Parents Gather Wednesday To Fight Amityville School Closure

AMITYVILLE, NY — Parents in the Amityville Union Free School District are gathering Wednesday evening at the school board meeting in hopes of stopping the proposed closure of Northeast Elementary School.

The board will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Park Avenue Elementary School.

Those is opposition of the closure urged parents to attend the meeting to let their "voice be heard" in social media post on Wednesday.

The closure was first proposed in early 2024 after the board "approved dozens of staff layoffs in the district," according to a report by News12.

Since then, a district audit dated June 30 found that the district’s financial statement reached a total net deficit of $22,508,935, according to a letter released by the district on Tuesday.

In the letter, Superintendent of Schools Gina Talbert broke down the deficit for the public.

"It’s important to understand that this is not a shortfall in the district’s annual budget, but a long-term liability that we are required to report under government accounting rules. This amount comes from a calculation of the total cost of future health insurance premiums for retirees, which is estimated at $70,496,060," Talbert wrote.

She added that it's the "main reason" for the deficit and that "all school districts in New York State face similar deficits on their balance sheets due to this reporting rule."

Northeast Elementary School opened in 1952 and currently serves approximately 124 students and is the district's only campus that provides a pre-K program. The school’s minority student enrollment is 92 percent, according to U.S. News.