Residents of Tuxedo, NY face a peculiar situation. The local high school, built up over the last 30 years into a quietly elite academic institution, may lose a chunk of its student population next school year. Or not.
Two of Tuxedo’s possible roads forward might be through Monroe or Suffern. The Shaping the Future of Our High School project considers costs associated with the school district merging with Monroe Woodbury and/or Suffern.
The complicated case of George F. Baker High School in Tuxedo continues Thursday evening when the Public Consulting Group (PCG) presents its finding on various options the school faces in the next few years. The meeting takes place January 10 at 7:00 p.m. in the George F. Baker High School Auditorium and includes the evaluation of ideas/options that have been generated by the Tuxedo initiative called Shaping the Future of Our School.
George F. Baker faces two basic issues, namely, the possible loss of Greenwood Lake students and the aftermath that such a loss might have on the high school.
The Greenwood Lake School District has extended the deadline to January 17 for students to select the high school they wish to attend beginning this September. Under a program called Parental Choice, GWL students entering 9th grade in the 2013 school year will have the choice to attend one of three available high schools — Warwick Valley High School, Chester Academy or George F. Baker. The three school Parental Choice options involve a 22 month commitment by students — once they choose their high school of choice, they’re locked in for the duration of the GWL contract with the high schools involved.
Greenwood Lake School District Superintendent Dr. Richard Brockel said that the deadline for Parental Choice was extended to accommodate the PCG findings. “The board and I felt it might be a good idea (to extend the deadline) since more information is going to be presented on Baker High School. To delay the decision would give people more (information) to deal with.”
PCG was retained by the Tuxedo Union Free School District to help determine a way forward after the Greenwood Lake School Board determined last year to open up school choice for its some 300 plus high 
school age students, GWL students compose nearly 85% of George F. Baker — and the high school has built a substantial curriculum around them. The GWL board move was an apparent cost-cutting measure. Tuxedo’s proposed tuition has been scaled down to $12,000 per student, with other inducements, whereas Warwick put the number at $8,000, and Chester $9,500. Greenwood Lake had asked Tuxedo to reduce tuition to $10,500, which would involve big curriculum cuts. Approximately 250 GWL students currently attend George F. Baker High School.
‘I think some people have a fear of choosing Tuxedo and I would like to dispel that fear,” said Tuxedo School District Superintendent Carol Lomascolo in a recent Photo-News article on the issue. “That’s the reason we have consultants here, to provide us with options that assist our program in continuing to grow and be sustainable and feasible in the future.”
Lomascolo also stressed the importance of getting hard numbers of GWL students who have selected Tuxedo next fall. “I would appeal to GWL to give us the numbers immediately,” Lomascolo said. “We need to build a budget, as do the other two school districts.”
Two of Tuxedo’s possible roads forward might be through Monroe or Suffern. The Shaping the Future considers costs associated with the school district merging with Monroe Woodbury and/or Suffern.
Photo-News reporter Nancy Kriz reported that Dr. Brockel declined to discuss whether he had current preliminary numbers on GWL student choices. GWL students have the opportunity to listen to presentations from all three schools, visit their campuses and deliberate with GWL guidance counselors.
‘We have had some commitments already but it would be premature to nail that down at the moment since we’ve extended the deadline,” Brockel said. “The more information they (Greenwood Lake residents) have, the better the decision. Once you’ve made your choice, you can only change that choice based on extenuating circumstances and an interview with me.”
The final recommendation for the future options for the George F. Baker High School will be presented on Thursday, January 10, 2013 at 7:00 PM in the George F. Baker High School Auditorium.
