Stein Dissembles on School Closing

Superintendent Richard Stein announced plans to close the Washington Irving School at a Gates-Chili School Board meeting held there on Wednesday. Stein's budget outline and the reaction to the planned closing were reported in this Democrat & Chronicle article.

Stein discussed the high points of his proposed budget that increases spending by approximately 3.3%, to over $81 million. He revealed the badly kept secret that Washington Irving was slated to be closed. He pointed out that the district has 16 underused classrooms at its 5 elementary schools. Gates-Chili has been experiencing declining enrollments. Further, the Irving building is one of the oldest in the district and has a number of structural problems that would be costly to repair.

Unfortunately, Mr. Stein decided to lay the blame for the closing on the County's decision to cut the sales tax share paid to local school districts. "That's real money we lost that is not coming back," said Stein. "It's not easy for me to be here in a building that I care for as much as any building in the district and deliver this news. I didn't ask for a $1.6 million problem, but we got it."

This implies that the school would not be closed but for the revenue loss. That flies in the face of the facts. It looks like Mr. Stein decided to dodge taking any heat for the closure decision. What ever happened to being a forthright leader who explains the reasoning behind a decision and persuades his constituents of the sense of his plan?

Weak, Mr. Stein, very weak! And not much of a lesson in leadership and honesty for all of your district's students.