The Onteora school administration is renewing its push for a central campus, with aspirations for a slightly lower pricetag. Voters defeated a $70.5-million capital project 1398-1164 this year. The defeated proposal would have added ten classrooms and made other improvements to Bennett Elementary, allowing the building to house grades K-5 for the entire school district. Included in the project was $15 million for improvements to the middle/high school.
Not all the trustees are convinced the plan couldn’t be improved.
“The main reasons people voted it down were that it was too much money or that they were hoping to keep Woodstock open. And I feel like this doesn’t necessarily solve either of those problems,” trustee Emily Mitchell-Marell said. “I would just be concerned we’re kind of going down the same road.”
She doesn’t think the cuts are enough.
“I just don’t know if making these tiny cuts here and there are going to bring those voters around,” she said. She cited a mood of distrust generated by wanting to keep Woodstock Elementary open and spending a lot of money.
Board president Cindy Bishop said it was time to refocus. She thinks closing Woodstock was very likely unavoidable.
“I 100 percent hear and understand that Woodstock folks do not want to close Woodstock Elementary School,” she said. “But if our enrollment continues to decrease the way it is, we’re going to have to, and there’s no way that we can keep the two elementary schools open. The educational equity is not there.”
Some discussion has centered around having separate propositions for the middle/high school renovations and the Bennett work, as had been pondered before the failed bond in May.
The revised construction budget cuts nearly $7 million to a revised total of $63.1 million. Unchanged at $12.5 million were the ten new classrooms, a library expansion, office spaces, bathrooms and a security vestibule, and $2.9 million for a new dropoff lane at Bennett.
The piece of a new Bennett gym was cut from $6.63 million to $6.26 million. Music rooms were cut from $2.24 million to $1.588 million. Bennett cafeteria and kitchen reconfiguration was cut from $4.33 million to $4.02 million. High school science classroom work was cut from $3.97 million to $3.53 million.
A new counseling center, high school main office renovation, nurses’ offices and auditorium work were eliminated, saving about $4.3 million.
Unchanged at $11.88 million were athletic field work, track upgrades, field lights, field drainage, demolition of the bus garage, a new student commons, and upgrades to the east end parking lot at the middle/high school.
Trustees also unanimously approved a contract with Dr. Kevin Baughman & Associates to use enrollment data to determine the most effective grade level and building configuration. The study will include K-12 enrollment projections for five to ten years. The cost of Baughman’s services will not exceed $19,250.
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