At its meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 4, the Pine Plains Central School District Board of Education accepted the finalized educational impact study from the Building Utilization Advisory Committee, which makes a case for shuttering Cold Spring Early Learning Center beginning with the 2027–28 school year.
While the board did not discuss the committee’s findings during the session — it did review plans for a new English Language Arts curriculum and appoint an interim board member, Heidi Johnson — the 13-page study is available on the district’s website. It says that closing Cold Spring and moving pre-K through first grade students to Seymour Smith Intermediate Learning Center would not only save the district $200,000 annually by eliminating two bus runs but also $942,727 by cutting redundant employee positions.
The report highlights community benefits, such as sharing elementary educational resources under one roof, shortening bus rides for northern district children, and streamlining student pickups and drop-offs. Drawbacks include the loss of a neighborhood school, longer rides for Stanford students, and local staff layoffs. According to the study, shutting Cold Spring school would also trigger immediate upgrade costs at the Seymour Smith building, including $330,000 for a new playground, bathrooms, and parking.
Of the 25 committee members, 13 approved the report and two dissented, wanting to seek other funding fixes. Five members missed the Aug. 3 deadline, while the remainder — school board representatives, the school’s attorney, and Superintendent Brian Timm — did not vote. The board agreed to accept late votes if received before this study is published in the Poughkeepsie Journal at the end of August.
The issue of potentially shuttering one or more of the district’s three schools has been ongoing since July 2024, sparked by declining enrollment, threatened state funding cuts, and rising employee healthcare premiums.
These factors — along with earlier surveys on district facilities use and building conditions — led Timm to propose a plan at the board’s Jan. 8 meeting to shutter Cold Spring, which he said would potentially save $1.5 million annually in operating and transportation costs without increasing class sizes.
The committee, which was appointed in March to evaluate the feasibility of Timm’s proposal, ultimately aligned with his recommendation. Its report concludes with a clear warning: “Maintaining three separate buildings presents ongoing financial and operational challenges that may negatively impact the district’s educational program.”
The study also says that the benefits of repurposing Cold Spring “far outweigh its closure”: Leasing the property would generate revenue and preserve $300,000 in yearly state building aid — forfeited if the school was sold. Dutchess BOCES has expressed interest in opening classrooms at the site, while Anderson Center for Autism would continue renting two rooms. Cold Spring could become a year-round special education building, and provide services “closer to home for as many as fifteen of our district students,” the committee wrote, while offsetting upkeep costs by bus transport savings.
The report lists the assessed value of Cold Spring at $2.5 million, and recommends consulting the Pine Plains zoning and planning boards to investigate the constraints of selling a school building.
The school board will discuss the document’s details and set a timeline on how to proceed at its Aug. 18 meeting. A public hearing will open the board’s Sept. 2 meeting. Timm anticipates a final decision about consolidation will be made at the Sept. 15 meeting. “This way, everybody has time to reflect and think about the public comment,” Timm said.
A new English Language Arts curriculum
Seymour Smith Principal Julie Roberts and Cold Spring Principal Kristen Fischetti presented the new English language arts curriculum, Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts, which is being introduced at the elementary level this year. Amplify CKLA is a comprehensive, science-of-reading program that combines early literacy skills like phonics with background knowledge in history, science, and literature.
Fischetti said the district’s staff-led literacy committee and Director of Curriculum Gian Starr unanimously chose Amplify CKLA after reviewing other curricula. “We saw the rigor, we saw the success, and the student engagement,” she said. “It has shown statistically positive outcomes.”
Roberts passed around sample workbooks to school board members as Fischetti explained the curriculum. She said students in kindergarten through second grade learn to read by focusing on knowledge (language comprehension) and skill (word recognition). “They go from hearing a sound [like ‘er’] to identifying it in print, to using it in their writing,” Fischetti said. This serves as the foundation to build skilled readers in grades three to five. Third and fourth graders will also use a dedicated cursive workbook.
Roberts added that teachers’ materials can be printed or accessed digitally. “Teachers can see clear goals with objectives tailored to each grade level,” she said.
To meet the demands of the new curriculum, the schools must shift their master schedule from 90 to 120 minutes of daily ELA instruction, and teach it back-to-back with science and social studies. “That way, we can tie those topics into our ELA reading,” Roberts said. “We’re seeing that Regents exams are based on what you can read, not so much on content.”
Fischetti later told the Herald that the district’s previous curriculum was a mix of several programs; Amplify CKLA will unify all instruction from pre-K through grade five. She said the new curriculum is rich and complex: Phonics are taught in depth and integrated with other academics. “This takes longer, but is the key to building critical thinkers,” Fischetti said. State legislation requiring this evidence-based reading curriculum at the elementary level is currently being considered by the New York Senate.
Both principals acknowledged that the new schedule will be a challenge, but they are confident it can be done “without touching recess,” Roberts said.
Roberts admitted there will be a learning curve: “Year one will be tough. It is the ‘get used to it’ year. It will be the hardest jump for our fifth graders. But it’s going to be OK.”
Vacant board seat filled
The school board appointed Heidi Johnson to fill the vacancy left by Claire Copley-Eisenberg’s term, who resigned in June due to illness. Johnson, a 12-year school board veteran whose previous tenure just ended in June, will serve the final year of the three-year term won by Copley-Eisenberg in May 2024. Board President Amie Fredericks noted that the board received two letters of interest for the vacancy: one from Johnson and another from Brooke Brown, who unsuccessfully ran for the seat in May.
Long-time school board member Fred “Chip” Couse said, “I know that the year we have coming up has a number of critical issues. Heidi will hit the ground running,”
In other business, the board approved the 2026-27 3.39% tax levy, and the Code of Conduct, and District Safety Plan for the coming academic year. The school board’s July 21 retreat, canceled due to a tornado warning, was rescheduled for Aug. 19.