Valley Stream

Schools must find cost savings

Posted

To the Editor:

Your editorial on the subject of consolidation (Aug. 20-26) echoed almost exactly the letter sent to all by Town Supervisor Kate Murray. But she and you extolled the status quo. Neither she nor you said anything about special districts or the four school districts in Valley Stream.

The four have tremendous redundancy and overhead, i.e. taxpayer expense. They do cooperative buying of dust mops, but it takes at least eight costly clerks to get the bargain. Why not have one back office, not four expensive locations? A school district with 500 more students has a budget that is $3 million more than Valley Stream’s total. Why?

It is the obligation of the four school committees to recognize what savings would result if one back office served Valley Stream. Consolidation does have merit. You and Murray dismissed the concept without giving the public the whole picture. There is a need.

Richard Creeron

Valley Stream