For the past 30 years Greenwood Lake students have attended George F. Baker High School in Tuxedo, NY. Beginning next school year, Tuxedo will lose those students to either the school districts of Warwick or Chester. Nearly 300 Greenwood Lake high school students currently attend George Baker, out of approximately 377. The Greenwood Lake Board of Education decision to switch schools, if it stands, will certainly change Tuxedo.

The controversial decision revolves around money.

Board members and Greenwood Lake Superintendent Richard Brockel said the decision to switch schools involved a number of criteria but tuition played a major role. Tuxedo, Brockel inferred, simply couldn’t meet the same numbers as the other two school districts. Tuxedo’s proposed tuition would have been $13,900 per student, whereas Warwick put the number at $8,000, and $9,500 for Chester.

Greenwood Lake does not have a high school facility of its own. When students graduate from Greenwood Lake Middle School, they traditionally have attended high school in Tuxedo.

Wednesday evening, September 19, parents in Greenwood Lake will be joined by those from Tuxedo in a protest walk to the Wednesday Board of Education meeting to show support for school choice. The Walk for Choice is supported by the Tuxedo Chamber of Commerce, which has encouraged members to participate in the stroll to protest the school district decision.

Parents and students are also signing a petition advocating a reversal of the new policy, which goes into effect in the 2013 school year, and plan on presenting the petition to the board after the walk.

Walk for Choice, Protest Walk Against the Greenwood Lake Board of Education, Wednesday, September 19, 5:00 PM. Particpants will gather at the CVS Parking Lot at 123 Windermere Avenue in Greenwood Lake.