Richard Cohen believes that the Planning Board, and not the School Board, should be deciding what's best for the New Paltz Middle School property. He seems to suffer from a common, and understandable, misconception: that Planning Boards actually have anything to do with planning.
I've served on both the town and village Planning Boards and I can say with confidence that nothing could be further from the truth. What a Planning Board does is decide if the developer's project will go through or not. They don't decide on the zoning, they don't get to choose among several alternatives and they don't tell developers, "What the community wants is..." The very name "Planning Board" is a misnomer; laws governing Planning Boards make them reactive bodies, not at all involved in any real planning.
Mr. Cohen is also under the impression that the Board of Education made the decision to keep the middle school at its present location in a vacuum, completely understandable for anyone just waking up to an issue that has been actively discussed for years, not the few months some naysayers seem to believe. I was at the meetings and debates about whether it was better to keep it where it is or move it, and it was the community that gave the Board of Education its marching orders. Or, I should say, it was those of us who decided to show up. I imagine that the debate would be differently framed if those in opposition had helped the board make its initial decision, rather than pitching a fit now, after they did a tremendous amount of work to figure out what's best for the students and taxpayers.
For the record, as a taxpayer I'm not looking forward to what this project has in store for me. We can probably find ways to make it less expensive, but two things are clear: we have dragged our feet on this issue for too long and cannot delay, and it will cost us much less money to renovate it on the same site. That's what came out of the forums over two years ago, along with a desire to see our kids educated in a school they can walk to, and a desire to avoid the problems of what to do with the athletic field if the school isn't there anymore. (For those just joining the debate now, the New Paltz Lumber Company deeded the athletic field to the district under the condition that it be used for that purpose only, and the land will return to whoever its successors in interest are should that change. This means additional busing to cart kids into town to use the field.)
The real problem here is that property taxes are regressive and medieval. Once we stop trying to tie wealth to land and tax people intelligently, maybe we can have a rational debate about how to educate our children without having to punish those on fixed incomes for the sin of being successful at some point in their lives. I'm not holding my breath about that happening in my lifetime, but I am getting ready to bite the bullet for the sake of our kids -- even though I don't have any in school right now.
Terence Ward
New Paltz
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Mathew Swerdloff's Letter to the Editor 12/30/09: Make Your Decision Based on Fact
Earlier this month I attended a New Paltz Board of Education meeting and heard many residents speak eloquently for and against the proposed middle school renovation project. I also heard some using scare tactics and personal intimidation to get their point across. Personally, I will listen to any opinion if it is presented in a respectful and polite way. I'm not so accommodating to the person hurling personal insults or using inflammatory and misleading rhetoric. In this instance I have the advantage of not serving on the Board of Education, so I can just walk away from someone using that communication method. At the last board meeting I witnessed our unpaid, volunteer board members listened and responded to many individuals speaking in such a hostile and intimidating manner. Much to my amazement I heard several outright lies and a lot more simple errors in the facts. All of us should keep in mind that School Board members are elected by us, they are trained by the New York State School Boards Association and other bodies and they work in partnership with licensed and experienced school administrators.
I ask those who are interested in this issue to consider the facts, not the threats, rhetoric or doomsday scenarios presented by the vocal opposition. The New Paltz Middle School is an outdated and inadequate structure that requires significant repair or renovations to continue to function at the current level. However, the current level is sub standard. For example, the building is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The central kitchen for the entire district, housed in the middle school, is grossly under equipped for serving a district of this size. Mechanical systems (heating, plumbing, ventilation) are in poor order and highly inefficient. The real question is not "do we renovate?" The real question is "do we renovate now, proactively, in an efficient and well-planned manner, or do we pump more money into quick fixes which will eventually be replaced anyway?" The real question is not "can we afford this now?" The real question is "can we afford to not do this now?" The real question is not "can the Board of Education handle this project?" The real question is "what can we as a community do to support our elected representatives in serving the needs of our students today, tomorrow and long into the future?"
Thomas Jefferson once said that "whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." The New Paltz Board of Education and superintendent have lived up to this ideal by providing this community with a plethora of information for over a year on the middle school and the proposed renovation. We have literally had community forums, a blog, print newsletters, website pages, guided building tours, morning coffees, PTA presentations and open board meetings. I have never seen such an abundance of information on a topic and such a measured outreach asking for community input. I encourage those of you that are interest in this issue to come to board meetings, get the facts from the source (the district, board trustees, the superintendent), not rumors, partisan newspaper ads, or innuendo. Ultimately, we all get to decide on this issue on Feb. 9 at a special election to approve funding for the project. The Board of Education and administration has put this initiative forward because they feel it is essential to the success of our district and our students. You decide, but please decide based on the facts, not your fears.
Mathew Swerdloff
Gardiner
I ask those who are interested in this issue to consider the facts, not the threats, rhetoric or doomsday scenarios presented by the vocal opposition. The New Paltz Middle School is an outdated and inadequate structure that requires significant repair or renovations to continue to function at the current level. However, the current level is sub standard. For example, the building is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The central kitchen for the entire district, housed in the middle school, is grossly under equipped for serving a district of this size. Mechanical systems (heating, plumbing, ventilation) are in poor order and highly inefficient. The real question is not "do we renovate?" The real question is "do we renovate now, proactively, in an efficient and well-planned manner, or do we pump more money into quick fixes which will eventually be replaced anyway?" The real question is not "can we afford this now?" The real question is "can we afford to not do this now?" The real question is not "can the Board of Education handle this project?" The real question is "what can we as a community do to support our elected representatives in serving the needs of our students today, tomorrow and long into the future?"
Thomas Jefferson once said that "whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." The New Paltz Board of Education and superintendent have lived up to this ideal by providing this community with a plethora of information for over a year on the middle school and the proposed renovation. We have literally had community forums, a blog, print newsletters, website pages, guided building tours, morning coffees, PTA presentations and open board meetings. I have never seen such an abundance of information on a topic and such a measured outreach asking for community input. I encourage those of you that are interest in this issue to come to board meetings, get the facts from the source (the district, board trustees, the superintendent), not rumors, partisan newspaper ads, or innuendo. Ultimately, we all get to decide on this issue on Feb. 9 at a special election to approve funding for the project. The Board of Education and administration has put this initiative forward because they feel it is essential to the success of our district and our students. You decide, but please decide based on the facts, not your fears.
Mathew Swerdloff
Gardiner
Rachel Lagodka's Letter to the Editor 12/30/09: A Wise Investment
I am writing this letter to counteract claims that the proposed New Paltz Middle School renovation is extravagant. The School Board is actually playing it safe and being realistic, not extravagant. New York just happens to be the most expensive state to build a school. We have more expensive labor and materials and have higher standards to meet for our students. It is unfair of the opponents of the school to compare the price of building a school in a different state to the price of a school in New Paltz. The middle school is going to cost the same price as it costs to build at SUNY right down the block; that would be a fair comparison.
The School Board understands that they are making an investment in the future for the whole community and that is why they are playing it safe. They chose firms with 100% track records for coming in on time and within budget. There are two firms so far, architects and construction managers, and both have perfect records. They got an estimate for a building that is not extravagant, but is high performance. We will be buying a building that is ADA compliant with healthy air quality and green energy that will pay us back in half the lifespan of the loan. This is not extravagance. This is a wise investment.
We live in an expensive state where taxes are high already and there has been an economic downturn. That is why now is the time to build, to provide jobs for people and to get a lower price as there is more competition. If the bids come in lower for the building, the taxpayers will get that money back. The School Board has offered to pro-rate and spread out the payments so people will not be hit so hard by the expense. It comes out to less than $13.55 per month for the majority of residents -- people who own homes assessed at $300,000. There should be assistance available to people who need it, but that is not the majority of this school district by a long shot. New Paltz has one of the lowest foreclosure rates in the country. There are even people in New Paltz who can afford to spend $800 on a full-page ad in the paper encouraging people to vote "no" on the bond we need to fund the school. This is not the way to contribute to building a future for the children of the community, my friends.
Please take a look at this project again and see the value of it.
With this new middle school, New Paltz has the chance to be a leader that lowers statewide demand for oil and raises attendance rates at the same time. Studies have shown that the well-circulated air and calibrated lighting of a high-performance building lowered flu outbreaks and caused there to be fewer problems for students who suffer from asthma. Going green is also good statewide because it creates the right kind of infrastructure and manufacturing jobs and more jobs are created by renewables than by the fossil fuel and landfill industries.
A green high-performance building is nothing less than a step in the direction of a more just and economical future because it is a step away from global warming, the global trade imbalance and endless wars over oil. A conventional repair or a conventional building is a retreat to the dark ages. We can't let fear paralyze us and stop us from moving forward; we need to make an investment in the future now. This is our chance to let our children know that we can change with the times when we learn a better way and we know that solar and geothermal is a better way. The science is in and our children are learning along with us about global warming. What will be our legacy to the young people of New Paltz? A school we can be proud of or a pathetic history of divisiveness and inertia?
This is an opportunity for an investment in the future that represents two years of sound research by dedicated community servants into a project to make a better life for the youth of the community, for the state and for the world.
Please don't blow it New Paltz. Vote "yes" for the bond.
Download the PDF file at http://www.cap-e.com/ewebeditpro/items/O59F9819.pdf to learn more about the benefits of a green school.
Rachel Lagodka
New Paltz
The School Board understands that they are making an investment in the future for the whole community and that is why they are playing it safe. They chose firms with 100% track records for coming in on time and within budget. There are two firms so far, architects and construction managers, and both have perfect records. They got an estimate for a building that is not extravagant, but is high performance. We will be buying a building that is ADA compliant with healthy air quality and green energy that will pay us back in half the lifespan of the loan. This is not extravagance. This is a wise investment.
We live in an expensive state where taxes are high already and there has been an economic downturn. That is why now is the time to build, to provide jobs for people and to get a lower price as there is more competition. If the bids come in lower for the building, the taxpayers will get that money back. The School Board has offered to pro-rate and spread out the payments so people will not be hit so hard by the expense. It comes out to less than $13.55 per month for the majority of residents -- people who own homes assessed at $300,000. There should be assistance available to people who need it, but that is not the majority of this school district by a long shot. New Paltz has one of the lowest foreclosure rates in the country. There are even people in New Paltz who can afford to spend $800 on a full-page ad in the paper encouraging people to vote "no" on the bond we need to fund the school. This is not the way to contribute to building a future for the children of the community, my friends.
Please take a look at this project again and see the value of it.
With this new middle school, New Paltz has the chance to be a leader that lowers statewide demand for oil and raises attendance rates at the same time. Studies have shown that the well-circulated air and calibrated lighting of a high-performance building lowered flu outbreaks and caused there to be fewer problems for students who suffer from asthma. Going green is also good statewide because it creates the right kind of infrastructure and manufacturing jobs and more jobs are created by renewables than by the fossil fuel and landfill industries.
A green high-performance building is nothing less than a step in the direction of a more just and economical future because it is a step away from global warming, the global trade imbalance and endless wars over oil. A conventional repair or a conventional building is a retreat to the dark ages. We can't let fear paralyze us and stop us from moving forward; we need to make an investment in the future now. This is our chance to let our children know that we can change with the times when we learn a better way and we know that solar and geothermal is a better way. The science is in and our children are learning along with us about global warming. What will be our legacy to the young people of New Paltz? A school we can be proud of or a pathetic history of divisiveness and inertia?
This is an opportunity for an investment in the future that represents two years of sound research by dedicated community servants into a project to make a better life for the youth of the community, for the state and for the world.
Please don't blow it New Paltz. Vote "yes" for the bond.
Download the PDF file at http://www.cap-e.com/ewebeditpro/items/O59F9819.pdf to learn more about the benefits of a green school.
Rachel Lagodka
New Paltz
Steve Greenfield's Letter to the Editor 12/30/09: Why We Should Renovate Now
This statement is from me as an individual and does not speak for an elected body or any other individuals who belong to it.
This week I have come under attack as sloppy, superficial and under the influence of subjective political ideology in the execution of my due diligence. These attacks are mounted by people who have had no exposure to the degree and depth of my due diligence processes, no awareness of the length and amount of time invested or the experience and expertise of successful, non-ideological professionals in the topics under investigation in my public service or private advocacy. While opinions on matters of ideology range widely and compete in the marketplace of democracy, facts are facts, and math is math. Two plus two equaling five can be somebody's ideology, but someone who finds that it equals four cannot be accused of personal ideology or exposure to only biased influences. To wit: Building new gets much less state aid than renovating and requires buying property. Therefore, renovation is cheaper.
Selling the New Paltz Middle School and its property to finance building new does not change the outcome. The property has no commercial value because it is zoned residential. Selling it to the town and village for a combined municipal center does nothing either, and likely makes it even more costly, since that purchase would be made with tax dollars from the same taxpayers and would not be useful as a municipal center without substantial renovations, again charged to the same taxpayers. If we did not sell to the town and village for the maximum possible price, we'd be undercutting the interests of school taxpayers, many of whom do not reside in New Paltz.
Not renovating at all is more expensive than renovating and will jeopardize our educational standards. The middle school is in terrible condition. It has been absorbing high maintenance costs for two decades now. Renovations come from the capital budget and 60% of those costs are reimbursed to us by Albany. Maintenance costs come out of the operating budget and are not aidable one cent, and since they are in the operating budget, are subject to the state cuts that have been announced. As that's the same budget from which teachers are paid and class sizes maintained, declining to renovate and leaving all the known repair costs in the operating budget results in zero state aid and substantial risk that necessary repairs on matters that affect health and safety will force substantial teacher layoffs and increased class size, serious tax increases or all of the above. The uncertainty of state aid to operating budgets means the best way to save money is to put as much maintenance as possible into a capital budget. When you add in today's historic low interest rates and low contractor bids, we can save much more.
Crossroads, if constructed, will add a substantial amount of students to the district, far in excess of tax revenues generated. That means much higher taxes, and by the average New Paltz demographics for occupancies of the configuration proposed for Crossroads, probably not less than 3% just from that project, likely more. And that's only if the extra population doesn't put us over the tipping point of maximum occupancy for our buildings, which would force new construction throughout the district that would easily surpass $100 million. I don't make this up -- it comes from figures in the developers' impact statements, which I read carefully. Stoneleigh Woods listed its annual negative impact on school taxes as $500,000 per year, every year. That's nearly 2% on your taxes, just from the one project. Should these projects be built, the tax implications are devastating and it isn't because the School Board wildly wastes your money. That's fact. I own a house and pay taxes here, too. So do almost all my friends. That's why I spend so much time researching the tax implications of everything that reaches my desk.
There will always be people who disagree with me, but one thing I know with certainty is it's not because I don't do sufficient due diligence or because my math comes out wrong. Two plus two always equals four. I have put at least 1000 hours over two years doing due diligence on these matters, all of it on a strictly volunteer basis. I have listened to people who disagree with me very carefully throughout that process, calculator in hand. All of the above information is factual and I stand behind it 100%. It is why I think we should renovate now.
Steve Greenfield
New Paltz
This week I have come under attack as sloppy, superficial and under the influence of subjective political ideology in the execution of my due diligence. These attacks are mounted by people who have had no exposure to the degree and depth of my due diligence processes, no awareness of the length and amount of time invested or the experience and expertise of successful, non-ideological professionals in the topics under investigation in my public service or private advocacy. While opinions on matters of ideology range widely and compete in the marketplace of democracy, facts are facts, and math is math. Two plus two equaling five can be somebody's ideology, but someone who finds that it equals four cannot be accused of personal ideology or exposure to only biased influences. To wit: Building new gets much less state aid than renovating and requires buying property. Therefore, renovation is cheaper.
Selling the New Paltz Middle School and its property to finance building new does not change the outcome. The property has no commercial value because it is zoned residential. Selling it to the town and village for a combined municipal center does nothing either, and likely makes it even more costly, since that purchase would be made with tax dollars from the same taxpayers and would not be useful as a municipal center without substantial renovations, again charged to the same taxpayers. If we did not sell to the town and village for the maximum possible price, we'd be undercutting the interests of school taxpayers, many of whom do not reside in New Paltz.
Not renovating at all is more expensive than renovating and will jeopardize our educational standards. The middle school is in terrible condition. It has been absorbing high maintenance costs for two decades now. Renovations come from the capital budget and 60% of those costs are reimbursed to us by Albany. Maintenance costs come out of the operating budget and are not aidable one cent, and since they are in the operating budget, are subject to the state cuts that have been announced. As that's the same budget from which teachers are paid and class sizes maintained, declining to renovate and leaving all the known repair costs in the operating budget results in zero state aid and substantial risk that necessary repairs on matters that affect health and safety will force substantial teacher layoffs and increased class size, serious tax increases or all of the above. The uncertainty of state aid to operating budgets means the best way to save money is to put as much maintenance as possible into a capital budget. When you add in today's historic low interest rates and low contractor bids, we can save much more.
Crossroads, if constructed, will add a substantial amount of students to the district, far in excess of tax revenues generated. That means much higher taxes, and by the average New Paltz demographics for occupancies of the configuration proposed for Crossroads, probably not less than 3% just from that project, likely more. And that's only if the extra population doesn't put us over the tipping point of maximum occupancy for our buildings, which would force new construction throughout the district that would easily surpass $100 million. I don't make this up -- it comes from figures in the developers' impact statements, which I read carefully. Stoneleigh Woods listed its annual negative impact on school taxes as $500,000 per year, every year. That's nearly 2% on your taxes, just from the one project. Should these projects be built, the tax implications are devastating and it isn't because the School Board wildly wastes your money. That's fact. I own a house and pay taxes here, too. So do almost all my friends. That's why I spend so much time researching the tax implications of everything that reaches my desk.
There will always be people who disagree with me, but one thing I know with certainty is it's not because I don't do sufficient due diligence or because my math comes out wrong. Two plus two always equals four. I have put at least 1000 hours over two years doing due diligence on these matters, all of it on a strictly volunteer basis. I have listened to people who disagree with me very carefully throughout that process, calculator in hand. All of the above information is factual and I stand behind it 100%. It is why I think we should renovate now.
Steve Greenfield
New Paltz
Monday, December 28, 2009
$49.8M School Project Awaits New Paltz Vote: Kingston Freeman 12/27/09
By KYLE WIND
NEW PALTZ — New Paltz school district voters on Feb. 9 will decide the fate of a proposed $49.8 million project to renovate New Paltz Middle School.
The proposal calls for renovating and reformatting the building to meet the needs of a 21st century education, district officials say.
The Board of Education voted 6-1 earlier this month to hold a public referendum on the plan. The vote came after four hours of deliberation, said school board Vice President Donald Kerr, who chairs the district’s facilities committee.
Kerr said board members were concerned about proposing the project when “the economy is in the toilet,” but he believed it was the most fiscally prudent decision to not continue to “kick the can down the road.”
A BUILDING condition survey in 2005 revealed “critical physical deterioration” of the middle school, according to a district presentation on the plan. What district officials called “Band-Aid solutions” costing $254,223 and $160,000 were applied that year and in 2007, respectively.
Kerr said the survey showed the middle school, which is at the corner of South Manheim Boulevard and Main Street, needs $10 million in emergency repairs and that even after they are completed, it probably will need another $10 million in renovations in several years. The presentation of the plan, available on the school district’s Web site, www.newpaltz.k12.ny.us, also says that amount in repairs probably would be needed “every 10 years or so for the next 20-plus years.”
Therefore, Kerr said, because $20 million of the $49.8 million project would be funded with state aid, it will prove wiser in the long run for district residents to finance a “fully renovated, green school” rather than pay just as much in the long term to maintain a shoddy one.
AN OUTLINE of the plan said the 1960s section of the building would be replaced with a new, three-story addition “to provide improved space for student instruction.” The new design would increase instruction space to meet state standards and support a “house” system, which divides schools into smaller communities.
The project would include 58,000 square feet for students and administration; five team multi-use areas; a small gym and a gym storage area; and three classrooms that would be leased to Ulster BOCES, the outline reads.
The plan also calls for relocating the school district’s offices to the site by renovating the 1930s section of the middle school building. Officials noted the district currently pays $87,750 to rent administrative office.
Other benefits of the plan, district officials wrote in the outline, would include updating “existing antiquated infrastructure conditions” to improve the building’s electrical capacity, energy efficiency, plumbing, structural integrity and handicapped accessibility; as well as improving safety by designing a drop-off area to redirect traffic from pedestrians and reconfiguring access to the building to a single entry point.
TO MINIMIZE the project’s impact during tough economic times, Kerr said the district’s business administrator crafted a plan to delay the tax impact until September 2012 by using district reserves in the near term. Then, for the first four years of the 20-year payback period for project’s borrowed money, the district’s property tax levy would increase 1.1 to 1.2 percent. After that, he said, there would be no tax impact because other debt obligations will have ended.
If approved, the building plan would be further developed and submitted to the state Education Department in December 2010; bids would be sought and contracts would be awarded in early 2011; the groundbreaking would occur in June or July of 2011; and the project would be completed by September 2012.
KERR SAID the building will be out of commission during construction, but he noted that school district Superintendent Maria Rice and Ulster BOCES Superintendent Martin Ruglis have developed a plan to ensure students’ education is not compromised.
Sixth-graders would be moved to the district’s Lenape Elementary School and maintain their middle school schedules there, Kerr said; and seventh- and eight-graders would be taught in the Kingston school district’s vacant Tillson Elementary School building, about 6 miles away from New Paltz Middle School.
Kingston school district officials had considered converting the Tillson building into an alternative high school but decided against the plan after investigating the cost of the needed structural work. Superintendent Gerard Gretzinger told the Kingston Board of Education early this year that the work would cost about $1.2 million.
Kerr said the plan for the New Paltz Middle School renovation includes $500,000 for relocation costs but that district officials expect to use $250,000 of that to renovate the building for their own uses in lieu of paying rent to the Kingston school district.
NEW PALTZ — New Paltz school district voters on Feb. 9 will decide the fate of a proposed $49.8 million project to renovate New Paltz Middle School.
The proposal calls for renovating and reformatting the building to meet the needs of a 21st century education, district officials say.
The Board of Education voted 6-1 earlier this month to hold a public referendum on the plan. The vote came after four hours of deliberation, said school board Vice President Donald Kerr, who chairs the district’s facilities committee.
Kerr said board members were concerned about proposing the project when “the economy is in the toilet,” but he believed it was the most fiscally prudent decision to not continue to “kick the can down the road.”
A BUILDING condition survey in 2005 revealed “critical physical deterioration” of the middle school, according to a district presentation on the plan. What district officials called “Band-Aid solutions” costing $254,223 and $160,000 were applied that year and in 2007, respectively.
Kerr said the survey showed the middle school, which is at the corner of South Manheim Boulevard and Main Street, needs $10 million in emergency repairs and that even after they are completed, it probably will need another $10 million in renovations in several years. The presentation of the plan, available on the school district’s Web site, www.newpaltz.k12.ny.us, also says that amount in repairs probably would be needed “every 10 years or so for the next 20-plus years.”
Therefore, Kerr said, because $20 million of the $49.8 million project would be funded with state aid, it will prove wiser in the long run for district residents to finance a “fully renovated, green school” rather than pay just as much in the long term to maintain a shoddy one.
AN OUTLINE of the plan said the 1960s section of the building would be replaced with a new, three-story addition “to provide improved space for student instruction.” The new design would increase instruction space to meet state standards and support a “house” system, which divides schools into smaller communities.
The project would include 58,000 square feet for students and administration; five team multi-use areas; a small gym and a gym storage area; and three classrooms that would be leased to Ulster BOCES, the outline reads.
The plan also calls for relocating the school district’s offices to the site by renovating the 1930s section of the middle school building. Officials noted the district currently pays $87,750 to rent administrative office.
Other benefits of the plan, district officials wrote in the outline, would include updating “existing antiquated infrastructure conditions” to improve the building’s electrical capacity, energy efficiency, plumbing, structural integrity and handicapped accessibility; as well as improving safety by designing a drop-off area to redirect traffic from pedestrians and reconfiguring access to the building to a single entry point.
TO MINIMIZE the project’s impact during tough economic times, Kerr said the district’s business administrator crafted a plan to delay the tax impact until September 2012 by using district reserves in the near term. Then, for the first four years of the 20-year payback period for project’s borrowed money, the district’s property tax levy would increase 1.1 to 1.2 percent. After that, he said, there would be no tax impact because other debt obligations will have ended.
If approved, the building plan would be further developed and submitted to the state Education Department in December 2010; bids would be sought and contracts would be awarded in early 2011; the groundbreaking would occur in June or July of 2011; and the project would be completed by September 2012.
KERR SAID the building will be out of commission during construction, but he noted that school district Superintendent Maria Rice and Ulster BOCES Superintendent Martin Ruglis have developed a plan to ensure students’ education is not compromised.
Sixth-graders would be moved to the district’s Lenape Elementary School and maintain their middle school schedules there, Kerr said; and seventh- and eight-graders would be taught in the Kingston school district’s vacant Tillson Elementary School building, about 6 miles away from New Paltz Middle School.
Kingston school district officials had considered converting the Tillson building into an alternative high school but decided against the plan after investigating the cost of the needed structural work. Superintendent Gerard Gretzinger told the Kingston Board of Education early this year that the work would cost about $1.2 million.
Kerr said the plan for the New Paltz Middle School renovation includes $500,000 for relocation costs but that district officials expect to use $250,000 of that to renovate the building for their own uses in lieu of paying rent to the Kingston school district.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Where would the kids go? New Paltz Times 12/23/09
by Mike Townshend
One key concern among parents has been where students would end up if the 14 months of construction does actually occur in 2011-2012.
Superintendent Maria Rice released her plan for the potential move. It would involve moving the sixth-graders to Lenape Elementary School -- but they would keep their 7:55 a.m. middle school start time.
Regular Lenape students would come in 1 1/2 hours later at 9:25 a.m. Staggering the kids' schedules like that would allow sixth-graders to use the gym, music rooms, the cafeteria and other special classrooms without conflicting with younger pupils.
Seventh- and eighth-graders would attend classes at Tillson Elementary School in the nearby Town of Rosendale.
"We would be the only students in that facility," Rice explained. Tillson's building is part of the Kingston City School District, but is currently unoccupied.
New Paltz would use $250,000 of the renovation project's $500,000 student relocation budget to refurbish the space and move furniture into the building. But that's less than half the cost of a two-classroom modular building, and it gives students the benefit of a full-blown school building, Rice said.
New Paltz United Teachers and other school union contracts would not be in breach if the district uses this relocation plan.
One key concern among parents has been where students would end up if the 14 months of construction does actually occur in 2011-2012.
Superintendent Maria Rice released her plan for the potential move. It would involve moving the sixth-graders to Lenape Elementary School -- but they would keep their 7:55 a.m. middle school start time.
Regular Lenape students would come in 1 1/2 hours later at 9:25 a.m. Staggering the kids' schedules like that would allow sixth-graders to use the gym, music rooms, the cafeteria and other special classrooms without conflicting with younger pupils.
Seventh- and eighth-graders would attend classes at Tillson Elementary School in the nearby Town of Rosendale.
"We would be the only students in that facility," Rice explained. Tillson's building is part of the Kingston City School District, but is currently unoccupied.
New Paltz would use $250,000 of the renovation project's $500,000 student relocation budget to refurbish the space and move furniture into the building. But that's less than half the cost of a two-classroom modular building, and it gives students the benefit of a full-blown school building, Rice said.
New Paltz United Teachers and other school union contracts would not be in breach if the district uses this relocation plan.
To the Polls - New Paltz Middle School will be on Feb. Ballot: New Paltz Times 12/23/09
by Mike Townshend
After deliberations that stretched on for nearly four hours, the New Paltz Board of Education voted 6-1 to hold a special Feb. 9 election and allow voters to decide the fate of a proposed $49.78 million renovation to the New Paltz Middle School.
That project has already caused a rift in the community -- with landowners, professors, former and current village officials, a county legislator and laypeople all sounding off for and against the project.
The group Concerned Citizens of New Paltz has so far taken out two full-page ads in this paper to persuade voters not to support the middle school ballot initiative. The Feedback page in our Dec. 17 issue features two letters -- one letter against the project with 46 signatures, and one for the project with 42 signatures.
Dec. 16's vote was years in the making. Former school board member Barbara Carroll admitted that the middle school had been a financial drain on the district even during her tenure.
"I think that you're right to be biting the bullet and looking at it now," Carroll said. The past president of the board also told the board members that she felt that, recession or not, elements of the public would always oppose a large building project. "You're kind of damned if you do, and damned if you don't."
Board member Daniel Torres said that his vote to place the middle school on the ballot was a matter of doing the right thing.
"The burden's been placed on us right now to do something right," he said. Torres, a freshman at Marist College, has memories of being in the middle school building at the beginning of this decade. He moved to New Paltz and took remedial classes in the middle school, but he graduated New Paltz Central High School with honors, as class vice president and a devoted community activist.
Torres said he attributed part of his turnaround to going through the New Paltz schools.
Board member Steve Greenfield also voted to place the initiative on the ballot. "Bizarre layout in the middle school leaves first-time students confused -- and the building, which is a hodgepodge chimera of an original 1930s building with later-added wings, is out of touch with what students need now," said Greenfield.
"What a wonderful opportunity we now have to offer these outstanding educators facilities that actually serve, rather than obstruct, the team learning philosophy that has long existed and succeeded at our middle school," Greenfield added. "Now, after two years of intensive study and design exploration ... we as a community are poised to solve our problems and meet the needs of our children as we raise them to adulthood in the complex and challenging 21st century."
KT Tobin Flusser also voted with the majority to place the initiative on the ballot. She stressed the years of work on the project. About 50 official school board meetings featured discussions on the middle school -- not including subcommittee meetings.
"All of them were public meetings," Tobin Flusser said. "All of this equates to thousands of hours."
While she admitted that $49.78 million is a lot of money, the trustee also said she felt opponents of the project were wrongly attacking the board as elitist, rich and out of touch with local taxpayers.
"Don't think that the people on this board are rich fat cats who want to do something silly. We're typical New Paltzians," she added.
President David Dukler agreed that the $49.78 million price has caused a lot of sticker shock locally. But he also said that the district has been neglecting the middle school for at least 20 years.
"I accepted that it was our time to act," he said. Putting off the project would likely mean inflated construction costs and interest rates -- neither of which would be any more popular with voters.
Financial worries are real and are heading in at the district, according to Patrick Rausch.
With Gov. David Paterson working feverishly to control the budget in Albany, future funding to the schools is totally unknowable. Add that to a school board that wants to keep the tax levy growing by a steady four percent each year, and "whether we do the middle school or not really doesn't matter," Rausch said.
Despite his worry, Rausch voted to put the measure on the ballot. To not do so would be "depriving the community of a vote."
Trustee Edgar Rodriguez was the lone person on the board to vote against the initiative.
"As a trustee, I have the fiduciary and ethical responsibility to weigh the needs of the children and the community. I have done this and, at the moment, the preponderance of the evidence presented by the school district does not convince me to vote yes for the proposed bond," Rodriguez said.
Part of how the school district has presented the middle school project to the community also didn't make sense to Rodriguez.
"There are too many wants in the current plan and the needs are not clear at all," he said. "I would dare say that there is not a clear and present danger in the middle school that warrants $77 million."
Assuming a 4.5 percent interest rate, the total principal and interest payments for the renovated school comes out to that $77 million.
According to Assistant Superintendent Richard Linden, that 4.5 percent interest rate is a conservative estimate and the district might actually end up paying less than that for interest if voters approve the project.
Of the total $49.78 million project, the State of New York is expected to cover just more than $20 million with building aid money. That would leave local taxpayers with a $29.75 million local share.
However, state building aid will also apply to the interest payments for the new building, and could bring in an additional $10 million, according to Linden.
The district would not borrow the $49.78 million this year. Instead, they would lock in construction rates and actually borrow the money during the 2012-2013 school year. In this way, taxpayers would not immediately feel the pinch from borrowing in 2010.
Polls for the special election will be open at New Paltz Central High School from noon until 9 p.m. on Feb. 9.
For more information on the school district's plans, head to www.newpaltz.k12.ny.us and check the "Announcements" section.
After deliberations that stretched on for nearly four hours, the New Paltz Board of Education voted 6-1 to hold a special Feb. 9 election and allow voters to decide the fate of a proposed $49.78 million renovation to the New Paltz Middle School.
That project has already caused a rift in the community -- with landowners, professors, former and current village officials, a county legislator and laypeople all sounding off for and against the project.
The group Concerned Citizens of New Paltz has so far taken out two full-page ads in this paper to persuade voters not to support the middle school ballot initiative. The Feedback page in our Dec. 17 issue features two letters -- one letter against the project with 46 signatures, and one for the project with 42 signatures.
Dec. 16's vote was years in the making. Former school board member Barbara Carroll admitted that the middle school had been a financial drain on the district even during her tenure.
"I think that you're right to be biting the bullet and looking at it now," Carroll said. The past president of the board also told the board members that she felt that, recession or not, elements of the public would always oppose a large building project. "You're kind of damned if you do, and damned if you don't."
Board member Daniel Torres said that his vote to place the middle school on the ballot was a matter of doing the right thing.
"The burden's been placed on us right now to do something right," he said. Torres, a freshman at Marist College, has memories of being in the middle school building at the beginning of this decade. He moved to New Paltz and took remedial classes in the middle school, but he graduated New Paltz Central High School with honors, as class vice president and a devoted community activist.
Torres said he attributed part of his turnaround to going through the New Paltz schools.
Board member Steve Greenfield also voted to place the initiative on the ballot. "Bizarre layout in the middle school leaves first-time students confused -- and the building, which is a hodgepodge chimera of an original 1930s building with later-added wings, is out of touch with what students need now," said Greenfield.
"What a wonderful opportunity we now have to offer these outstanding educators facilities that actually serve, rather than obstruct, the team learning philosophy that has long existed and succeeded at our middle school," Greenfield added. "Now, after two years of intensive study and design exploration ... we as a community are poised to solve our problems and meet the needs of our children as we raise them to adulthood in the complex and challenging 21st century."
KT Tobin Flusser also voted with the majority to place the initiative on the ballot. She stressed the years of work on the project. About 50 official school board meetings featured discussions on the middle school -- not including subcommittee meetings.
"All of them were public meetings," Tobin Flusser said. "All of this equates to thousands of hours."
While she admitted that $49.78 million is a lot of money, the trustee also said she felt opponents of the project were wrongly attacking the board as elitist, rich and out of touch with local taxpayers.
"Don't think that the people on this board are rich fat cats who want to do something silly. We're typical New Paltzians," she added.
President David Dukler agreed that the $49.78 million price has caused a lot of sticker shock locally. But he also said that the district has been neglecting the middle school for at least 20 years.
"I accepted that it was our time to act," he said. Putting off the project would likely mean inflated construction costs and interest rates -- neither of which would be any more popular with voters.
Financial worries are real and are heading in at the district, according to Patrick Rausch.
With Gov. David Paterson working feverishly to control the budget in Albany, future funding to the schools is totally unknowable. Add that to a school board that wants to keep the tax levy growing by a steady four percent each year, and "whether we do the middle school or not really doesn't matter," Rausch said.
Despite his worry, Rausch voted to put the measure on the ballot. To not do so would be "depriving the community of a vote."
Trustee Edgar Rodriguez was the lone person on the board to vote against the initiative.
"As a trustee, I have the fiduciary and ethical responsibility to weigh the needs of the children and the community. I have done this and, at the moment, the preponderance of the evidence presented by the school district does not convince me to vote yes for the proposed bond," Rodriguez said.
Part of how the school district has presented the middle school project to the community also didn't make sense to Rodriguez.
"There are too many wants in the current plan and the needs are not clear at all," he said. "I would dare say that there is not a clear and present danger in the middle school that warrants $77 million."
Assuming a 4.5 percent interest rate, the total principal and interest payments for the renovated school comes out to that $77 million.
According to Assistant Superintendent Richard Linden, that 4.5 percent interest rate is a conservative estimate and the district might actually end up paying less than that for interest if voters approve the project.
Of the total $49.78 million project, the State of New York is expected to cover just more than $20 million with building aid money. That would leave local taxpayers with a $29.75 million local share.
However, state building aid will also apply to the interest payments for the new building, and could bring in an additional $10 million, according to Linden.
The district would not borrow the $49.78 million this year. Instead, they would lock in construction rates and actually borrow the money during the 2012-2013 school year. In this way, taxpayers would not immediately feel the pinch from borrowing in 2010.
Polls for the special election will be open at New Paltz Central High School from noon until 9 p.m. on Feb. 9.
For more information on the school district's plans, head to www.newpaltz.k12.ny.us and check the "Announcements" section.
Jason West's Letter to the Editor 12/23/09: Vote Yes on the Middle School Proposition
On Dec. 16, the New Paltz School Board voted to put a bond measure up for public referendum asking if we should renovate the middle school. Almost no one is saying we don't need to renovate the middle school -- those who oppose the renovation simply state that times are too hard right now to justify it. A small number of opponents make the ridiculous claim that we shouldn't do this because it 'divides the community'. Come on -- I've been here 15 years and New Paltz has pretty much always been divided over one thing or another. It's what makes us great -- passionate civic engagement. Don't underrate it.
The simple truth is that we need to renovate the middle school. In fact, it should have been renovated years ago. Instead of biting the bullet and making the necessary repairs, prior School Boards voted to simply patch up the building we have. As was mentioned at last night's School Board meeting, one such 'band-aid' cost us $14 million. Yes, times are tough, but the longer we wait, the more expensive this necessary work becomes. Capital projects don't get cheaper if you put them off year after year -- they get more expensive. And in this case the recession works in our favor because of the low interest rates, low cost of labor and lower cost of materials.
Yes, $49.8 million dollars is a lot of money if you're buying a house. But it's not a lot of money if you're re-building a middle school. In fact, it's eerily average for what other local school districts have spent recently on similar projects.
We need this renovation. It's cheaper to do it now than in a few years. We need to do this not only for those children going to the middle school in the next few years, but for those who will be going to the middle school over the course of the next century. The question is: do you want to spend money now to get these desperately needed renovations done, or do you want to spend a lot more money a little bit later in order to do the exact same work?
It would be irresponsible of us to do anything but vote YES on this proposition.
Jason West
New Paltz
The simple truth is that we need to renovate the middle school. In fact, it should have been renovated years ago. Instead of biting the bullet and making the necessary repairs, prior School Boards voted to simply patch up the building we have. As was mentioned at last night's School Board meeting, one such 'band-aid' cost us $14 million. Yes, times are tough, but the longer we wait, the more expensive this necessary work becomes. Capital projects don't get cheaper if you put them off year after year -- they get more expensive. And in this case the recession works in our favor because of the low interest rates, low cost of labor and lower cost of materials.
Yes, $49.8 million dollars is a lot of money if you're buying a house. But it's not a lot of money if you're re-building a middle school. In fact, it's eerily average for what other local school districts have spent recently on similar projects.
We need this renovation. It's cheaper to do it now than in a few years. We need to do this not only for those children going to the middle school in the next few years, but for those who will be going to the middle school over the course of the next century. The question is: do you want to spend money now to get these desperately needed renovations done, or do you want to spend a lot more money a little bit later in order to do the exact same work?
It would be irresponsible of us to do anything but vote YES on this proposition.
Jason West
New Paltz
Stacey Schaffer's Letter to the Editor 12/23/09: Support the Middle School Renovation
For a second consecutive week another $800 anonymous ad attacking the proposed New Paltz Middle School renovation is in the paper. That brings us up to 50% of what a home of $300,000 would pay for the renovation -- ten years' worth of payments -- in just two weeks, supposedly in support of ordinary folks' inability to afford an amount of money that's the equivalent of one-sixth of a typical monthly cable bill, which virtually everyone in this community pays -- good times or bad. Our inability to sell our houses is attested to by people who tried to sell their homes for a million-and-a-half dollars. These are not my spokespeople.
Is anyone besides me finding a painful -- dare I say manipulative -- paradox in the lavishing of so much money to be protected from having to spend less money than the cost of advertising to not spend the money? Many of our children are walking around with cell phones that cost more for monthly service in two months than I'm being asked to pay in taxes for this renovation in a full year. I can afford this renovation. I want to afford this renovation and I will find room for it in my modest budget. Our children's ability to thrive in adulthood, our community's ability to bring forth future generations of high-functioning citizens to keep our home safe, sound and productive and even our ability to maintain our property values through the attraction quality public education holds for young families all depend upon it. Please join me in supporting the middle school renovation.
Stacey Schaffer
Esopus
Is anyone besides me finding a painful -- dare I say manipulative -- paradox in the lavishing of so much money to be protected from having to spend less money than the cost of advertising to not spend the money? Many of our children are walking around with cell phones that cost more for monthly service in two months than I'm being asked to pay in taxes for this renovation in a full year. I can afford this renovation. I want to afford this renovation and I will find room for it in my modest budget. Our children's ability to thrive in adulthood, our community's ability to bring forth future generations of high-functioning citizens to keep our home safe, sound and productive and even our ability to maintain our property values through the attraction quality public education holds for young families all depend upon it. Please join me in supporting the middle school renovation.
Stacey Schaffer
Esopus
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