Seneca Chamber supports school mergers

The Seneca County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors have passed a resolution in support of a “YES” vote at the September 17 Merger Consolidation Straw Polls. The Chamber supports the “YES” vote in order to allow more discussion on this very important issue and provide an opportunity for the affected communities to have a definitive “official” vote on the issue.The complete resolution is stated below. WHEREAS, the Boards of Education of Waterloo, Seneca Falls, Romulus and South Seneca have all voted to approve having their respective communities’ participate in an Advisory Referendum, or Straw Vote, to determine whether there should (or should not) be a merger of school districts in both the North and South ends of Seneca County; andWHEREAS, a lengthy Merger Study process including detailed reports were completed for each district with input from both district officials and community members; andWHEREAS, The Straw Vote is a non-binding vote that informs the New York State Education Department as to whether residents are in favor of the merging of both districts into a single district; andWHEREAS, If the majority of residents in each district are in favor of the merging of the districts, then the New York State Education Department will conduct a formal binding Statutory (official) Vote, approximately 45 days thereafter; andWHEREAS, If one or both districts are not in favor of the merger, the process ends and each district remains a standalone district; now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Seneca County Chamber of Commerce supports a “YES” vote on the Merger Consolidation Straw Vote for all districts in order to allow more discussion on this very important issue and provide an opportunity for the affected communities to have a definitive and “official” vote on the issue.