A future change in Forestville also is an opportunity.
Last week, it was announced that John O'Connor has been appointed to the position of assistant superintendent for management services at the Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugs Board of Cooperative Educational Services. With the appointment to BOCES means there will be a change in Forestville as O'Connor currently serves the district as superintendent.
But instead of hiring a new superintendent - which takes lots of time, money, effort and candidates - the Forestville Board of Education should reach out to neighboring school districts to see if it can share one. Those districts include Silver Creek, Pine Valley, Dunkirk, Fredonia or Cassadaga Valley.
If the district can share a superintendent, then maybe it can be better prepared for the day it becomes closer to insolvency - bankruptcy in business terms - and is no longer sustainable in a community that is not growing.
This is a tough and realistic message. But too many of our county's smaller districts have been hanging on by a thread for far too long. O'Connor, for the most part, has built up the district and made some appropriate changes.
Now, it is time to look to the future. That is being done in Brocton, Westfield, Ripley, Chautauqua Lake and other districts.
Forestville is in the same boat and needs to do the same. Sharing a superintendent - with a neighbor - is a step toward future considerations.
