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10 The Altamont Enterprise - Thursday, July 20,2006 Board backs $5.8 million school renovation project By Melissa Hale-Spencer VOORHEESVILLE — School district voters will decide in Sep- tember on a $5.8 million project to upgrade Voorheesville's schools. The school board on Monday unanimously approved a plan that would spend about $5.2 mil- lion on the elementary school, the district's oldest building; about half-a-million dollars on the high school, which was renovated and expanded less than a decade ago; and about $91,000 on the bus, garage, located next to the ele- mentary school. In the prior building project, the elementary school was not given \a lot of attention,\ said board Vice President C. James Coffin. The lion's share of the eleme n- tary-school costs are for heating and ventilation, said Michael Fanning, the partner in charge from Dodge, Chamberlin, Luz- ine, Weber Associates, Architects LLP. It will improve the air quality in the building, he said. \It should make the rooms more comfortable in the winter and in the summer,\ said board member Richard Brackett. Kevin Murray, with Inte- grated Building Systems, pre- sented pictures that showed the good condition of pipes in the elementary school. He calledi them \pristine\ and said the pip- ing will be re-used in the reno- vated systems. Other costs include: — $254,000 for a new fire- alarm system; — $377,000 for classroom floors in the wing built in the 1930's and 1940's; — $154,000 for flooring in the gym; — $139,000 for corridor ceiling replacement; — $260,000 for gym moisture mitigation; — $154,000 for courtyard moisture mitigation; — $213,000 for window re- placement in the 1960's wing; — $148,000 for a wheelchair- accessible entrance; and — $181,000 to renovate bath- rooms in the 1963 wing, re- quired, like the wheelchair en- trance, by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In May, the board had consid- ered building a new gym at the elementary school for an addi- tional $2 million but rejected the idea. The school's current large gym is a half-story lower than the rest of the first floor, said Fanning, and there had been concerns about water seepage. \We conducted a pilot,test to see if our concept to keep water out would work,\ he said. And, in the midst of a wet summer, he said, it has been \extremely suc- cessful.\ The $91,000 for the bus garage will be spent on reconstructing the heating system, the chlorine room, and the vehicle exhaust system as well as replacing lights. The $558,000 at the high school and middle school will be spent largely on tennis-court reconstruction, for $264,000. Money will also be spent on remodeling bathrooms to meet ADA requirements, replacing paving at the gym entry, replac- ing movable walls, replacing a vater softener, and working on the ceiling in the middle-school .?yni. finances Bon'''! ['resident David Gibson • in-! !/ i-^nning had accounted •iif C.J.-! 1 increases. 'Nobody has a cryst.'il ball,\ \-jilii.d Fanning. \We've put in a 15- percent escalation factor.\ He EXISTINO r^\ FIBBT FLOOR PLAN On Sept. 19, voters will decide whether to upgrade the Voorheesville Elementary School. If school enrollment increases, the board discussed the possibility of building classrooms later at the site of the current bus garage, attached, at an angle, to the front of the school. also said that renovation work is \challenging\ to budget. Gibson also asked what would happen if the project came in under budget. \You don't bond all the money,\ said Assistant Superin- tendent for Business Sarita Win- chell. \You don't bond until you get the bids.\ \So the taxpayers would win on that,\ asked board member Thomas McKenna. \We need to maximize the money we have,\ said Langevin, indicating it would be worth it to expand the elementary school. Currently, the elementary- school rooms are occupied 90 percent of the time, Langevin found, compared to 54 percent at the high school and 69 percent at the middle school. She then charted use based on predicted development in the school district. 'The district is wise to invest in the existing facility.' \Yes answered Winchell. \Once you have a vote, you can't have a higher number.\ Winchell gave a lengthy pres- entation on financing the project. Financing will be timed so the full impact of the new project occurs when payments for the 1989 project are completed, she said. The district is expecting the cost will be offset by building aid from the state at 64.4 percent. Sources of funding for the $5,819,000 project include $500,00 in capital reserve; about $30,000 in interest from the capi- tal reserve; $409,000 in EXCEL (Expanding our Children's Edu- cation, and Learning) aid, state aid for school construction pro- jects; and the rest — $4,880,000 — from bonding. There will be no tax impact from the project in 2007-08, Win- chell said; the next year, the im- pact will be offset by declining old bond payments, and will be about $597,000. In the following years, the im- pact will depend on whether the district bonds for declining debt or level debt. Stressing the lower interest costs over the life of the debt, Winchell said, \This district has historically bonded for declining debt.\ Prelude The board prefaced its vote on the $5.8 million project with dis- cussion of a study on the capac- ity of current facilities, and a look at the cost of a hypothetical new elementary school. Superintendent Linda Langevin presented a report on projected enrollment and use of space in the schools. Expanding the school to space now filled with the bus garage would also solve concerns about traffic congestion, safety, and fumes, Langevin said. Fanning said the bus-garage site could hold six classrooms, with three each on two floors, and \possibly more\; with three comptroller made his accusa- tions and the school board presi - dent at the time spoke of the board's outrage towards the re- tired administrators. \If the homework had been done, • maybe this travesty wouldn't have happened,\ Burns told the board members. He asked, in retrospect, if they would have done anything dif- ferently and if it was cost- effective to pursue the civil suits. Gibson largely declined com- ment, citing the pending litiga- tion. \You people don't get it still,\ said Burns; — Approved, in a split vote, a stricter dress code for the high school and middle school, which had been discussed at length last week. Tony Thanopoulos, a chemis- try teacher and member of the site-based team that developed the new code over the course of the school year, told the board that the team had researched \how dress models behavior\ and concluded, \Appropriate good dress models good behav- ior.\ He described school as being \a business setting.\ He also said the code was \fluid\ and \changeable from year to year.\ Board members Brackett and Kevin Kroenke voted against adopting the new dress code. Kroenke objected to the' word \likely\ as being too broad, stat- ing that what is likely to offend a civil libertarian is very different than what is likely to offend a very religious person. Brackett' asked if cheerleaders would still be able to wear their short skirts, prohibited of others, and basketball players their uni- form's tank tops, also prohibited of others. High School Principal Mark Diefendorf responded: \There's flexibility for the context,\ such as wearing uniforms on game days, he said, \to allow for some individuality.\ Thanopoulos indicated that cheerleaders' outfits, for exam- ple, wouldn't disrupt learning, wouldn't be in poor taste, and would promote school spirit. \Here's my point,\ said Brack- ett \The teacher's pet can wear dent Bob Burns on its handling the tank top, but the kid who's a another $4 million, for \inciden- tal expenses\ and noted that the $28.44 million total did not in- clude land-purchase or major site-development costs. Building aid from the state would come to only about $5.5 million, he said. \Not only would the cost be far greater...you're getting less help,\ said Fanning, stating the effect on taxpayers would be \dramatic.\ \The district is wise to invest in the existing facility,\ Fanning concluded. Gibson stated that the cost to taxpayers would be 10 times as great with the hypothetical new building — $23 million — as with the proposed improvements — $2.5 million. \The bottom line is it pays to fix the building,\ said Winchell. The space utilization study shows that there's \a fair amount of life out of this existing build- ing,\ said Gibson. Other business In other business, the board: — Heard criticism from resi- of the state comptroller's accusa tionsthat former school adminis 'Once you have a vote, you can't have a higher number.' floors, nine or 10 classrooms might be built. Fanning went on to compare the cost of building a new ele- mentary school with the cost of renovating the old one. To re-create the school's 79,000 square feet, at a projected cost of $300 per square foot, would come to $23.7 million for construction costs alone, said Fanning. He then added 20 percent, or DIVORCE Custody • Support • Visitation Separation Agreements Pensions/IRA Jo ANN E. COUGHTRY Practice Limited Exclusively To Matrimonial & Family Law Since 1991 trators had inappropriately paid themselves $216,000. The Albany County District Attorney found no basis to prosecute, attributing the prob- lems to the school district's \weak internal controls.\ The school board last week decided to continue to pursue its civil suits to recoup the funds. Burns referred to the \horse and pony show\ of a press con- ference in January, where the little bit in trouble is a target...It's been like that forever.\ \We've never targeted kids be- cause of what they wear,\ said Diefendorf, adding that the code will \give people in the trenches...some kind of delinea- tion.\ Coffin, who approved the code, said, \You are at least working on creating a better atmosphere, leading to a level of discussion on what's good or not good, trying to improve taste\; — Decided not to renew mem- bership for the upcoming year in v the Cooperative Organization for Public Education, a lobbying and data-gathering group; the annual fee is $500; and — Met in executive session to discuss pending litigation, the employment history of particu- lar individuals, and negotiated contracts. 4382 Western Turnpike Guilderland, N.Y. 12084 NOTICE WATER CONSERVATION Town of Bethlehem Water District No. 1 The use ([fwdtcr for sprinkling of lawns and shrubs shall he allowed only before 10:00 a.m. and after 6:00 p.m.
