Cherry Lane & Montebello Elementary Schools (Grades 3-5)
Arrival: 8:40 am
Start Time: 8:55 am
Dismissal: 3:10 pm

RP Connor and Sloatsburg Elementary Schools (Grades K-2)
Arrival: 9:10 am
Start: 9:25 am
Dismissal: 3:40 pm

*The District will no longer rotate between early and late start times. For more information about the YMCA before and aftercare programs being offered, visit: https://www.rocklandymca.org/main/suffern-school-district-2024-2025/.

Reconfiguration is the process of changing the grade structure of a school(s) for the purpose of realizing educational and operational benefits. 

The Suffern Central SD proposal would reconfigure our elementary schools to have two PreK - Second Grade schools and two 3rd -5th grade schools. 

The proposed breakdown is as follows: 

Sloatsburg Elementary School will become a PreK - 2nd grade building, and be paired with Montebello Elementary School, which will be grades 3-5.

RP Connor Elementary School will become a PreK - 2nd grade building and be paired with Cherry Lane Elementary School, which will be grades 3-5.

Viola Elementary School will still be owned by the District, but will be repurposed. Students currently zoned for Viola Elementary School will be sent to one of the above school pairings, depending on location. To see the new map, click here.

Rockland BOCES has expressed a desire to rent the building for its growing programs. However, the District will remain the owner of that building and maintain its facilities. We will not be selling the building. 

Over the past eight years, the Suffern Central School District has seen a steady decline in enrollment, with our elementary school enrollment being the most affected. Currently, we have five elementary schools, including three schools with under 300 students. We are looking to restructure to provide all Suffern CSD elementary students with equal access to resources, programming, social networks and services regardless of where they attend school.

Equal access to resources and services:

• Dedicated staff members in each building, including school counselors, clinicians, ENL teachers

• Dedicated special education programming/classrooms in each building

• Consistent and age-appropriate programs/extracurricular activities

• Larger social networks for students

• Consistent class sizes across all schools

• Expected future opportunities for bilingual classrooms at all schools

Yes. Here is a link to the study done last year around enrollment trends in the district. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SjBZnwOIlS3nCFKeq0a8s_cPODjTptTW/view?usp=drive_link

There were three options considered when choosing this model. The other two options were: 

1: Continue with the current structure of elementary schools.

Our current model of supporting three very small elementary schools is inefficient and will have a significant financial impact on the district in the coming years.  Restructuring the elementary school model will allow for the district to further expand and improve upon the educational experience that our students deserve. 

2: Close one school and redistrict those students to other schools. 

This option isn’t the best decision educationally. By closing one school and redistributing those students into four other schools, we’re still operating schools that are inefficient.  This will result in the disruption of many more students' experiences by splitting them into four schools because we cannot fit every student from one school into just one other elementary school.

If we don’t make any changes this year, we can maintain the status quo for another year or so, but after that, we’ll have to make decisions based on finances, which could result in layoffs or other forced changes to our schools.

In 2022, the Suffern Central School District commissioned the DM Group to survey our enrollment data, dissect our population demographics, and review thoughts and trends of our community. Through their data, it was determined that across the entire District, enrollment has seen a 12% decrease in the past 10 years, but our elementary school enrollment has realized a 25% decrease in elementary school students as more families are moving into the District and are sending their children to private, religious schools. To see more information related to this research, please see the Superintendent’s presentation to the Board of Education here.

With a Princeton plan, elementary schools are organized not by geographic location (i.e., all kids residing in a certain designated area go to the same school) but by age. In this instance, grades are banded together for kindergarten, first and second grades in two schools and third, fourth, and fifth graders in two other schools. 

Benefits of this model of schools include added diversity of students, consistency of programming, class sizes and academic achievement, as well as the clustering of resources and added social benefits. 

Some other Districts in the Rockland/Westchester area that operate using the Princeton Model include South Orangetown Central School District, North Rockland Central School District, Byram Hills School District, Greenburgh Central School District, Elmsford Central School District, Irvington School District.

The district will need to make minor modifications to restrooms and other facilities to account for the height of students.  In addition, there will be moving costs for shifting age-appropriate furniture and curricular materials to the proper buildings.  

Ultimately, the efficiency of operating four buildings instead of five, and the additional revenue of renting the repurposed building will be financially advantageous.

Once the proposal has been approved by the Board of Education, the District will begin to work with the schools and community members to continue traditions and discover new ones that honor our schools’ histories. It’s important to remember that we have made adjustments to our schools/grade levels in the past and we will make sure to incorporate the rich history of elementary schools in any way we can. 

The individual needs of our students with disabilites will be addressed by the CSE chairpeople and case managers.

We have been working closely with our transportation department to evaluate bus routes and maximize efficiencies. While some of our students will be on the bus longer than they are currently, we are looking to add additional buses and minimize timing as best as possible, with the hope that bus routes will not exceed 30 minutes.

The Superintendent presented the plan to the Board of Education on Tuesday, October 3.  There will be a public hearing followed by a Board of Education vote on Tuesday, October 24.  If approved, it will go into effect for the 2024-25 school year.

The general outline of the timeline: 

Oct/Nov - Identify administrative roles, catchment zones, and overall plan for roll-out

December - Identify teacher roles and building placements / begin planning for the move

Jan/Feb - Facilities planning, internal alignment,  community forums and planning

March/April - Continue with logistics planning, begin connecting families, and rolling out support programs/services  

Our four chosen buildings have all been evaluated and it has been determined that they can comfortably accommodate the anticipated student population. Class sizes will become more consistent across schools, with about 18-21 students per class. There will be more classes across grade levels (5-6 classes versus 2-3 currently).  This will result in more collaboration and teamwork opportunities for staff and students. We also anticipate more opportunities for our students to engage in grade 3-5 extracurricular activities because there will be more students and more age-appropriate opportunities.