One district would mean one education

Part two of a series

A consolidated Valley Stream school district, for the first time, would create a unified elementary education in the community. This is one of the benefits that school leaders say would be brought about by a merger if it were to happen.

Though there are no current plans to consolidate, several school leaders are open to the idea of having a formal study completed. The last time consolidation was seriously considered was in the mid-1990s, but the issue never made it to a public referendum.

Jeanne Greco Jacobs, vice president of the Central High School District Board of Education, says the educational benefits would be tremendous. She noted that students enter the district in seventh grade with different skill levels because they come from three separate elementary districts. “You almost have to start from square one in seventh grade,” she said. “It’s not a matter of just changing buildings. You’re actually changing districts.”

Greco Jacobs, also a trustee in District 13, said the transition to seventh grade would be much smoother if there were one elementary school curriculum. She said seventh-grade teachers do have to spend some time just getting students to the same place.

District 13 Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Lison, agreed. She said that the ultimate goal for school officials is to help students successfully graduate from high school, but the elementary school districts can only take the children so far. And with different priorities, she said, children from the three districts do enter their secondary education years with a slightly different skill set. “Every sixth grade is different in the three elementary [districts],” she said.

Frank Chiachiere, president of the District 13 Board of Education and high school trustee, agrees that there are academic benefits to consolidation. He said in the current economic climate, where students have to be competitive on a global level, it would make sense for a unified curriculum that spans kindergarten through 12th grade.