A new facilities project is likely coming before the New Paltz Central School District’s Board of Education for review in January 2024. Some district parents are hoping it will contain upgrades to athletic facilities.
Trustee and facilities committee chair Matt Williams shared information about the discussion during a school board meeting held on Wednesday, November 15, noting that the general consensus was that it would make more sense to tackle facilities issues across the district all at once rather than funding a few smaller projects.
“We simply have too many critical systems in need of repair,” Williams said. “It was a resounding yes. We have elevators that are giving us headaches, fire alarm systems that aren’t very good, roofs that leak constantly and are on their 15th patch. In addition to that, our athletic facilities.”
Prior to Williams’ report, two parents spoke about what they see as a need to address athletic facility inadequacies, noting that it came up in a survey sent out to the community over the summer to determine what should be done with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding that is set to expire next September.
Michele DiDonna, parent of three New Paltz High School students and a member of the New Paltz Athletic Association said that as the purpose of ARPA funding is to address students most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, student athletes have thus far seen their needs covered far less than others.
“The (survey) categories were communication, academics, instruction, discipline and condition of schools,” DiDonna said. “The questions related to ten areas; however, no questions referenced sports or facilities. There was one question about athletics, however it read. How happy are you with sports offerings? The question was about the type of sports offered.”
DiDonna said she understood that other areas should have also been funded, but by not allocating funds to athletic improvements, the district was not only ignoring a group of students who’d been adversely impacted by in-person schools being closed, but also putting aside the responses from many of the over 400 survey respondents.
“I know you needed to fulfill many needs over a broad spectrum,” DiDonna said, but she added that a question relating to what needs to be improved in the district had yielded many responses relating to athletic facilities. “In the end, according to the expense category breakdown for the grant funds, there was no money spent on facility improvements, athletic programs, coaches, nor equipment.”
DiDonna said that while she agreed that a focus on “communication, academic rigor and literacy, absenteeism, health and wellness for students” was important, not addressing student athletes specifically was in error.
“The athletes were among the student population most affected by the pandemic,” DiDonna said. “They missed out on athletic opportunities, physical fitness and camaraderie of their teammates and coaches. And I believe this fits with the category of social, emotional, and mental health.”
Nancy Heiz, member of the New Paltz Athletic Association and parent of a high school senior who’s been a member of the varsity swim team since the 7th grade said she believed the district was too dependent upon facilities outside of the school district for its athletic programs. She said would like to see the district have its own swimming pool.
“Case in point: SUNY New Paltz is going to close down their pool, take it offline, to renovate it for a year-and-a-half, two years,” Heiz said. “Construction projects could go even longer. I’m not talking just about the two swim teams that would be affected by this, but this is a larger community and there are so many people who use the athletic facilities here and SUNY New Paltz, and I believe that we should build our own pool as part of our next big capital project, and I believe that the community would really come out and support it. I know it’s an expensive proposition, but there are many different ways that a pool could be used in the curriculum. It’s a lifesaving skill to have to learn how to swim. We can put water safety in the curriculum starting from a young age. It has a lot to do with equity.”
Williams did not offer specifics about how athletic needs might be addressed in a future facilities project, nor did he cover any other details about what might come before the school board in January. He did say that new director of school facilities and operations Michael Logue had been involved in the process, and that the facilities committee was likely to add a meeting in December to shore up their recommendations.
“It’ll probably be sizable just because there are a lot of sizable things we need to do done,” Williams said.
Join the family! 
