School-closure plan irks Smithtown parents

The proposed closure of Nesconset Elementary School has some parents in Smithtown worried that their children will have to attend a middle school in another part of town.

Dozens turned out Wednesday for a public hearing at Nesaquake Middle School in St. James on the plan to shutter Nesconset later this year. Most speakers were parents of children who attend Mills Pond Elementary in St. James, which is not slated to close.

Mills Pond parents said closing Nesconset may initiate a chain of events that would alter school assignments and cause their children to have to attend Great Hollow Middle School in Nesconset. Mills Pond students currently go to Nesaquake after they finish elementary school.

Karen Ricciardi, of St. James, said her son, Conner, a Mills Pond fifth-grader, would have to make a "potentially life-threatening" trip across busy state Route 347 to attend Great Hollow. Conner, 10, told school trustees he would be disappointed by the move.

"All my friends will be in Nesaquake," Conner said. "As kids, we really do care about the situation."

A committee of Smithtown residents and school officials recommended last month that Nesconset Elementary close, due to budget constraints and districtwide enrollment declines.

Closing the school would save about $1 million annually. The school board is scheduled to vote Feb. 28.

Most Nesconset students likely would transfer to Mills Pond Elementary next year; special education students would move to Mount Pleasant Elementary.

The question of where elementary school students will attend middle school was not among the committee's recommendations to the school board. Superintendent Edward Ehmann said Wednesday the district has not decided where elementary students will attend middle school.

Nesconset Elementary students typically graduate to Great Hollow Middle School.

Bethanne Zeitsiff said her son, Gavin, 9, a Mills Pond student, would miss the guidance of his sister, Abigail, 11, who attends Nesaquake, if he attends Great Hollow.

"They wouldn't be together," Zeitsiff said after the meeting. "They'll have two different middle school experiences. She wouldn't be able to help him through middle school."

Stacy Berman, who opposes closing Nesconset, where her two children are students, asked school officials to tell parents soon where their children will attend school next year.