VOORHEESVILLE — School district voters will decide in September on a $5.8 million project to upgrade Voorheesville’s schools.

The school board on Monday unanimously approved a plan that would spend about $5.2 million on the elementary school, the district’s oldest building; about half-a-million dollars on the high school, which was renovated and expanded less than a decade ago; and about $91,000 on the bus garage, located next to the elementary school.
In the prior building project, the elementary school was not given "a lot of attention," said board Vice President C. James Coffin.

The lion’s share of the elementary-school costs are for heating and ventilation, said Michael Fanning, the partner in charge from Dodge, Chamberlin, Luzine, Weber Associates, Architects LLP.

It will improve the air quality in the building, he said.
"It should make the rooms more comfortable in the winter and in the summer," said board member Richard Brackett.
Kevin Murray, with Integrated Building Systems, presented pictures that showed the good condition of pipes in the elementary school. He called them "pristine" and said the piping will be re-used in the renovated systems.

Other costs include:

— $254,000 for a new fire-alarm system;

— $377,000 for classroom floors in the wing built in the 1930’s and 1940’s;

— $154,000 for flooring in the gym;

— $139,000 for corridor ceiling replacement;

— $260,000 for gym moisture mitigation;

— $154,000 for courtyard moisture mitigation;

— $213,000 for window replacement in the 1960’s wing;

— $148,000 for a wheelchair-accessible entrance; and

— $181,000 to renovate bathrooms in the 1963 wing, required, like the wheelchair entrance, by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

In May, the board had considered building a new gym at the elementary school for an additional $2 million but rejected the idea.

The school’s current large gym is a half-story lower than the rest of the first floor, said Fanning, and there had been concerns about water seepage.
"We conducted a pilot test to see if our concept to keep water out would work," he said. And, in the midst of a wet summer, he said, it has been "extremely successful."

The $91,000 for the bus garage will be spent on reconstructing the heating system, the chlorine room, and the vehicle exhaust system as well as replacing lights.

The $558,000 at the high school and middle school will be spent largely on tennis-court reconstruction, for $264,000.

Money will also be spent on remodeling bathrooms to meet ADA requirements, replacing paving at the gym entry, replacing movable walls, replacing a water softener, and working on the ceiling in the middle-school gym.

Finances

Board President David Gibson asked if Fanning had accounted for cost increases.
"Nobody has a crystal ball," replied Fanning. "We’ve put in a 15- percent escalation factor." He also said that renovation work is "challenging" to budget.

Gibson also asked what would happen if the project came in under budget.
"You don’t bond all the money," said Assistant Superintendent for Business Sarita Winchell. "You don’t bond until you get the bids."
"So the taxpayers would win on that," asked board member Thomas McKenna.
"Yes," answered Winchell. "Once you have a vote, you can’t have a higher number."

Winchell gave a lengthy presentation on financing the project.

Financing will be timed so the full impact of the new project occurs when payments for the 1989 project are completed, she said. The district is expecting the cost will be offset by building aid from the state at 64.4 percent.

Sources of funding for the $5,819,000 project include $500,00 in capital reserve; about $30,000 in interest from the capital reserve; $409,000 in EXCEL (Expanding our Children’s Education and Learning) aid, state aid for school construction projects; and the rest — $4,880,000 — from bonding.

There will be no tax impact from the project in 2007-08, Winchell said; the next year, the impact will be offset by declining old bond payments, and will be about $597,000.

In the following years, the impact will depend on whether the district bonds for declining debt or level debt.
Stressing the lower interest costs over the life of the debt, Winchell said, "This district has historically bonded for declining debt."

Prelude

The board prefaced its vote on the $5.8 million project with discussion of a study on the capacity of current facilities, and a look at the cost of a hypothetical new elementary school.

Superintendent Linda Langevin presented a report on projected enrollment and use of space in the schools.
"We need to maximize the money we have," said Langevin, indicating it would be worth it to expand the elementary school.

Currently, the elementary-school rooms are occupied 90 percent of the time, Langevin found, compared to 54 percent at the high school and 69 percent at the middle school.

She then charted use based on predicted development in the school district.

Expanding the school to space now filled with the bus garage would also solve concerns about traffic congestion, safety, and fumes, Langevin said.
Fanning said the bus-garage site could hold six classrooms, with three each on two floors, and "possibly more"; with three floors, nine or 10 classrooms might be built.

Fanning went on to compare the cost of building a new elementary school with the cost of renovating the old one.

To re-create the school’s 79,000 square feet, at a projected cost of $300 per square foot, would come to $23.7 million for construction costs alone, said Fanning.
He then added 20 percent, or another $4 million, for "incidental expenses" and noted that the $28.44 million total did not include land-purchase or major site-development costs.
Building aid from the state would come to only about $5.5 million, he said. "Not only would the cost be far greater...you’re getting less help," said Fanning, stating the effect on taxpayers would be "dramatic."
"The district is wise to invest in the existing facility," Fanning concluded.

Gibson stated that the cost to taxpayers would be 10 times as great with the hypothetical new building — $23 million — as with the proposed improvements — $2.5 million.
"The bottom line is it pays to fix the building," said Winchell.
The space utilization study shows that there’s "a fair amount of life out of this existing building," said Gibson.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Heard criticism from resident Bob Burns on its handling of the state comptroller’s accusations that former school administrators had inappropriately paid themselves $216,000.
The Albany County District Attorney found no basis to prosecute, attributing the problems to the school district’s "weak internal controls." The school board last week decided to continue to pursue its civil suits to recoup the funds.
Burns referred to the "horse and pony show" of a press conference in January, where the comptroller made his accusations and the school board president at the time spoke of the board’s outrage towards the retired administrators.
"If the homework had been done, maybe this travesty wouldn’t have happened," Burns told the board members.

He asked, in retrospect, if they would have done anything differently and if it was cost-effective to pursue the civil suits.

Gibson largely declined comment, citing the pending litigation.
"You people don’t get it still," said Burns;

— Approved, in a split vote, a stricter dress code for the high school and middle school, which had been discussed at length last week.
Tony Thanopoulos, a chemistry teacher and member of the site-based team that developed the new code over the course of the school year, told the board that the team had researched "how dress models behavior" and concluded, "Appropriate, good dress models good behavior."
He described school as being "a business setting."
He also said the code was "fluid" and "changeable from year to year."

Board members Brackett and Kevin Kroenke voted against adopting the new dress code.
Kroenke objected to the word "likely" as being too broad, stating that what is likely to offend a civil libertarian is very different than what is likely to offend a very religious person.

Brackett asked if cheerleaders would still be able to wear their short skirts, prohibited of others, and basketball players their uniform’s tank tops, also prohibited of others.
High School Principal Mark Diefendorf responded: "There’s flexibility for the context," such as wearing uniforms on game days, he said, "to allow for some individuality."

Thanopoulos indicated that cheerleaders’ outfits, for example, wouldn’t disrupt learning, wouldn’t be in poor taste, and would promote school spirit.
"Here’s my point," said Brackett. "The teacher’s pet can wear the tank top, but the kid who’s a little bit in trouble is a target...It’s been like that forever."
"We’ve never targeted kids because of what they wear," said Diefendorf, adding that the code will "give people in the trenches...some kind of delineation."
Coffin, who approved the code, said, "You are at least working on creating a better atmosphere, leading to a level of discussion on what’s good or not good, trying to improve taste";

— Decided not to renew membership for the upcoming year in the Cooperative Organization for Public Education, a lobbying and data-gathering group; the annual fee is $500; and

— Met in executive session to discuss pending litigation, the employment history of particular individuals, and negotiated contracts.