GUILDERLAND — Voters will decide on Nov. 13 whether the school district should spend $27 million to renovate five elementary schools, improve technology and safety, and build a new district office.

The eight members at Tuesday's school board meeting all voted in favor of a series of resolutions dealing with the referendum.

Board member Hy Dubowsky called it "a very good project." He said, "We will be pleased to go out there and talk to the community about it."

Board President Richard Weisz told the architects from Collins & Scoville who had worked for months with a committee, developing the plans, "We hope the community will join us and celebrate the work you did by turning out for the vote."

Superintendent Gregory Aidala said yesterday that, if the project is approved, the average Guilderland homeowner, with a house valued at $180,000, would pay under $30 a year in taxes.

On Tuesday, the board passed a State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) resolution, naming itself as lead agency and asserting that the project, which involves "maintenance or repair," will have no negative environmental impact.

Second, the board established a $750,000 capital reserve fund, which, Weisz said, "allows us to use the money to reduce the borrowing." The district is required by the state to have less than 3 percent of its budget in a fund balance and Weisz said the new reserve fund will "help solve" that problem.

Third, the board established Nov. 13 as the referendum date; voting will take place all day at each of the five elementary-school polling places.

Finally, the board agreed that, if there are excess funds from the project, it can, at a later date, decide to use those funds for second- and third-tier priorities set up by the facilities committee.

If the public approves the project in November, it could be completed by September of 2010, Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders told the school board in July.

The plan calls for $17.4 million in renovations to the high school and at the district's five elementary schools.

Upgrades across the district in technology and in safety and security are slated at $5.7 million. And relocating the district office from a building near the middle school to the high school is slated at $3.9 million; the old office will be used for storage.

Opening stats

The district, which has been anticipating a 10-percent drop in enrollment, had slightly more students than it projected for the opening week of school.

"We welcomed 5,404 students," said Superintendent Aidala; this is about 52 more students district-wide than projected but still 21 fewer students than last June.

Elementary enrollment totaled 2,173, a drop of 17, but still higher than expected. Altamont remains the smallest elementary school. Pine Bush gained 20 students and is now just two students shy of the largest school, Guilderland Elementary; if the trend continues, it will be the largest next year, Aidala said.

Middle-school enrollment this year is 1,303. The drop of 59 students was "not a surprise," said Aidala, and was 17 more than projected.

High-school enrollment is 1,928, which is 55 more students than last year and 30 students more than projected.

The district also has 49 new teachers, fairly evenly distributed among the three levels; two-thirds of them have master's degrees, said Aidala.
"We're off to a great start. There inevitably are glitches"" he said of the new school year, "but, for the most part, things are going smoothly."

Other business

In other business, the school board:

— Heard from Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Nancy Andress that she and Westmere Elementary School Principal Debbie Drumm will co-chair an advisory committee that will look at the pros and cons of a full-day kindergarten program. Guilderland currently has a half-day program.

The committee, which will include administrators, teachers, local child-care providers, school-board members, and parents, will study the capacity of the school district to hold a full-day program and also look at other eligible agencies. It will also consider budget implications and the way in which a full-day program may be implemented.

— The committee will present its recommendations to the school board in March;

— Entered into a municpal cooperation agreement for energy purchasing services;

— Approved service contracts with the board of Cooperative Educational Services.

"What really drives most of these programs," said Sanders, "is it would be cost-prohibitive to offer them in -house.";

— Heard from Weisz, who heads the school board's audit committee, that the state comptroller's office, which has audited the district, is expected to give the committee "a first look at their draft comments" on Sept. 27;

— Heard from Denise Eisele, who heads the board's communications committee, that it has "a busy year ahead."

The board will continue to offer "coffee talks," informal meetings with constituents. Pairs of board members are scheduled to be on hand from 10 a.m. to noon on three dates — Oct. 13 and Nov. 3 at the Guilderland Public Library, and Oct. 24 at the YMCA.

Board members will also promote the $27 million project to upgrade facilities at school open houses and PTA meetings.

And the committee plans to discuss teachers' websites. Board member Colleen O'Connell said the goal is to "try to streamline it and get a dialogue going";

— Heard from Weisz concerns about "the annual week of sticker shock." He said he'd like the board's policy committee to look at dealing with the cost of school supplies, currently shouldered by parents.

"Maybe it's time for us to see if we can come up with a way to ease the individual family burden," said Weisz.

Aidala said that this year, for the first time, the middle school purchased materials in bulk and then set up four days in August where the supplies could be purchased at school.

"What we didn't sell, we returned to the vendor," he said.

Weisz said that sometimes a well-meaning teacher asks for a certain kind of notebook, making it more costly for parents. "We need to have a policy that encourages our parents and staff to talk," he said;

— Heard a request from Weisz that each board member present their concept of technology to help guide the staff which must design a technology program; and

— Met in closed session to review four things — a student matter, administrative performance, the contract for an about-to-be-hired superintendent, and candidates for a new high-school principal.

Aidala told The Enterprise yesterday that no actions were taken after the closed session.