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Redistricting committee presents options to rebalance West Seneca schools; reopening Winchester would add sustained costs
Summary
Tony Day reported that the redistricting committee tested prior elementary scenarios against current data and developed a proposal that would reposition about 260 elementary students across schools; the committee said reopening Winchester as a staffed school would add roughly $1 million in ongoing costs.
Tony Day, representing the district's redistricting committee, reported on committee work to rebalance elementary and middle-school enrollment and presented an initial redistricting plan that would reposition students without full reconfiguration.
Day said the committee reviewed five elementary scenarios developed in 2023 and re-ran current enrollment data against those plans. The group found no single scenario solved every capacity problem: it could reduce enrollment pressure at Clinton Elementary but leave Allendale with insufficient capacity in some scenarios. The committee's working proposal would reassign segments of Clinton to Northwood and Westell and move some Allendale students to adjacent schools; the plan would reposition roughly 260 elementary students out of about 2,200 over a phased period to minimize disruption.
"The number of students that would actually have to be repositioned, in 1 setting would a total 260 out of a possible 2,200 elementary kids," Day said. The proposal assumes K–5 elementary configurations will remain intact but would require moving universal pre-K and some self-contained special-education classes to create capacity. Day warned that reopening Winchester as a full building for students — with a principal, nurse and counselors — would carry sustained personnel and operating costs, which he estimated could be close to $1,000,000 per year.
The committee also explored middle-school options, including phased transfers of sixth-graders to rebalance West and East middle schools over a three-year period. Committee members asked for comprehensive plans showing how elementary and middle proposals interact through grades K–12 and requested follow-up work on reconfiguration options (for example, creating intermediate 5–6 campuses) and cost implications of reopening buildings.
Board members asked for continued work on alternate redistricting and reconfiguration plans and sought clear, comprehensive proposals that show K–12 impacts before the committee presents final recommendations.
