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Partly Cloudy The nuts and bolts of school consolidation
Part four of a series
While consolidation would create one set of standards in Valley Stream, the four school districts already cooperate behind the scenes, and work together to purchase goods and services to ensure the best possible price.
The Central High School District, along with elementary school Districts 13 and 24, share a residency office to handle the registration of students. The shared residency officer also completes investigations for the three districts when it is believed a student lives outside of Valley Stream yet attends school in the community.
For food services, the high school district and Districts 13 and 30 share a contract. The same company provides meals in the three districts. District 24 uses a separate vendor because its schools do not have kitchens. Its vendor makes lunches off site, uses freezers in the schools to store the food and ovens to heat the meals up. “We don’t have the space for a kitchen,” said Assistant Superintendent Dan Onorato.
The four school districts belong to the Southwest Nassau Transportation Consortium for bus services. District 13 is the only one of the four districts to provide transportation to students to and from school. Children in grades K-3 are eligible for the bus if they live at least a half-mile from their school and students in grades 4-6 can get transportation if they live a mile away.
Who would lead?
A consolidated school district would only require one superintendent, meaning that three people could be out if work if the four Valley Stream districts merged. Education law states that a superintendent does not have a right to a job in a reorganized school district, however they would still be entitled to their salary and benefits for the remainder of their contract.
Valley Stream has two superintendents retiring this year. Central High School District schools chief Dr. Marc Bernstein leaves on Dec. 31, while District 13 Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Lison has announced her retirement for the end of the school year.
