An Important Crossroads

The Springs School Board last week asked residents, students, teachers and staff to fill out a survey as it embarks on the process of hiring the district’s new superintendent, as Debra Winter prepares to formally retire.

The timing is providential, as the Springs School community once more finds itself at a crossroads and needs to chart a deliberate course forward if it will remain sustainable into the future.

Springs School has always been the heart of a tight-knit community of parents, students, educators, artists and year-round residents who take tremendous pride in the place where they live and in the school that is at its center.

That said, without a commercial district to support the school — and with the high cost of tuition for pupils to move on to attend East Hampton High School — financing the district has been a constant challenge, and one that will only become more taxing as the cost of living continues to rise.

If the district is to continue supporting its students, staff and faculty as it should, challenging choices will have to be made to ensure that teachers, teaching assistants and programming are not on the chopping block when budget season arrives each year.

Whether it is through shared services with other school districts — perhaps shared administrative positions? — or walking down a path that explores what consolidation with neighboring districts would look like, it is time for Springs to develop a realistic long-term financial plan with its stakeholders in mind.

There are more than a dozen school districts from Montauk to Riverhead, including several small, well-funded schools, among others without the benefit of a village business district to provide tax revenue. Perhaps now is the time to work collaboratively to ensure that districts like Springs, with a large population of year-round families, have the same educational opportunities into the future without facing an annual fiscal dilemma.