(Morrisville, NY – Oct. 2013) On Tuesday Dec. 10 the voters of the Morrisville-Eaton Central School District will have the opportunity to vote on a potential merger with the Hamilton Central School District.
On the ballot: Should the Hamilton Central School District and the Morrisville-Eaton Central School District be joined together as a single district by centralization?
The community vote follows a two-year process, whereby the district examined options to respond to the cuts in state aid and subsequent cuts in educational staff and programs. Community advisory committees from both districts met over a year with consultants culminating in a Reorganization Feasibility Study, which can be found on the district website at www.m-ecs.org.
Superintendent Michael R. Drahos and the board of education will meet with interested community groups to discuss the study findings and the options that the district faces in order to meet their mission.
In addition to offering to meet with groups, the district is inviting all interested to attend community informational sessions.
The first will be a community forum at the middle-high school at 7 p.m. Monday Oct. 21. Drahos will begin with a 15 to 20 minute overview of the rationale for the study, an overview of findings and an outline of the alternatives to a merger with Hamilton.
After that, he and members of the BOE will field questions and listen to concerns from those who are present.
Then, on Nov. 9 there will be a student-sponsored pancake breakfast (donations appreciated) from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Tours of the middle-high school will be available to anyone interested from 9 to 10:30 a.m. A second community forum, following the format of the previous one will then be held at 11 a.m.
The district strongly encourages everyone to examine the study. For those who do not have access to the Internet the district office will provide a copy.
“This is truly a generational decision and one that we believe rests in the hands of the community, not a five member Board of Education,” Drahos said. “We will do our best to answer the questions that can be answered and to listen carefully to the hopes and concerns of everyone as we move forward to the Dec. 10 advisory vote.”