The Elwood Union Free School District Board of Education agreed during its November meeting to draft and submit an opposition letter to the New York State Education Department over the agency's emergency regionalization regulation.

Board members said the regulation, issued on an emergency basis, risks reducing locally elected boards' decision-making authority and could shift fiscal control to BOCES-like supervisory entities. "It is a mandate that all school districts minus the big 5 districts must abide by or lose funding by the state," read a letter from trustee Deborah Weiss, which the board placed on the record in her absence. "Loss of local control" and "inequity and resource distribution" were cited as primary concerns.

Members discussed timing and tone and settled on preparing a district letter to be submitted before the NYSED comment window closes. "So it sounds like the Board of Education does wanna write a letter," the president said, asking administration to draft language; board members asked that local elected officials and Regent Tillis be copied. "I wholeheartedly support our letter opposing regionalization," said Miss Scribe, reflecting several board members' positions.

During public comment, resident Amy Kern urged the board to act quickly and take a strong stance: "The NYSED BOCES Regionalization Initiative was implemented by emergency rule even though there is no emergency," she said, and she asked the board to join other districts already litigating the change. Resident Andre Birknell echoed the time-sensitivity and asked the board to clarify whether the superintendent's informational message differed from the board's advocacy stance.

Superintendent Steele clarified that her earlier ParentSquare communication was informational only and not a board position. The board clarified it would prepare formal correspondence opposing the emergency regulation and asked administration to include local legislators and the regent on the distribution list.

Next steps: the board asked the legislative committee and administration to draft a letter for board review and to submit before the stated comment deadline.