After decades of declining student population, the Saugerties Central School District (SCSD) appears to have plateaued, with district officials discussing redistricting as a possible means of ensuring equitable class sizes in its three elementary schools. The process may become more commonplace to address in-district enrollment trends.
The SCSD’s decline over the past two decades mirrors trends across the Hudson Valley, falling from 3,424 in 2000-01 to 2,978 in 2010-11, and finally to 2,245 in 2022-23. The SCSD closed Mount Marion Elementary School at the end of the 2021-22 school year, partly to make up for a budget shortfall, but also because district officials felt it didn’t make sense to operate four elementary schools as they had in the past.
“When we went with the model for…three K-6 elementary schools, one of the drawbacks was the possibility of redistricting more frequently to balance class sizes,” said superintendent Daniel Erceg during a meeting of the Saugerties Board of Education on Tuesday, November 12. “We are seeing that.”…