On Monday, November 25th, my phone blew up with concerns that the Mount Vernon City School District was planning to close Cecil H. Parker, formerly known as Nathan Hale. Some who contacted me were concerned about the closing of the school named after the first Black Teacher, including Cynthia Crenshaw who is the PTA President at Parker.
All I could find online was that the Mount Vernon City School District plans to close two schools, including Cecil H. Parker Elementary School, before the 2025–2026 school year. The district is reorganizing its buildings and considering alternative configurations, such as a separate school for seventh and eighth graders. The district seeks input from stakeholders to make a decision that’s best for the community, students, and their families.
So I reached out to MVCSD Acting Superintendent Dr. K. Veronica Smith (Dr. Kim) and others to get clarification. Dr Kim, who attended Parker when it was Nathan Hale from Kindergarten to Third Grade called me back Tuesday to explain while she understood the emotional attachment for Parker that no decision had been made yet as to which schools would be closing but confirmed that Parker was one of the schools being considered and asked if she could send me a statement because this was part of a much bigger picture.
Others painted a picture of the district hemorrhaging money and discussed how unpaid taxes by the residents are hurting the district. Some even accused the city of Mount Vernon of owing the district $20 million in collected taxes despite the detailed breakdown done by the City Comptroller Darren Morton at his Financial State of the City on Thursday, November 14th. You can click here to watch the entire speech. What was apparent from all the calls and conversations I had was that something was getting lost in translation and many were either uninformed or misinformed as with many issues in the city of Mount Vernon.
On Monday, December 2nd, Black Westchester received the following statement:
Dear Mount Vernon Families and Community Members:
As you are aware, the Mount Vernon City School District is weighing options for a school building reorganization. Our most recent plans will be presented at our next town hall on Friday, December 6, 2024, at Graham School and on Zoom. While no decisions have been made, our Reorganization Committee must make a difficult choice. Our most recent discussions have considered the closures of Cecil H. Parker School, Mount Vernon Honor Academy and Mount Vernon Leadership Academy.
Discussions surrounding this reorganization have been taken very seriously and, unfortunately, have been heartbreaking when we think of our students and families at those schools. But we must act. The district’s current financial situation is the primary reason a significant change is imperative. With aging buildings, costly operations in the K-8 neighborhood school model, decreasing enrollment, and cash-flow concerns, the district needs to move forward with a plan that is sustainable to ensure we have both a near and distant future for the Mount Vernon schools and its students.
According to the New York State Comptroller, Mount Vernon is one of three districts in the state that is in significant fiscal distress. While we recognize that there have been minimal tax increases in recent years, we also must acknowledge that the Mount Vernon community voted down an increase of only 0.5% in 2022. This makes it challenging for our district to increase its revenue because we, like all public school districts, are bound by state law to place tax levy increases before our voters in our annual budget vote. We are not like municipalities, such as the City of Mount Vernon, that can raise their own taxes when necessary.
The K-8 model that was implemented through the 20/20 Vision Bond, which was passed in 2016, is not currently financially stable. At the time, the planning of that bond did not account for the high costs of operating 13 middle schools. This number of middle schools is unsustainable, especially when considering the declining enrollment in our district. At the time of the bond, the district had an enrollment of over 8,000 students. At one point earlier, the district had over 10,000 students enrolled. Projections estimate enrollment to fall to 6,000 students by 2027 and only 5,000 students by 2033.
Despite declining enrollment, the district’s staffing levels have actually increased during that time due to the staffing needs of the K-8 model. In this model, many teachers need to teach at multiple schools because they are certified to teach secondary students only, an inefficiency that contributes to our high staffing levels.
To make up for budgetary shortfalls, two weeks ago the district took out a $17 million tax anticipation loan (TAN). School districts need access to money to fund payroll and maintain operations, so this loan was necessary to help the district’s cash-flow shortage. However, short-term borrowing will not improve the district’s fiscal situation.
Contributing to the fiscal stress, the district is owed approximately $24 million from the City of Mount Vernon. This includes uncollected taxes, which the district has no means to enforce, such as property foreclosures, despite collecting its own taxes. The city has two years to pay any taxes owed to the district, and it is currently making monthly payments of about $450,000 for 2019-2020 taxes. The district is expecting back taxes from 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 to be paid by May 2025.
Another factor to the financial shortfall is the utilization of the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (or PILOT) program throughout the city. As an economic development tool, companies typically are allowed to make lesser payments than what would be their traditional property taxes. However, these agreements the city is making with developers result in limited school taxes coming from these properties while bringing students to our district.
For example, one commercial building that contains apartments entered into a PILOT agreement, and the building houses over 30 district students. Due to the PILOT, the revenue from this property is minimal, and the students in the building are not accounted for in the budget revenue. The district is in a position where we are required to educate these students, but we are not receiving taxes from their homes. Of the 30-plus students in this building, twelve of them are classified as special education and one has a 504 plan.
The district has an enrollment of 6,772 students. Of those, 755 are homeless. All students deserve equal access to education, but the absence of property tax revenue from 11% of the student population further makes providing for all students financially challenging. Many of the homeless children are placed in Mount Vernon by the county and New York City. This adds extra stress on the school district taxpayers.
There are also large numbers of English as a New Language (ENL) and special education students in the district. ENL students make up 8.96% (607 students) of the student population, and students classified as special education make up 18.06% (1,223 students) of the student population. These two programs require additional financial support above the cost of general education. The average cost of educating a special education student is approximately $100,000 per year.
Further, our transportation costs increased significantly in the past year. After going out to bid on transportation contracts, the district is projected to spend $19 million in transportation this school year, up from $8 million last year. For students who require door-to-door pickups, the district mostly uses shorter buses for ease of access, but these are more expensive per student.
The charter schools in the city and surrounding areas provide an additional financial burden to the district, as we must provide funding for each Mount Vernon student who attends one. A portion of Mount Vernon students also attend schools in other districts or are homeschooled. There are 596 students living in Mount Vernon who do not attend schools in the district. Three of those are ENL students, 318 are in special education and 35 are homeless.
To be clear, no decision has been made yet on a path forward to financial health for our district or closing schools. However, we are considering the closure of Cecil H. Parker School, Mount Vernon Honor Academy, and Mount Vernon Leadership Academy. Our reasoning is they have lower enrollment, need the most repairs of our buildings, and are marketable properties.
We know that the closing of these schools will be difficult for Mount Vernon, especially Cecil H. Parker School as she was the first African-American teacher in Mount Vernon. We are very proud of her legacy and are committed to it. Acting Superintendent Dr. K. Veronica Smith attended Cecil H. Parker School when it was called Nathan Hale Elementary School. Cecil H. Parker and the school have personal significance to her, and this is a personally difficult decision for her as well as other members of our Reorganization Committee. However, we know there are many factors that support this tough and necessary decision.
While dramatic changes can be extremely difficult, this is a time for people in Mount Vernon to unite. In this pivotal moment, we are asking the community to unite for the future of the school district and to help us move forward with a fiscally responsible and sustainable model for Mount Vernon students.
This change is vital to our district’s future. If we do not make a change, we will quickly fall into a catastrophic financial situation. These closures represent a long-term fix, ensuring the viability of our district for our students and avoiding further budgetary constraints.
We will present configuration options for our schools at our next Town Hall Meeting. Community members can reach out to us via contactus@mtvernoncsd.org with any questions or concerns about the reconfiguration. We will address concerns regularly via our building reorganization website page, our Board of Education meetings, and at the Town Hall Meeting at Graham School on December 6, 2024, at 6 p.m., which can also be viewed on Zoom. We encourage you to attend or watch to learn more about this important decision for the future of Mount Vernon and its students.
Lohud released an article Monday, titled “Mount Vernon Schools Spend Big On Law Firm To Oust Suspended Superintendent Bennett-Conroy.” The article paints another picture of what can be contributing to MVSCD financial woes.
“Waverline Bennett-Conroy who is continuing to collect her annual salary of $285,681 is currently engaging in private arbitration with the school district that argued it is a poor district with limited resources… However, within the ten-month period, the district has spent more than Bennett-Conroy’s annual salary on legal services in order to prosecute her termination. From last November to September 2024, the district was charged $292.000 by Aiello & Cannick, the law firm chosen to handle Bennet-Conroy’s arbitration. In addition to these legal fees and Bennet-Conroy’s salary the district is also paying Dr. K. Veronica Smith, the district’s acting superintendent.
So who was Cecil Higgins Parker and why the emotional attachment to the school? She was born on February 2, 1903, in Savanna, Georgia. Ms. Cecil H. Parker came to Mount Vernon in 1935 with a Bachelors Degree from Boston University and a Master’s Degree from New York University. There were only a few teachers with such an advanced degree. The city was not ready to integrate the teaching staff. She served as a substitute and night school instructor until 1942 when she was appointed as a full-time teacher at Nathan Hale Elementary School on South Sixth Avenue. Today the school is named in her honor.
She worked as an English teacher and taught adult education for the Mount Vernon Board of Education. Trustees appointed Ms. Parker as the first African American teacher, not only in the Mount Vernon City School District but in all of Westchester County. Nathan Hale School hired one of the greatest elementary social studies teachers in the history of the school district. Her portrait is proudly displayed in the entrance of the school that now bears her name. The first Wednesday in June has been recognized as Cecil H. Parker Day in the city of Mount Vernon by Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard. For these reasons, many feel the school should be considered a historical building. Parker PTA is calling on residents to help save “Our School” and come out and voice their opinion on why Cecil H. Parker should remain open due to the history of Parker at the MVCSD board meeting, on Tuesday, December 3rd at 6:30 PM at 165 North Columbus Avenue. But if you would like to speak you must call (914) 665-5000.
There is also a Town Hall Meeting about the revised school building reconfiguration proposal, on Friday, December 6th at 6 PM at Graham School, located at 421 East Fifth Street, see the flyer below for more info.
This is Town Hall Meeting #2. The first meeting took place on Thursday, November 7th, click here to view it in its entirety.
What do you think? Black Westchester would like to hear from all of you. Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below. And we strongly recommend attending the upcoming School Board Meeting and the MVSCD Town Hall on the proposed school reconfiguration to find out what’s going on for yourself. But we urge you not only come to be heard, but come to hear and that’s REAL TALK!
