Archive: News

At the Ithaca City District School (ICSD) Board Meeting on Tuesday night, Fall Creek School protesters once again came out in force.  On February 3, Superintendent Judith Pastel suggested closing Fall Creek School in order to deal with ICSD’s $8 to $10 million budget gap.  At the February 9 meeting, protesters packed the ISCD Board meeting room.

This time, the Board was ready, holding the “public comment” part of the meeting in an auditorium across from the School District Office building where the Board usually convenes.  Parents and children from Fall Creek School, who had marched through misty rain a half-mile from their school to IHS, almost filled the big lecture hall.


As children chanting “Fall Creek Works” burst into the hall, parents corralled the younger ones for a bedtime departure. 

The board voted to extend the usual half-hour comment period by twenty minutes.  As a result, the main part of the school board meeting, which moved across the plaza to its usual venue in the District Office, didn’t start until 8:45.  Those on the later agenda, including representatives from students, the teachers’ union and the PTA as well as groups reporting on strategic plans for Lehman Alternative School and Boynton, had to wait.  (Every district school is reporting on its strategic plans; two at each Board meeting.)

In the face of the protest Board Chair Robert Ainslie welcomed public comment.

“We can’t do this in a back room and then say 'here it is, now you can protest!',” he said, again noting that everything is on the table in this budget crisis. “It’s great to talk about this,” he said.  “It’s a good thing all these people are here.”

Between 7:15 and 8:30, twenty-one people from Fall Creek spoke, making points similar to those made at the last meeting.  Walking to school promotes better health, education, and communication.  Fall Creek home values depend on the school.  Refitting the school for Pre-K only will be costly, as will busing children to other schools.

Parent Derek Chang said that after carefully reading all available budget proposals, he found that “no other options were mentioned with any specificity,” concluding “You haven’t won my confidence.”

Ellen McCollister, Common Council representative from the 3rd Ward, noted that the Belle Sherman School, which her children attended, serves a neighborhood function similar to the Fall Creek School.  “Ithaca is incredibly lucky to have neighborhood schools,” she said.


Board members then responded to what they had heard.  Sean Eversley Bradwell thanked the Fall Creek supporters, and said “As someone who sat on that side for a number of things, I thought the Board was operating without full awareness.  But now I know my colleagues are asking all the questions you are posing.”

Josh Bornstein noted that with so many talented people in the district, “we get a ton of requests to see the data, people asking ‘can I crunch the numbers myself.’  But it’s a lot of work to just get that data out.” 

Ainslie explained that the finance committee had met twice in the past week, just “trying to nail down this year’s deficit,” which is between $6 and $8.2 million, so they could continue with a cost-benefit analysis of necessary cuts.  “And this is the good year,” he added.  “2011-2012, that’s the cliff.”

"The idea that we can restructure this district in a matter of weeks is not realistic, not reality," Ainslie continued.  "This is a multi-year process.  We’re going to figure it out together.”

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