Berea Elementary School is located on NY 17K

New York State Route 17K

New York State Route 17K is an east–west state highway located within Orange County, New York, in the United States. It extends for from an intersection with County Route 76 east of Bloomingburg to a junction with U.S. Route 9W midway across the city of Newburgh...

 just east of its junction with NY 208

New York State Route 208

New York State Route 208 is a state highway located in southern New York in the United States. The southern terminus is at an intersection with NY 17M in the Orange County village of Monroe...

 in the Town of Montgomery

Montgomery (town), New York

Montgomery is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 20,891 at the 2000 census. It was named in honor of Richard Montgomery, an American Revolutionary War general killed in 1775 at the Battle of Quebec....

, New York, United States. It is a public elementary school

Elementary school

An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...

 educating students in kindergarten

Kindergarten

A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

 through fifth grade

Fifth grade

Fifth grade is a year of education in the United States and many other nations. The fifth grade is the fifth school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 10 – 11 years old, and are preteens...

 in the Valley Central School District

Valley Central School District

The Valley Central School District serves most of the Town of Montgomery in Orange County, New York, United States, and its three villages: Maybrook, Montgomery and Walden. Students also come from adjacent areas of the towns of Newburgh, Crawford, Wallkill, Hamptonburgh, and New Windsor...

, which covers most of the town and all of its three villages (Maybrook

Maybrook, New York

Maybrook is a village in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 3,084 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined...

, Montgomery

Montgomery (village), New York

Montgomery is a village located in Orange County, New York, United States, 60 miles northwest of New York City, and 90 miles southwest of Albany. The population was 3,636 at the 2000 census...

 and Walden

Walden, New York

Walden is the largest of three villages of the Town of Montgomery in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 6,978 at the 2010 census. It has the ZIP Code 12586 and the 778 telephone exchange within the 845 area code...

), as well as portions of the neighboring towns of Crawford

Crawford, New York

Crawford is a town in Orange County, New York, USA. The population was 7,875 at the 2000 census. The name comes a settler who gave his name to a community in the town now called Pine Bush....

, Hamptonburgh

Hamptonburgh, New York

Hamptonburgh is a town located in the northern part of Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 4,686 at the 2000 census. The name was provided by an early settler, William Bull....

, Newburgh

Newburgh (town), New York

Newburgh is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The 2010 census determined the population is 29,801. This is the first time ever that the population of the Town of Newburgh officially exceeded that of the adjacent but totally separate municipality known as the city of Newburgh...

 and Wallkill

Wallkill, Orange County, New York

Wallkill is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 24,659 at the 2000 census.The Town of Wallkill is centrally located in the county. Interstate 84 crosses New York State Route 17 in the southern part of the town. U.S...

.

It was built in the late 1960s as the district began to grow after its first decade of existence once the schools in the three villages had been combined into Valley Central in the 1950s. It was the first of two elementary schools the district built.

In 2007, after writing a note on a picture he drew of an astronaut expressing his desire to "blow up the school with all the teachers in it

School violence

School violence is widely held to have become a serious problem in recent decades in many countries, especially where weapons such as guns or knives are involved...

" filed a federal lawsuit alleging the punishment was excessive and unconstitutionally violated the boy's right to freedom of speech

Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...

. The case was dismissed in 2008.