Some advantages are positive interactions between older and younger students, parental involvement and commitment to specific schools which children attend for seven years, minimal transportation problems due to proximity of houses and schools, minimization of the number of school transitions made by each student and the opportunity for elementary school students in the same family to attend the same school. There obviously might be some advantages to reorganizing the grade configuration. These options might simplify the attainment of small classes, allow standardization of curriculum and allow teachers of the same grades to pool resources. I'm not sure whether it would provide more space for administrative offices. Similar reconfigurations have been done in other school districts.
Some reports say it seems to work well.
In others, a majority of parents remain dissatisfied with the results. I believe improvements should be attempted using the present grade configurations before radical change is entertained. This would allow us to keep the benefits of neighborhood schools while working toward the many necessary improvements identified by the Task Force. The elementary schools at present provide an adequate or even excellent experience for Oneonta's children. Surely improvements can be made.