Oneida High School students will attend school at the former Bishop Grimes High School in East Syracuse if lease negotiations work out, Oneida City School District officials confirmed on Aug. 7.
Oneida High School still doesn’t have power after sustaining serious electrical and mechanical damage during a flood in June that pushed between five and seven feet of water into its basement.
Moving to Bishop Grimes, which closed permanently in June, will mean significantly longer commutes for students. The two high schools are 23.2 miles apart using a toll-free route along New York State Route 5 and New York State Route 290, which takes 39 minutes at 2:30 p.m., according to Google Maps.
A faster 25-mile route would take 31 minutes, but uses I-90, the New York State Thruway, a toll road, according to Google Maps.
Officials have not yet worked out many of the logistical details surrounding the move to Bishop Grimes, meaning there are many details about exactly how the move will affect students that they don’t yet know.
But, they’ve assured residents that they are trying to keep school as close to normal as possible for everyone in the district. And they’ve been answering questions from the community and posting the answers online and on Facebook.
What is known about the move
Here’s what is known about the move:
Looking at the flooding issues
A severe storm on June 22 led to flooding that sent between five and seven feet of water into the Oneida High School basement, damaging some classrooms and hallways. It also caused major damage to the school’s electrical and mechanical systems, forcing the power to be turned off.
Superintendent Matthew Carpenter informed residents on July 21 that the damage cannot be repaired quickly and the school will remain closed for the entire 2025-2026 school year. The district was, at that time, still exploring options for where to hold high school.
It later announced that its two best option were to lease Bishop Grimes, which closed permanently at the end of the end of the school year in June, or to have high school students attend the district’s Otto Shortell Middle School during the first half of the day and middle school students attend later.
Bishop Grimes High School opened in 1966 for ninth through 12th grades. It later expanded to include grades seven through 12.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse announced earlier this year that Bishop Grimes would close at the end of the school year and merge with Bishop Ludden Junior/Senior High School in Syracuse under the name Bishop Ludden/Grimes. Both schools have faced sharply declining enrollment over the years.
For the latest information on plans for Oneida High School in the coming school year, look for updates on the district website or, for district families, through Parent Square.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Oneida High School may use former Bishop Grimes building after flooding closes school
Reporting by Amy Neff Roth, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
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