BERNE — At a two-and-a-half-hour workshop on Monday, the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Board of Education considered different visions on how to restructure the district’s two schools. The district’s architect presented projects ranging from infrastructure updates to classroom restructuring that would cost between $16 million and $17 million, with voter approval. The board asked the firm to scale back to $13 to $15 million.

The board also heard presentations from both the elementary and secondary school principals that included ideas on improving student behavior.

Big plans and big costs

James Graham, of the Schenectady-based firm Synthesis Architects, presented a plan that would not only update infrastructure in the elementary school, but also modernize and renovate areas such as the science wing, the cafeteria, and some classrooms. He described various “tiers” at which certain renovation would take place. Not all levels of tiers would be expected to be reached in the plan.

Graham pointed out what the firm had observed in the elementary school, such as a heater from the 1950s being used as a magnetic board, and a 2-by-4 piece of wood holding up a shelf. Graham said the first step would be some corrective work, followed by opening walls between classrooms and using two room dividers to create spaces that could be opened up or closed off. Audience members later expressed concern over the possibility that the rooms would be too small with the dividers, or that the area between the two dividers could become a “multi-million-dollar storage space,” rather than a common room.

Graham presented the cafeteria as a prospective multi-purpose room for community events following renovations, due to it being unoccupied most of the time. Board members later suggested cutting that from the plan, saying that students would see a “down-grade” going from a modern cafeteria in the elementary school to the one at the secondary school.

Another part of the plan included steps to renovate the science wing, putting in a functioning lab and advanced equipment.

The plan also suggested a few renovations in the secondary school, but nowhere near the extent of the elementary school. There were also renovations suggested for the bus garage, which the board deemed unnecessary.

Building Maintenance Supervisor Peter Shunney said that the elementary school’s entire ventilation system would likely have to be redone. Bob Abromaitis, of M/E Engineering, explained that the steam-based heating system is forced to run constantly to heat the school, as it easily loses heat, compared to a water-based heating system.

“You need that ability of hot water to control that heat,” he said.

Shunney said that the elementary school’s fuel bill was about $70,000 per year, and $45,000 to $50,000 for the larger but newer secondary school.

Shunney later noted that the elementary school’s septic system would have to be replaced as well, since it had already leaked once before.

The plan was estimated by the firm at somewhere between $16,035,000 and $17,035,000, although the plan and its costs have not been finalized by the school board. Residents would vote later in the year on whether or not to fund the final plan.

Board Vice President Lillian Sisson-Chrysler expressed concern over the cost, saying she would like to see more necessary items such as infrastructure repairs be paid for and completed before addressing other items.

“I’d like to see a beautiful school that looks like a hotel,” said Sisson-Chrysler. “But it ain’t gonna happen.”

School Superintendent Timothy Mundell said that it would make the most sense to make changes along with infrastructure repairs.

“Are we going to put them [classrooms] back the way they were, with 2-by-4s holding up bookcases?” he asked.

School Business Executive Sarah Blood said that, although certain furnishings and site work are not eligible for state aid, all “big ticket items” are aidable. Graham said their projects are estimated as 92 to 95 percent aidable. The school is estimating that 79 percent of the $16 to $17 million cost will be paid for by the state. Blood estimated that a $15 million project would mean $3 million would be paid for by the district over the course of a bond payment.

Sisson-Chrysler first asked for a project at $10 million, and then $13 million, saying she was “meeting halfway.”

Board President Matthew Tedeschi asked Synthesis to come back with a plan around $13 million to $15 million, excluding some improvements such as to the bus garage.

Principals’ plans

Peer mediation and a new bell schedule were two ideas secondary school Principal Mark Pitterson presented on Monday night. Peer mediation, a program in which students are trained to counsel other students, is something Pitterson said he believes could solve minor behavior problems that the staff should not have to waste energy on. For further relief for the staff, he set up a “mindfulness” workshop to promote self-care and stress relief.

“We don’t want our teachers to get burned out,” he said. “Students can see through us.”

A workshop is planned on addressing trauma that students may face at home which could result in behavioral problems. Also, training is scheduled on Friday si staff can learn to use automatic external defibrillators, in case someone has heart problems.

Pitterson is also looking to change the bell schedule in the upcoming school year. Currently, four 25-minute lunch periods work around six overlapping 43-minute instructional periods. Besides lunches, every class period lasts 43 minutes.

Pitterson would like to implement a nine-period day. Every period, including lunches, would last 41 minutes, with the exception of the second period having four extra minutes. After school extra help would last 37 rather than the current 39 minutes.

Pitterson said his hope for the new schedule would be to allow teachers to have a spare period, since the lunches would be divided by grade, and would also give students — particularly incoming sixth-graders — a chance to have some time outside rather than “weaning them off” recess altogether.

Elementary school Principal Annette Landry went over two changes in her school: a new referral system in the cafeteria and playground, and new reading tests.

Landry said behavior problems occur during recess and lunch, and so a system was designed so that referrals could be written up, presented to Landry, and dealt with on the same day, rather than what was happening prior to this, in which a note was written and left on Landry’s desk to be dealt with at an unknown time.

Landry also spoke of the Fountas and Pinnell Literacy Benchmark Assessment System, which the school will use rather than a program through Scholastic. She said the entirety of the grade-level and special-education teachers chose to train to administer the tests, and it was “great to see motivation” from them.