District Voters to Determine Fate of Building Upgrades Referendum
Hoping to “upgrade facilities and take care of longstanding problems,” the Brewster Central School District is putting a building renovations referendum to a vote less than two months from now on Dec. 9.
The Brewster Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution last Tuesday that allowed a $38.9 million proposal to go to district voters to address building issues at Brewster High School, CV Starr Intermediate School, JFK Elementary School, and other various projects within the district. Stemming from a report presented to the board by the district’s facilities task force at its meeting a couple of weeks ago, the expansive renovations have been considered by board members and district parents that have attended recent meetings. Board president Stephen Jambor said the upgrades would provide students with a “21st century learning environment in every building in the district.”
The proposal is expansive and involves a wide-ranging number of projects. It includes putting a new roof on the high school and the CV Starr School, a six- classroom addition at the JFK School and four-classroom addition at the CV Starr. Additionally, a new ventilation system would be installed at the CV Starr School and replaced windows and doors at the JFK School, while the high school would get a new concession stand and a new innovative library.
“This has been building for awhile,” Jambor said of needed renovations. “This didn’t just happen overnight, but we had to measure it, we had to be thoughtful about this.”
Putting the proposal to the voters, Jambor acknowledge the district needed a “defensible case,” one that was achieved by seeking input from various and many stakeholders.
The additional costs would be $7 for the typical homeowner in Southeast, $8 for the typical homeowner in Patterson and $9 for the typical homeowner in Carmel each month.
Superintendent Tim Conway said the cost is “pretty small.” He added, when a resident considers what they usually spend $7-$9 on every month, when it comes to investing that in school buildings, “we hope the community will think long and hard about this and provide some support.”
The original price tag was just above $40 million, but the district was able to knock off a couple million after taking a second look at everything and minimizing expected costs that Conway said were rather generous projections at first.
Conway said building conditions in part of the district are dreadful. There are buckets in classrooms and hallways in the high school and the ventilation system at the CV Starr is of such poor quality, Conway said, “I’m confident that no one would want to work in that environment, let alone get taught in that environment.’
The Garden Street School, now empty, was examined for possible renovations, but it was determined the costs would be too steep for what the district would get in return. The sale of the building is still being worked out.
Polls on Dec. 9 will be open from 6 a.m.- 9 p.m. the question on the ballot will simply state, “Shall the Board of Education be authorized to go forward with this project.”
