MASONVILLE – Last week, school leaders from across Delaware, Chenango, Madison and Otsego counties gathered at the DCMO BOCES Robert W. Harrold Campus in Masonville to talk about change.

Former DCMO BOCES Superintendent Alan Pole, now an education consultant, was the keynote speaker at the event, which was part of a series of educational forums hosted by the cooperative education organization.

“Education has got to be different in New York State in the future,” Pole said, as he launched into his presentation, “The New Normal for Schools in New York State: Sharing, Regional High Schools and School District Reorganization.”

According to Pole, three factors are contributing to the crisis he calls the “perfect storm” facing education: greater expectations for students, declining enrollment and the current fiscal crisis.

Districts are “trying to do more with fewer kids” and less money, he explained, and these pressures are proving to be too much for the current education system.

“We can’t confront the perfect storm without change,” he said. “Things are going to have to fundamentally change in New York State.”

Bringing about change won’t be without its challenges, Pole warned.

“These conversations within our schools and in our communities are not going to be easy,” he said. “It’s going to take courageous leadership.”

Pole discussed three possibilities for change, from sharing services to the creation of regional high schools and, lastly, district reorganization.

He identified a number of areas where districts can share - including sharing administrators, management functions and facilities. He acknowledged, however, that this was nothing new for those in the audience.

“There is not a region in this state that has as many shared services as the 16 schools in this BOCES district,” he reported, describing their inter-dependence as “unique” and ahead of their peers across the state.

He next described a number of scenarios for restructuring high schools, sharing findings from a study he and his firm conducted in Wayne County.

The study identified a four opportunities for sharing for the county’s 11 high schools, he said. Those options included a student exchange program which would allow schools to continue offering elective courses; a New Vision program for seniors which links academic learning to a career field, such as the one currently offered by DCMO BOCES; greater use of electronic learning to expand elective offerings; and “thematic” high schools which would allow students to focus their studies to their area of interest.

“Without crumbling the high school walls, ... these are the four things we looked at,” he said.

They also explored the option of creating regional high schools. While this model creates more opportunities for students, he said, their findings showed only a minimal cost savings - a 3 percent reduction in expenses for 4 regional schools as opposed to the 11 existing facilities.

There were also other challenges - such as the fact that no state legislation currently exists which allows for regional high schools. Nor are financial incentives available.

There is, however, a model for this type of regional high school already exists - BOCES.

One of the things which was reinforced by the study was the emotion people in the community have about their school system.

“While people understand that education has to change, they like their high school just the way it is,” he said. “It’s a real, significant emotion people have.”