Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District Superintendent Michael McElduff announced last Thursday that, for the 2025-26 school year, the district’s eighth graders will return to the Highland Falls Intermediate School.

Both the district’s seventh and eighth graders are based at O’Neill this year while the Fort Montgomery Elementary School is closed for construction. Pre-kindergarten through sixth grades are all housed at the HFIS. When the FMES reopens in September, pre-kindergarten through second grade will return to that building.

McElduff, other administrators and teachers have been meeting for several months to discuss whether to leave the current seventh graders at O’Neill High School when they are eighth graders. As early as May 2024 – when the move for middle schoolers to O’Neill High School was announced – district officials were asked to consider this by the parents of the some of the students, and by some of the students themselves.

“While there were potential academic benefits and continued acclimation to the high school setting, the logistical and instructional challenges made it difficult to sustain this structure for another year,” McElduff said in a letter to parents last week.

Staffing and scheduling, music and special programs, special education and modified sports/extracurriculars were the compelling reasons. Seventh and eighth graders share teachers, clubs, sports, classrooms, etc.

“This year’s successful transition to O’Neill was only possible because both grades remained together,” he said. “Splitting up seventh and eighth grades next year would create significant scheduling conflicts.”

McElduff met with the current seventh graders on Friday to tell them about the decision and to explain why the decision was made.

“The students were disappointed about the news, but the discussion was also about the positives of going back to HFIS,” the superintendent said. “They will be the role models for the school next year, and HFIS administration, faculty and staff will find ways to celebrate the students even more next year as well.”