose to get there, but the idea of independent school districts just operating independently, we see it every day, that just isn’t sustainable. We can’t do our best work alone,” Crisman added.
The next public forum on the proposed merger of the districts will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 10, in the cafeteria at Canajoharie High School. Another forum will be held virtually via Google Meet at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 26.
Previous:
EDITORIAL: Take active role in Canajoharie, Fort Plain school merger decision (1/2025)
Canajoharie, Fort Plain schools sending potential merger to public (1/2025)
Canajoharie, Fort Plain schools merger could present opportunities, challenges (12/2024)
More Top Stories:
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
Aggregated From –
Comments are closed.