Enrollment drops in Ken Ton Schools

KENMORE, N.Y. (WIVB) - Tough choices lie ahead for the shrinking Ken Ton School District. In 40 years, the Ken Ton population has dropped by 34,000. At its height in the 1960s, enrollment in the district was over 22,000. This year’s enrollment is 7,280.

In the last two years, 88 teaching positions have been eliminated. Tuesday night, an informational public session was held to talk about a study that was conducted about the school district and what its purpose is.

Ken Ton School District Superintendent Mark Mondanaro said, “Everyone concludes that it's to close as many schools as possible. That's not the purpose. The purpose of the study is to look at resources and how we can best use them.”

Board members took turns talking about their concerns and questions in regards to consolidation for the consultant’s research.

One example of a question was, “would there be less opportunities to participate in sports, student government or other programs?” There was also questions like, “what kinds of physical changes would need to be made to a school if more students were added?” Which was also a concern of a parent.

Parent John Feyko said, “Is this school fit for a thousand kids? Are there a thousand kids? Are they going to put more lockers in? Are they going to have to build a bigger pool, bigger gym? How many kids are going to be in these classrooms?”