NEW SCOTLAND — The Voorheesville School Board had a quiet first-of-the-new-school-year meeting following allegations made by parents and former employees of the district’s universal pre-kindergarten provider.

Over the summer, a Voorheesville parent and former employees came forward with allegations that Christ the King Early Childhood Education Center in Guilderland had been “poorly managed.” 

The district declined to comment on the allegations. 

On Sept. 9, attendees of the meeting were updated about the district’s capital project, the results of a student survey, and a new electronic hall-pass system. 

The $25.3 million capital project includes a new long-awaited bus garage for $6.6 million; upgrades at the elementary school for $9.9 million, and another $5.8 million in incidentals such as construction soft costs like architectural, engineering, and legal fees, as well as new project furniture, and a $2.5 million contingency.

When the district last attempted building a bus garage, in 2017, it was scrapped due to cost concerns — over the course of seven months, the cost rose from $5 million to $6.8 million. 

“The good news is that the last brick has been” laid for the bus garage’s retaining wall, Superintendent Frank Macri told the board, and the project is back on track after a five-week delay. 

The garage is being built at the rear of the middle and high school campus, with an entrance off Martin Road. The building, which will include Voorheesville's transportation office, will also have infrastructure installed in advance for electric-vehicle charging stations.

Schools have a state requirement that, starting in 2027, new buses have zero emission — which means electric buses since hydrogen is not yet an option — and by 2035, all school buses must be zero-emissions.

The estimated date of completion for the garage is May 2025. 

Work at the elementary school is set to begin in the new year, Macri said, with the majority of the project scheduled for the summer of 2025. 

The work at the elementary school includes the current bus garage becoming an expanded cafeteria with a full kitchen. There will be additional shuffling of offices and classrooms, floor and ceiling replacements, as well as equipment upgrades. 

Also part of the project is an extensive amount of asbestos abatement, Macri said, which will take place next summer. 

Outside the building, the district plans, among other things, to install new walkways; to improve the parking lot; to construct a new maintenance building; and to stabilize a bank along the Vly Creek, which runs next to the elementary-school parking lot.

Macri said some parts of the playground will need to be temporarily removed for the drainage work, but would be reinstalled.

The elementary school portion of the project is expected to be wrapped up by November 2025, the superintendent said. 

Student survey 

Macri on Sept. 9 went over the results of a survey administered to students during the spring. 

 The survey was given to students in grades 4 through 12, and covered topics such as social-emotional learning, student engagement, school culture, self-management, positive feelings, growth mindset, self-efficacy, challenging feelings, school safety, sense of belonging, student-to-student interaction, and emotional regulation.

Approximately 140 elementary students responded to the questions.  Most topics scored positively, with favorable percentages ranging from 60 to 83 percent, results which placed the elementary school in the 80th to 99th percentile nationally for the topics.

At the middle school, about 265 students responded and results were seen as generally positive, with most areas in the 60th percentile or higher. 

The 200 high school respondents’ results were generally lower across the board compared to elementary and middle schools. 

e-hall pass

Clayton A. Bouton has implemented a new electronic hall pass system this school year. 

The computer program’s primary purpose is to track student movement in the hallways, and helps identify whether students in the hallway have permission to be there or if they might be cutting classes, and  can assist in locating students during building emergencies or evacuations. 

 Some students and parents have expressed concerns about data collection and privacy. The district does not specifically track bathroom usage or put limits on bathroom visits, the board was told on Sept. 9.