Greetings Canajoharie Cougar Community,
During this past spring, both the Canajoharie and Fort Plan Boards of Education voted to engage in a Feasibility Study to explore a potential merger. Thank you to Assemblyman Smullen for providing aid to cover part of the cost of the study. In addition, we have applied for a grant to cover the rest of the cost.
The study will begin in June of 2024 and culminate in January of 2025, ending with a community presentation of the findings. During this time, there will be onsite visits and stakeholder meetings to help gather information for the study. In addition, community engagement opportunities will be offered through Thought Exchanges, a web based communication system where stakeholders can freely share comments. A secondary website will be created soon to allow total access to all of the study materials. The link will be on the top of our district site called “Merger Study”. See the proposed timeline here.
If you wish to be considered to serve on the Feasibility Advisory Committee, please access the Google form through the link below. Applicants must commit to attend all of the meetings which will be held on August 21, September 12, October 17, November 14 and December 12 from 3:30 - 5:30 p.m. at either Canajoharie CSD or Fort Plain CSD. Please read through the information on the form carefully.
Once the findings are published, the communities will have a chance to vote on a decision to move forward on the merger. The first vote will most likely occur near the end of January. If voter support for a merger is determined in the first vote, then there will be a second, final referendum vote tentatively held in March of 2025.
During February and March, there will be additional stakeholder meetings held to foster more discussions about advantages and concerns with consolidation (merging). If the final vote is approved, the merger would take place in July of 2026. As stated before, these are just steps in the process and depending on what information is gathered in the study, will dictate the steps we take moving forward.
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions and share this out to anyone in the community. Community engagement will be highly valued throughout the process. Thank you for your ongoing support!
Sincerely,
Dr. Nick Fitzgerald
Superintendent of Schools