The deadline for schools to either opt in or out of the proposed statewide regionalization plan process was Wednesday and all districts but one in the North Fork region declined to participate in the heavily disputed initiative.
Oysterponds Union Free School District passed a resolution on Tuesday night to move forward with the regionalization planning process, which begins with submitting a “Strengths and Needs Review” to the New York State Department of Education. Officials in all other area school districts, including Shoreham-Wading River, Riverhead, Southold, Mattituck and Greenport, decided against participating in the program.
To ensure access to more equitable educational opportunities, the New York State Education Department announced plan to implement, “a collaborative regional planning approach,” which essentially would allow local school districts to identify their individual needs and share resources with other districts, such as staff and special programs.
The initial rollout of the initiative was met with major backlash from school leaders across Long Island who felt they were being mandated to participate. New York Education Commissioner Betty Rosa issued a letter in November 2024 clarifying that the regionalization plans would be “advisory” rather than “mandatory,” and school boards could choose not to participate in the regionalization process.
Some of other main criticisms of the initiative centered on concerns about consolidation, tax implications and school-community identity. The document outlining the initiative was criticized by several education boards, with many calling its language “unclear.”
Mattituck-Cutchogue Union Free School District
Mattituck-Cutchogue Union Free School District’s school board voted to opt out of the regionalization plan at a meeting on Dec. 19. Superintendent Shawn Petretti explained that the decision to not participate is valid for 10 years but if the district changes its mind about at any point, the issue can be revisited.
Had the board voted to opt in, the district would have been “committed to the process” and unable to withdraw, Mr. Petretti said. The absence of any “financial incentive” from the state also concerned board members, resulting in a unanimous no vote.
Southold and Greenport School District
During a discussion at the Southold board of education meeting on Jan. 8, Superintendent Anthony Mauro said he believed there was not any downside to opting out of the program at this time, but noted that the main point of concern was the state’s inadequate definition of what the regionalization program actually entails.
“If regionalization is sharing resources and doing the things that we’re talking about doing already and that we already do — I’m all for it,” Mr. Mauro said at the meeting. “If regionalization is forced consolidation, then I’m not for it because consolidation is a local decision.”
Mr. Mauro also pointed to the importance of community pride in local schools as well as potential tax implications attached to regionalization.
Although the district did not come to a clear decision at the meeting, the school board members agreed there would need to be a lot of long-term planning to make an informed decision about consolidation or regionalization.
“At some point we should get the stakeholders in the room and … have the discussion,” school board member Thomas Kennedy said. “It’s always been this way in the North Fork, right? We consider ourselves the North Fork; we don’t divide ourselves [by] hamlets [or] districts. We think of ourselves as this entity.”
For similar reasons, Greenport Union Free School District also declined participation in the regionalization process. Interim Superintendent Ryan Case said the Greenport school board “committed to carefully assessing this initiative to ensure any decisions align with the needs and priorities” of the district.
Riverhead Central School District
The Riverhead board of education waited up until the night before the Jan. 15 deadline to make its decision, but after further discussions, opted out of the plan.
“We still have more questions that we haven’t gotten full answers on,” said board president James Scudder. “We think it’s in the best interest of the district to opt out and not proceed with regionalization.”
Shoreham-Wading River Central School District
When the state department distributed the initial memo about the January deadline, superintendent Gerard Poole said at the time the potential for “unintended consequences” of opting out of the plan — for example, impacts to school funding — were unclear.
On Jan. 7, the board ultimately decided to not participate in the program.