The Pleasant Valley School Board is considering a realignment of the grades for the 2022-2023 school year, a move that might save the district money in transportation and other costs.

Superintendent James Konrad presented the idea of the realignment during the state of the school district on March 24. He said in an interview that he hopes to bring the realignment proposal before the school board for a vote at the next meeting on Thursday.

Konrad said the idea for a realignment isn’t new. He started looking at it a couple months ago. What he discovered was an overcrowded elementary school, and a middle school with empty classrooms. He said he asked the various school administrations if the idea of a realignment was ever considered and was told that it had been considered, but then COVID-19 happened.

If the realignment is approved, the elementary school would have kindergarten through second grade. The third grade would move to the intermediate school with the fourth and fifth grades, and the sixth grade would be bumped up to the middle school with the seventh and eighth grades. The high school would remain the same with grades nine through 12.

“True primary schools are actually kindergarten through second grade,” Konrad said, and moving the sixth grade to the middle school is a better alignment of that grade.

Also a realignment brings the numbers in the elementary school, intermediate school and middle school to about the same number in each.

Based on the enrollment report in March, here are the number of students per school for this year compared to if they were already realigned:

• PVES: now - 1,189 students; realigned - 892 students

• PVIS: now - 876 students; realigned - 872 students

• PVMS: now - 626 students; realigned - 927 students

• PVHS: now - 1,108 students; not part of the realignment.

Realigning the grades could also yield a cost savings in staff and in transportation by consolidating some of the bus runs, Konrad said. Some of the bus routes have about 30 students on the bus, but the bus could carry many more students. Consolidation would fill the buses and reduce costs.

Just how many routes could actually be consolidated is still to be determined.

The district signed a five-year contract with First Student Transportation in June 2021, and route reduction is restricted because the transportation created a budget based on income from a certain number of bus routes.

The contract with First Student is for 91 routes. Last June, William Gasper, the director of operations, said the contract allows for a 5% reduction over the five-year length of the contract.

At the district planning meeting on March 22 of this year, Mike Simonetta, the business manager for the school district, said he would look at the contract.

Konrad said, “We’re hoping to not increase taxes to a high percentage.”

Currently, the school district is looking at a possible 4.7% tax increase, which still won’t close the budget gap.

Konrad said they started with a $5.7 million deficit even with the tax increase, but was able to reduce it by $2.7 million when 21 teachers and professional staff decided to take the early retirement incentive. It still leaves the budget with a $3 million deficit, but he expects it to be reduced further if the school board accepts the early retirements of support staff pending for vote on Thursday.

There are 10 paraprofessionals, three custodians and one secretary who have stepped up to take the retirement incentive. That’s 14 in all. The incentive for the support staff was 25% of their salary if they worked for the district for a continuous five years or more.

“I’m really thankful to the teachers and staff that were willing to take the retirement incentive,” Konrad said. “I value the number of years they have been with us. These people have been such a staple in our district. I appreciate them and the countless lives they have impacted.”