By Rob Coolidge

GALWAY–There are many reasons why people move to Galway from all over. One of those reasons is because of the school. The Galway Central School District hosts students from pre-kindergarten all the way to their senior year of high school. Because of its small size, it is able to give students a different experience compared to one they would normally have at a city school. Galway also offers something for everybody. Whether you are technologically inclined, have a knack for business, or if you just enjoy studying literature, a little bit of everything is offered. Galway prides itself on a solid academic program, offering a very wide variety of classes and many advanced placement courses for those who excel above the rest. Unfortunately, this exemplary school may not be here for students to enjoy in the near future.

During the 2010-2011 school year, alarms were raised. State aid to schools all around New York was cut in order to help balance the state budget. Our school ended up being short about $500,000 of the previous year’s budget and for a small school such as ours, this was a big hit. In order to compensate for the decline in aid, the school had to resort to cutting programs and positions. Roughly twenty positions were removed from Galway and a very noticeable change in the school occurred. The technology program no longer offers the wide variety of classes that they are used to. Teachers are forced to teach classes that they previously did not have to. Some teachers only come in for half a day, and class sizes are generally larger. The students don’t know if this was the only solution to solve the budget problem, but let’s just say it certainly wasn’t a popular one and because of fear of future cuts, a Community Chat was held to discuss the issue.

On November 9^th, 2011, members of the community, teaching staff, and students met with members of the Board of Education and Mrs. LaBelle to discuss the preliminary work on the next year’s budget. The situation is even more grim as last year. Using estimated numbers, it was calculated that we will lose another $523,521 in state aid in the coming school year. You could make the argument that there may be something left to get rid of and at the same time not negatively affect the school, but for the sake of argument, let’s put this number into perspective. This amounts to roughly 9 teacher position eliminations (based on an estimated salary). Along with teacher positions, other “optional” programs could also be targeted, including sports programs and extra-curricular activities.

Last year was a struggle. Community members and students alike rose to help save jobs and extra programs that Galway could have lost. This year, hopefully will have a better outcome than the last.  Additional information will be posted as it is obtained.

See also: https://eaglesmediacenter.com/?p=4288

Photos by Brian Mothon, Director of Photography