The Covid-19 pandemic has upended the daily lives of people around the globe and here in the Hudson Valley. In education, the impact of the coronavirus has been felt in and out of the classroom, even financially, with Governor Andrew Cuomo saying months ago that it was likely state aid expected to reach local school districts for the 2020-21 school year will be reduced. But where the fiscal pinch has yet to be felt is in state building aid, which for approved school district projects is currently around 66 percent.
The Kingston schools are months away from the finish line of the $137.5-million Kingston High School Second Century renovation project. Saugerties will be seeking approval from voters on Tuesday, December 15 for a $22,000,390 districtwide facilities improvement project. No capital improvement projects are on the table in New Paltz or Onteora.
On time, under budget
The Kingston project has touched virtually every corner of the venerable Broadway campus, with restoration honoring the past and renovation looking to the future. The Myron J. Michael and Tobin Whiston buildings, both built in the early 20th century, were razed as part of the project. The program has corrected some piecemeal work that for some school officials and students may have left the impression of a sprawling, disconnected edifice.
Perhaps as important as the end result is the fact that much of the KCSD’s project has come in on time and under budget. The size and scope of the KHS plan led to pauses between phases due to rules within the reimbursement arm of the New York State Education Department (NYSED), but the schedule was little impacted beyond that. Even Covid-19 hasn’t stopped the Second Century project.
“High School continues to move forward, and we figure we’ll be done in the spring,” said Kinston schools superintendent Paul Padalino, touching on some of the work that’s been completed since the pandemic first impacted the delivery of education when students began studying remotely in mid-March. Whiston Tobin was recently torn down, two years after Myron J. Michael was razed, and Padalino said that parking and green space in its place are nearing completion. Work continues in the west side of the main building and in the music wing as well, It is likely to be completed this springtime.
“Kingston High School is a really impressive building,” Padalino said. “The exterior in the front has been restored to its once-glorious, majestic look. They put new lighting and that horseshoe in the front as well as new lighting in the front doors that are replicas of the original. It’s something to see at night, I tell you.”
Work has also proceeded on facilities projects in other parts of the district, including new windows and a fully renovated auditorium at M. Clifford Miller Middle School; new windows, a gymnasium curtain wall and the installation of an ADA-compliant elevator at John F. Kennedy Elementary School; and a new heating system at Harry L. Edson Elementary. “We’ve been able, in spite of all the issues around the pandemic, to keep our timelines and be ahead of our timelines,” said Padalino. Part of that was possible, Padalino added, because students were learning from home last spring.
“Some of that second shift work was able to be done during the day, and there were some actual efficiencies around that,” he said. “We weren’t as worried about the noise or worried about interaction between workers and our students. We had our faculty there, so they were still working very cautiously. But there’s a big difference between 2000 kids running around and 250 adults in their classrooms. And Kingston High School is actually a little bit of head of schedule from where we were.”
New proposal next year
The superintendent added that school officials would likely present their next set of potential facilities improvement plans to the school board early in the new year. “We are finishing up our five-year facility review right now,” Padalino said. “We do have a significant capital reserve fund that were sitting on, and if we average that against state aid I think we’ll be able to do some work without impacting the taxpayers. We have old buildings, a city infrastructure, all those things. We can’t stop.”
Padalino said that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused school officials to realign perspectives based upon what they’ve learned in 2020. “Five years ago we talked about renewal and rejuvenation of our facilities, and we don’t want to stop that forward progress for so many reasons,” Padalino said. “And now there’s even more reasons: We’re looking at our heating systems, looking at our ventilation systems. Do we need to make even more improvements then we’ve already made because the pandemic is here and the vaccine is coming supposedly, but who knows what’s next?
“Looking at that kind of thing, I think we need to continue to move forward and create healthy, clean school buildings that are environmentally friendly and are also ready for the 21st century and the delivery of education and whatever home learning we may have to do on a regular basis from now on.”
Padalino said he isn’t concerned about state building aid being reduced for the Second Century project. Unless the state revisits the formula, it’s likely to remain at around 66 percent.
“I think it would be a really heavy lift for a state legislator to turn around and say, ‘Oh, by the way, the voters voted to approve this project based on this amount of aid and now we’re going to take that away,’” Padalino said. “I think that would be a political nightmare for them. Maybe going forward maybe they’ll change it, but I think we’re pretty safe right now.”
Approval from voters
While Kingston is considering what to do next, Saugerties will be seeking approval from voters on Tuesday, December 15 for a $22,000,390 districtwide facilities improvement project, the maximum the district can spend without impacting the local tax levy. So far, $17,538,097 has been earmarked for the multi-year project. The proposal includes work at Saugerties Junior-Senior High School ($5,755,930), Cahill Elementary ($1,764,639), Grant D. Morse Elementary ($1,671,367), Charles M. Riccardi Elementary ($602,818), Mt. Marion Elementary ($378,179) and the Hidebrandt Building on the SHS campus ($653,053).
A hazardous materials abatement allowance of around eight percent of the construction budget adds an estimated $866,079 to the raw construction budget, and two line items each totaling ten percent, or $1,169,206, is estimated for design and construction contingency. A quarter of that total is listed for incidental expenses, leaving $4,462,293 in unassigned funds from the $22 million.
According to Saugerties officials, roughly 66 percent of the project would be covered by state aid, 32.2 percent in retiring debt, and the remaining 1.8 percent through a capital reserve balance.
Like Padalino in Kingson, Saugerties superintendent Kirk Reinhardt isn’t concerned about changes in the state aid formula. “That’s a formula that’s been in place for a long time,” he said. “I feel pretty good about that 66 percent. If anything, that should go up a little bit. Of all the uncertainty in the world right now, that’s probably one of the few things I feel pretty good about it. It’s something that has weathered the storm previously.”
Reinhardt said the 15 remote presentations of the Saugerties plan he has led have been well received.
“People have been very receptive, and I think it’s very fair project,” he said. He said there was nothing frivolous in the plan. “It’s a blue-collar project, items that need to be done. Our PR group and architects and BBL (construction services) did an amazing job of articulating the priorities. We’ve been transparent since we started having these conversations last January that this was something that had to happen, and the fact that we’ve been out the whole time constantly saying this is why we’re doing it we’re only doing something that needs to be done has really helped with the conversation.”
Reinhardt said the timing was right in many ways for the district’s proposal. “If we have a successful vote [on December 15], it will go to state in January and would not go to bid until next January, so the bulk of our work would be in summer 2022,” Reinhardt said. “By then we’ll be in a really good spot, will be in a good market, and everything else.”
New Paltz and Onteora
Elsewhere in the area, New Paltz schools superintendent Angela Urbina-Medina said there were currently no plans for a facilities project. “We are not [planning] any projects at this time,” she said. “All of our projects were just recently completed under the capital project that wrapped up last year. We don’t have anything in the pipeline moving forward.”
Onteora district superintendent Victoria McLaren could not be reached for comment. The Onteora website does not list any facilities proposals.
Join the family! 
