MASSENA -- Interim Superintendent William Flynn said the committee tasked with looking into combining the junior and senior high schools may ask the Board of Education to approve hiring a consultant at July’s meeting.

He said “the current facilities cannot house both” the junior and senior high and the consultant would guide them plan a facility to get the most bang for their buck.

“There’s a variety of ways of looking at restructuring,” Flynn told the board. “We’re beginning to look at those but are not ready to make any recommendation.”

He said they may turn to the Rural Schools Association, of which Massena is a member, for guidance.

Finance committee chairman Loren Fountaine proposed the building merger during the April meeting as a potential means to trim money from future budgets. The project also includes so-called elementary “stacking.” That means rather than each building housing kindergarten through sixth-grade students, each grade would be under one roof.

He believes "there are a lot of savings to be realized," but wants an in-depth look to get at hard facts before any action is taken, he said at the time.

"I think it's a great idea," board trustee Kevin Peretta said April 3. "The real savings are in these types of decisions."

Fountaine noted that the school could drain its fund balance before the end of the decade. They are using $3.5 million of it this year, along with slashing $202,000 from last year's spending blueprint.

"We're in a good place because of our fund reserves. They won't last forever," he said April 3.