Editing Balmville, New York (section)

===Balmville Elementary School===
Balmville has been a part of the [[Newburgh Enlarged City School District]] since consolidation in 1963. The original Balmville School building stood on what later became the Desmond Estate.  When that building (which has long since been demolished) outgrew its space, it was replaced by a new building built on land donated by Warren Delano of the [[Delano family]] with funds donated by his daughter, Annie Delano-Hitch.  Mrs. Hitch was a lifelong Balmville resident whose sister was [[Sara Delano Roosevelt]], the mother of U.S. President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]. This old elementary school building with a cornerstone indicating construction in 1897 is still standing today.  It stands on what is now the northeast corner of [[U.S. Route 9W]] and Fostertown Road. (The current Route 9W was constructed in the late 1920s.) It is immediately north of the current elementary school, at the southeast corner of 9W and Fostertown Road, which was initially constructed in 1953-54, but was added onto many times since, most recently in 2007. In 2007, the Board of Education of the Newburgh Enlarged City School District voted to demolish the older school building and expend $375,000 to do so. The school board concluded that the building is "unstable" and poses a "health and safety hazard even to those just walking or parking outside." This conclusion was based upon an architectural survey commissioned by the Board of Education. Local civic and historic groups rose up and demanded that this historically and architecturally significant building be spared. Local developers Rick Milton and Keith Libolt stepped forward and offered buy the building, restore it, and lease it back to the school district. Milton charged that District Administrators and the architect's report "scared the board into thinking that the building is going to fall down.  It's not true." Milton further charged that the administrators were simply looking for a quick way to create more parking spaces for the "new" school and contended that additional parking could be found elsewhere on the school property. The Board of Education relented and rescinded its demolition order. Although most classes have been held in the "new" Balmville School since 1954, some classes had been held in the "old" building as late as the mid-1970s, and it had been used for offices and other administrative purposes up to the mid-1980s.  It had been used for storage since. Milton and Libolt propose using the "old" building for administrative and office space, freeing the space used in the "new" building for these purposes and also for expanding the school library.<ref>Articles by Michael Randall, The Middletown (New York) ''Times Herald Record'', Oct. 17, 2007 and Oct. 27, 2007</ref>  On Oct. 30, 2007, the Board of Education voted to table the demolition for the time being.<ref>Article by Michael Randall, The Middletown (New York) ''Times Herald Record'', Oct. 31, 2007</ref>