GUILDERLAND — The school board is not enthused about a request from the town of Bethlehem to offer tax exemptions to conserve land.

The board took no vote on the issue, but only one of the six board members present at Tuesday’s meeting sounded interested.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders said that current exemptions granted by Guilderland have been for individuals based on age or military service and applied across all the towns that are part of the school district.

He also said the town of Bethlehem is granting a tax break on a sliding scale with a bigger break for the longer the land is to remain undeveloped. A Bethlehem review board decides whether or not to grant the exemption, he said, and five properties are eligible in the section of Bethlehem that falls within the Guilderland School District.

The assessed value of the eligible property totals $1.1 million, said Sanders and, since everyone in the Guilderland School District would share in the redistribution, the owner of an average home, assessed at $146,500 would pay 80 cents more in yearly taxes, Sanders calculated, for the low end of the commitment. At the high end, that would jump to $2 for the owner of an average home.

The Bethlehem School Board defeated the exemption, by a vote of 4 to 3, said Sanders.

Guilderland board member Christopher McManus said it would make no sense for Guilderland’s school board to approve the exemption if Bethlehem’s did not.

“Why should we?” agreed board member Judy Slack.

“We represent everyone,” said McManus.

“It’s to encourage open space, not just for the benefit of five landowners,” said board member Catherine Barber. “There’s more to the issue than the tax impact.”

“I don’t see it as the mission of the Guilderland central schools to foster open land,” said board member Colleen O’Connell.

It depends on how you view the schools, responded Barber. “Do you view the schools as discreet entities or part of the larger community?”

While O’Connell said she certainly viewed the schools as part of the larger community, she concluded, “I don’t view land management as our mission beyond what we own.”

Budget forum

Superintendent Marie Wiles reported that about 30 people attended a Feb. 4 budget forum. (A full account of the forum is online at AltamontEnteprise.com.) Wiles said she appreciated the work of the school leaders in developing the list of proposed budget changes and for being on hand to answer questions at the forum. The proposals, to close an estimated $130,000 gap in a $93 million spending plan for next year are posted on the district’s website.

Wiles will present her budget proposal to the community on March 5. The presentation will stream live and residents can log on to ask questions, she said.

Later in Tuesday’s meeting, Slack, who chairs the board’s communications committee, said, “We’re still seeing a decline in community participation and wonder why. We so value community input.”

Slack also called the forum turnout “a disappointment.” She added, “But we haven’t decided what to do instead.”

Slack concluded, “We do listen. It does make a difference.”

Speaking to legislators

On April 15, district residents will have a chance to listen to and ask questions of Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, a Democrat, and Senator George Amedore, a Republican, to “learn more about their priorities and perspectives on education issues,” said Wiles.

The session will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the high school’s large-group instruction room. It will start with 10 or 15 minutes of comments from the legislators followed by questions and comments from the audience.

“We’ll have some punch and cookies, so we’ll have an opportunity to mingle,” said Wiles.

The idea was hatched, she said, on the ride back from a recent visit to the Legislative Office Building.  A contingent of Guilderland students, parents, teachers, board members, and administrators talked with Fahy, Amedore, and staff from Senator John Flanagan’s office, learning in the process, said Wiles.

“On the way back…one parent said, ‘Too bad parents couldn’t all come with us,’” Wiles reported. This led to setting up the April 15 session.

She concluded of Fahy and Amedore, “They are both very interested in it.”

Task force appointed

As the board said it would, it appointed all of the people who applied to serve on a task force to investigate options for repurposing excess space in the district’s schools.

As Guilderland faces declining enrollment and limited resources, the board hired a consultant to look at facility use; he determined the five elementary schools together were underused 14 percent while the middle school and high school were each underused 25 percent. His report concluded with six scenarios — one maintained the status quo while five recommended closing an elementary school, to save between $1.2 million and $2 million annually.

In the wake of public protests, mostly from Altamont residents as four of the scenarios would have closed Altamont Elementary School, the board backed off the scenarios and decided to look at other options before closing a school.

These task force members were appointed on Tuesday: Nedra Abbruzzese-Werling, Laura Assaf, Beth Bini, Donald Csaposs, Nicholas Fahrenkopf, William Floyd, James Gaughan, Jenna Graber, Jean Guyon, John B. Haluska, Amy Hawrylchak, Bonnie Heller, Michael Hill, Katherine Kelly, Holly Kernozek, Mike Laster, Nina Levy, Ronnie Sills Lindberg, Allan Lockwood, and Amy Lynch.

Also: Sean Maguire, Gerard Marino, Robert Mastro, Robert A. Murphy Jr., Thomas Ochs, Joseph Otter, Lily Alayne Owen, Walter Pacholczak, Renee Panetta, Paul E. Scoville, Melanie Shatynski, Angela Stott, Tim Urban, Christopher VanWoert, Pamela Walsh, Jodi Novak Wey, Carole Wheelock, Timothy Wilford, and Taegyun David Wood.

Board members Charron and Slack will also serve on the task force. “You will be worker bees,” said Wiles of the board members’ role.

 Slack asked if teachers were invited. Wiles answered that the invitation, open to all, was posted on the district’s website.

The task force will meet for the first time on March 16. Wiles said that, after an opening discussion of goals, the members will break into work groups on different topics; those groups will then set their own schedules. She anticipates they will report back to the board in June.

“We can communicate at every board meeting,” said Wiles of keeping the board informed on task force progress.

Capital Facilities Plan

All six members present on Tuesday voted to accept a five-year capital facilities plan. Board President Barbara Fraterrigo and Gloria Towle-Hilt were out of town and had computer hook-ups to the meeting, which were sporadic.

The state-required plan was reviewed by Clifford Nooney, building and grounds supervisor; the district’s architects; and the town’s code enforcement officer, Sanders said.

Items that will be fixed by the $17.3 million project currently underway had to be listed, said Sanders. “By and large, the things listed as Priority 1 will be addressed by the capital project,” said Sanders.

Also included on the list are new lights for the football field and an upgrade to the high school auditorium. Those were narrowly voted down in a proposition in the fall of 2013. Guilderland had put up two propositions at that time: The $17.3 million bond to upgrade the district’s seven buildings and improve technology passed while the $846,300 plan to renovate the auditorium and put in new poles and lights for the football field and track was defeated.

Both votes were close with 53.2 percent passing the building upgrades and 50.8 percent voting “no” on the second proposition.

One of the recommendations heard at the Feb. 4 budget forum was to put up a $1,160,000 proposition for the auditorium upgrade and field lighting.

“It was presented at the forum to gauge community response,” Sanders said. “The consensus was generally favorable.”

“I think there’s an argument for making it two,” said O’Connell, meaning there should be separate propositions for voters to decide on the auditorium upgrade apart from the new field lighting. The auditorium, she said, “is a classroom issue” and the field lighting is “a safety issue.”

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Learned from Wiles that Farnsworth Middle School has been re-designated as a School to Watch by the State Education Department, recognizing academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity, and organizational structure. Wiles congratulated Principal Michael Laster and noted only 27 middle schools in the state have earned the distinction.

She also said that a film of the presentation made to the school board was being used to inspire other schools. “So we’re on the road virtually,” said Wiles;

— Heard from Wiles, “Our beloved Amy McGeady, communications specialist, has just received a well-deserved promotion” at the Board of Cooperative Educational Services. She anticipated McGeady would leave the district on May 1;

— Heard from Slack that there are plans to upgrade the portion of the district’s website on the school board as McManus had suggested earlier. McManus said he’d like to see an updated photo and “a short bio” for each board member as well as campaign rules.

“We don’t have a list of traditions or protocols of what board members should be doing,” suggested Jennifer Charron, noting the workload was “a big awakening for a lot of us”;

— Heard from O’Connell that two sessions to educate community members interested in serving on the school board have been cancelled. O’Connell had worked to set up the sessions with a goal of encouraging more candidates for school board elections. Last May, the race in Guilderland was uncontested.

“It turns out not only don’t people want to run for school board, they don’t want to come to conferences to be educated about what a board member does,” said O’Connell;

— Heard that an advocacy event will be held tonight, Feb. 26, at Colonie Central High School at 7 p.m. to discuss school funding, local control of schools, and appropriate state testing;

— Reviewed policies on flexible attendance areas, free and reduced-price meal services, and recycling;

— Approved a classroom rental agreement with Living Resources for an after-school program for students with disabilities.

Steve Hadden said the district currently has no after-school programs for students with disabilities. Living Resources will rent two high school classrooms and gym space when available for $1,000 per school year.

O’Connell said she volunteers for Living Resources and called it a “tremendous organization” with “programs of the highest quality”;

—Heard congratulations for Guilderland High School junior Brendan Brooks who took online lessons and a test to become Google certified. Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Demian Singleton said Brooks was “in advance” of many on the staff;

— Learned that Farnsworth Middle School students came in first in the Regional Math Counts Competition on Feb. 10. Eight of the 10 team members ranked in the top 15, and Jin Shang won the prestigious Count Down Round.

Hames Gu placed second; Ved Kumar, fourth; Bill Guo, sixth; Rubin Chen, eighth; Henry Li, 11th; Jin Shang, 13th; Dan Bemis, 15th; Sophie Gerchikov, 39th; and Amy Chen, 43rd;

— Guilderland High students Kiera DeCotes and Hannah Hernandez were accepted as apprentices to Albany Pro Musica and will sing on May 2 at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall;

— Guilderland High senior Alicia Chen won a Gold Key in the 2015 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards at the regional level for her self-portrait painting, “Eye of the Beholder,” meaning she will advance to the national level to be judged by a panel of international artists; there were over 300,000 submissions. Chen also won an honorable mention for her drawing, “Boots”;

— Guilderland High School senior Eden Alin, an Advanced Placement art student, was awarded $500 and selected for The College Board’s Call for Artists Project. Her work, “Windows to My Soul,” was one of 18 selected from 800 entries and will be displayed at the College board’s New York City office for two years;

— Decided to have its executive sessions before rather than after the public portion of the board meetings, starting with the March 24 meeting. “As the night drags on, I’m not as sharp as earlier,” said board vice President Allan Simpson;

— Accepted, with thanks, a donated violin from Joan Carmello; and

— Met in executive session to discuss a potential tenure appointment, the employment history of a particular person, a personnel matter, and negotiations with the Guilderland Office Workers Association.