Administrators meet with community to discuss latest plans for school building reorganization

Mount Vernon City School District administrators met with parents, teachers and other community members at Graham School and on Zoom on Friday, December 6, 2024 to discuss the district’s school building reconfiguration. It was the second town hall meeting the district has held as the district’s Reorganization Committee considers its options for realigning its school buildings. Its most recent discussions are considering the closures of Cecil H. Parker School, Mount Vernon Honor Academy and Mount Vernon Leadership Academy. 

Acting Superintendent Dr. K. Veronica Smith, Assistant Superintendent for Business Jose Formoso and Associate Superintendent for Operations and Accountability Mark Raimondi presented the need to reorganize the buildings and answered questions from the audience and participants on Zoom. 

The district’s current financial situation is the primary reason a significant change is imperative. With declining enrollment, aging buildings, costly operations in the K-8 neighborhood school model and cash-flow concerns, the district needs to move forward with a plan that is sustainable to ensure it has a solid future for Mount Vernon students. The district is one of three in the state with a New York State Comptroller designation of having significant fiscal distress.

The district had an enrollment of over 8,000 students in 2016 and at one time had over 10,000 students. Enrollment projections from the state and the district estimate enrollment to fall to 6,000 students by 2027 and 5,100 students by 2033. There is no data indicating an increase in student enrollment in the future.

During the second town hall meeting, the District presented two new reconfiguration options to the community (It presented its first option at the town hall meeting in November). The second option is to keep four schools as K-8 – Graham School, Pennington School, Lincoln School and Benjamin Turner Academy. Denzel Washington School of the Arts and Mount Vernon STEAM Academy would become grades 7-12 schools, and Mount Vernon High School would continue as a 9-12 school but adding the grade 7 and 8 Academic and Career Exploration (ACE) students. The remaining schools would become pre-kindergarten to grade 6 or kindergarten to 6. This model would allow for each student to attend a school in close proximity to their home. 

In the final proposed model, the district would move to a model with two middle schools and two 6-12 schools. Mount Vernon High School would remain as grades 9-12, and ACE students in grades 6-8 would also attend the school. Rebecca Turner Academy and Nelson Mandela/Dr. Hosea Zollicoffer School are potential candidates for grade 6-8 middle schools in this configuration. DWSA and STEAM would become grades 6-12 schools, and the remaining schools would become pre-K to grade 5 or K-5. This model also keeps students attending schools in close proximity to their schools.