Horseheads CSD will determine new Elementary boundaries next week

HORSEHEADS, N.Y. (WENY) -- The Horseheads Central School District will make a decision next week on the updated Elementary School boundaries as the district consolidates from four schools down to three.

Center Street Elementary School is on the chopping block, due to low attendance, long bus trips and a declining student population. According to the district Superintendent Thomas Douglas, some bus rides can be as long as an hour and a half for students attending Center Street.

Horseheads is considering two different zoning plans for the three remaining elementary schools. Option A would push the Big Flats Elementary zone into the area around the Horseheads High School, and expand Gardner Road's zone westward. Option B would expand the Big Flats zone into the Pine Valley area, leaving Gardner Road mostly untouched.

  Horseheads Central School District

In both scenarios Ridge Road is set to absorb most of the area east of Interstate 86 currently occupied by Center Street. Big Flats Elementary is planned to absorb the area south of I-86.

  Horseheads Central School District

Under the first option, 313 students would move elementary schools, 24 of them being students who did not attend Center Street. The second option would move 329 students to new schools, 40 of them being students who never attended Center Street.

The district says they will announced their rezoning decision in October. Center Street is slated to close at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. However, the building will still be used. Ridge Road students and teachers will use the building for the 2025-2026 school year as the elementary school is slated to undergo repairs. The Center Street building will then be used as a district office at the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

The next Horseheads Central School District Board of Education Meeting will be held on Thursday, September 19th, at 5:15PM, where there will be a presentation on redistricting, as well as a capital project review. 

Below is Horseheads' Redistricting Presentation used at its August 15 Board of Education meeting: