Walton Central School District

A $22,750,000 Proposition 1 would build a new bus garage on the high school campus and pay for a new elevator and boilers at the junior-senior high school and a roof recoating, rebuilt car park, new elevator and secure main-entrance vestibule at Townsend Elementary. A $1,332,000 Proposition 2, which only passes if Proposition 1 does, would add a paved drop-off loop at the front of Townsend. The present garage sits in the regulatory floodway, has flooded repeatedly and cannot legally be elevated or floodproofed, which caps what may be spent repairing it; board members described a leaking roof the district is not allowed to replace. The facilities committee spent two years assembling outside money so the local share would not fall on taxpayers.

1. Jan 1, 2022Building condition survey completed, feeding the five-year capital improvement plan
2. Sep 23, 2025Facilities committee tailors a $10,000 Catskill Watershed Corporation grant to finding funding for the garage
3. Jan 16, 2026Grant application filed with the Catskill Watershed Corporation for the roughly $900,000 design phase
4. Jul 7, 2026Board adopts the project and authorises the October referendum; $28,500 approved for geotechnical investigation
5. Sep 14, 2026First community forum, Trout Creek Fire Department
6. Sep 22, 2026Forum held inside the board meeting and livestreamed
7. Sep 25, 2026Forum at the Walton Fire Department
8. Oct 1, 2026Final forum at the bus garage
9. Oct 13, 2026Referendum, noon to 8 p.m. at the bus garage
10. Jan 31, 2027If approved, design submitted to the State Education Department for review
11. Jun 1, 2027Bus garage construction begins
12. Dec 31, 2028Whole project due to be complete

The seventh consecutive annual capital outlay project, funded at $100,000 in the 2026-27 budget, would replace Townsend Elementary's original bluestone front steps, which have deteriorated into a tripping hazard, with stamped concrete that keeps the building's historic look. Capital outlay projects are 84% state aid reimbursable in the year after the work, so the district's share is about $16,000. No contractor bid in the summer rush, so it was put out again in September with the work now aimed at spring break.

1. Apr 14, 2026Board authorises Arcadis to provide architectural and engineering services for the project
2. Aug 15, 2026No bids received; rebid planned for September
3. Sep 22, 2026Rebid issued, with an award hoped for October 20

Walton now runs its sports jointly with Downsville Central School District because, as board members put it, the pupils are no longer there to field teams alone: 192 students play across 12 sports. Football joined for 2026-27. After Walton's athletic director resigned in November 2025 the two districts moved to one shared director; the arrangement produced a cancelled county tournament the players could not get back, unanswered calls and a dispute about whether the published athletics handbook is being followed. The districts ran a survey, held a public forum in May 2026, published a per-sport chain of communication, adopted a merged coaching salary agreement in September 2026 and hired a shared athletic coordinator based at the high school.

1. Nov 4, 2025Board approves a shared athletic director with Downsville after Walton's director resigns
2. Jan 6, 2026Extracurricular intermunicipal agreement approved so students can join the other district's clubs
3. Feb 10, 2026Football merger approved for 2026-27; student mascot survey launched
4. Mar 5, 2026Students and parents tell the board a tournament trip was cancelled and the athletic director could not be reached
5. May 13, 2026Joint public forum on the merger
6. Sep 22, 2026Merged athletics coaching salary agreement adopted

New York requires Walton to run a Targeted Review district comprehensive improvement plan focused on economically disadvantaged pupils and on chronic absence. Chronic absenteeism in grades 3-8 has fallen from 36.6% in 2022 to 27.2% in 2025 and each school's 2026-27 action plan aims at another 5%. The methods are concrete: a 'warrior wagon' prize store and visible attendance magnets at Townsend, a digital 'class bank' at the middle school that credits pupils for arriving on time and doubles as financial-literacy teaching, weekly attendance meetings, principal hearings with parents, a Big Buddy mentoring scheme run with Delaware Opportunities, and restorative-practices training funded by a Stronger Connections grant.

1. Oct 7, 2025Board adopts the 2025-26 strategic plan and the Targeted Review improvement plan
2. Dec 9, 2025LINKS 27 school improvement and professional learning plan adopted
3. Aug 25, 20262026-27 strategic plan adopted after two days of stakeholder planning
4. Sep 22, 2026Each school presents its action plan; high school reports about 4% chronic absence

Walton is one of 16 districts in the DCMO BOCES region, which teaches about a tenth of the region's pupils every day and roughly half of its juniors and seniors in career and technical programmes. Voters across the region approved a $44.4 million project to rebuild roofs, car parks, heating and plumbing at the Harrold and Alan Pole campuses, add a secure main entrance to the career and technical wing, and buy the former Masonville School from Sidney Central School District for more special education and alternative programme space. Because the project is about 90.4% aidable rather than the 98% of the 2005 project, Walton taxpayers pick up about $169 a year per $100,000 of full value even though the district's own BOCES capital charge falls slightly.

1. Nov 4, 2025DCMO BOCES district superintendent presents the project to the Walton board
2. Feb 3, 2026Regional vote; both ballot questions pass
3. Mar 1, 2027Construction begins
4. Dec 31, 2028Construction ends

New York's Commissioner's Regulation 100.11 requires every district to run a shared decision-making committee of parents, teachers and administrators and to review its plan at least every two years. Walton publishes its plan, adopted in June 2017, a 2021 biennial review and meeting notes - but the most recent notes on the district's own page are from May 10, 2018. Nothing in the trailing year's board record mentions the team meeting. In practice the district's participation now runs through the strategic planning stakeholder days, the LINKS planning team and the board's own standing committees on facilities, finance, policy, curriculum, audit, safety and shared services.

1. Jun 1, 2017Shared decision-making plan adopted
2. May 10, 2018Most recent meeting notes published
3. Jan 1, 2021Biennial review published