Olean closing all 4 elementary schools

OLEAN, N.Y. (WIVB) - A fiscal nightmare is forcing the Olean School District to make some very tough decisions.

The School Board voted Thursday night to close all four elementary schools in the city by 2015. Boardmanville and Ivers J. Norton will be the first to shut their doors at the end of this school year. All students will eventually move to a single campus and share an expanded building with Olean Middle School.

Superintendent Colleen Taggerty said, "We've reached a pinnacle in our educational economic times and we can just not afford to have all the current programming we have and maintain four elementary buildings at this time."

The district is facing a $3.4 million budget gap this year. That deficit was expected to more than double by 2015.