GUILDERLAND — Plans are progressing to house outside pre-kindergarten programs in extra school district classrooms with the goal of having them filled by fall.

Last Wednesday, Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders gave the school board 10-year enrollment projections showing a decrease of about 180 students to 4,686.

The study, he said, was to answer the question: How much space is the district going to have in the future?

With enrollment nearly flat, Sanders surmised the space available now would remain available for the decade ahead.

Over the next 10 years, enrollment at the district’s five elementary schools combined is expected to increase from 2,011 to 2,028; the middle school enrollment is expected to decrease from 1,169 to 1,089; and the high school enrollment is expected to decrease from 4,830 to 4,686.

In June, the board had heard reports from four task force committees that considered, in addition to pre-kindergarten, adult day care, incubator start-ups, and commercial rental to fill the empty classrooms.

The task force had been set up after the school board, in a split vote, rejected recommendations from a consultant the district had hired to study the problems of declining enrollment — Guilderland has lost 12 percent of its students in the last decade.

In June 2014, Paul Seversky presented a controversial report that said pupil capacity at the district’s five elementary schools is under-used by about 14 percent; the middle school is under-used by about 25 percent; and the high school is also under-used by about 25 percent.

This fall, district administrators said that Seversky’s report looked at the number of students in a school compared to its square footage as opposed to actual space that would be available to rent. “We are currently using space for a variety of things that’s convenient for us,” said Wiles.

Seversky’s report had concluded with six scenarios: One maintained the status quo and the other five proposed saving money by closing an elementary school — four would have closed Altamont Elementary and one would have shut Lynnwood Elementary. Seversky calculated this would save $1.2 million annually.

Months of village protests followed and, last August, the school board decided to set aside Seversky’s recommendations. Rather than closing a school to solve the problem of excess space caused by declining enrollment, the task force of citizen volunteers and school leaders was charged with looking at potential alternative uses for empty classrooms.

Last Wednesday, Superintendent Marie Wiles said that the district had six pre-kindergarten care providers answer a survey asking about their needs for such things as play areas, bathrooms, parking, and security.

“They gave us varied but useful information,” Wiles said.

The next step, she said, would be to meet with the principals of the schools that have the available space — Altamont Elementary, Pine Bush Elementary, and Farnsworth Middle School.

A framework will be created to which providers will respond, said Wiles, likening it to a request for proposals.

“We’re moving along at a good pace,” she said.

Wiles said she was “optimistic” that the classrooms could be filled by next fall. She also said, the program may be small the first year and grow over time.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Heard from Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Demian Singleton that Guilderland’s allocation from the Smart Schools Bond Act of 2014 is $2,096,732. The district submitted an Instructional Technology Plan that was approved and next has to create an investment plan to show how the funds will be used.

Parents, teachers, students, and the public will participate in the plan, which is to be approved by the school board. The plan will be posted on the district website for 30 days to allow for written feedback and the board will also hold a hearing on the plan, which then must be approved by a state board.

There is no deadline for spending the money, Singleton said, and the district will be reimbursed as it spends. “We’ll do it bit by bit,” said Singleton;

— Learned that Guilderland High School students presented the chemistry of color changing markers at an Oct. 17 National Chemistry Day event at the New York State Museum, winning the Best Booth Award;

— Heard from Wiles about the Nov. 3 Superintendent’s Conference Day, focusing on inclusion — “how to make each student belong academically, socially, and emotionally,” she said.

“This is a journey,” Wiles said of the ongoing emphasis the district is placing on inclusion;

— Learned from Wiles that the district got approval in two days from the state for a hardship waiver on its Annual Professional Performance Review plan. The state is requiring districts to have new APPR plans approved by Nov. 15 and many are seeking waivers; the four-month hardship waiver is being extended to districts bargaining in good faith.

Guilderland is currently negotiating with the Guilderland Teachers’ Association and the Guilderland Principals’ Association. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” concluded Wiles;

— Discussed an invitation from GTA President Erin McNamara to attend a meeting of the union’s executive committee. School board President Allan Simpson said, if five or more school board members attended the meeting that, under the state’s Open Meetings Law, it would have to be advertised as a public meeting.

Board member Colleen O’Connell disagreed, likening it to nine board members going to see a play. She said, if school board members were listening, but not voting, “That’s not a board meeting.”

Wiles said the district’s lawyer, Jeffrey Honeywell, had said, “The key piece is doing business of a school district.” Board member Christopher McManus suggested that just the board president and vice president go, so that it wouldn’t be a quorum.

“You’re going to send four people just to skirt the rules?” asked O’Connell. “That’s very manipulative.”

“Having it as a public meeting will take away from it,” said McManus.

Wiles reiterated that that the governing board of the district would be meeting with the committee that steers its largest union and asked, “How could this not be the business of the school district?”;

— Heard from Wiles that she has joined the Union Graduate College School of Education Advisory Board, which strives to prepare teacher candidates;

— Agreed to have Guilderland schools serve as emergency shelter for the Schoharie district;

— Extended a contract with Karyn A. Amico-Dziezynski for physical therapy services for the 2015-16 school year at the rate of $49.60 an hour;

— Approved 11 change orders for the $17 million bond project currently underway, and also agreed to amend the district’s contract with architectural firm CSArch to provide additional design and construction services;

— Adopted policies on admission of non-resident students and on visitors to schools;

— Approved three new clubs: The Political Club at the middle school to discuss national and international politics, the Political Debate and Discussion Club at the high school, and the Youth Activation Committee at the high school to promote Unified Sports and raise awareness of people with disabilities;

—Heard that an a cappella singing group for middle school boys was approved after the district’s lawyer said there would be no problem. Some board members, at a previous meeting, had raised concerns it would violate Title IX;

— Heard from Tara Molloy-Grocki, a second-grade teacher at Guilderland Elementary School and a parent of Guilderland students, the only person to speak on next year’s budget at a meeting tagged to hear such comments, about programs she’d like to see restored after years of cuts.

“We need a full-time social worker all day, every day,” she said, and also advocated for full-time elementary teaching assistants and “more support” for special education students.

And, finally, she asked the board to bring back the former elementary enrichment program, as opposed to the current after-school model. “It makes me sad we don’t have opportunities for kids who excel,” she said;

— Heard from Altamont Elementary School Principal Peter Brabant about a field trip to a local museum where 12 students and three adults got stuck in an elevator. “People rallied,” he said, changing bus runs to accommodate the late return trip. Brabant called it “an example of the quality of people that you have in the district” and

— Met in executive session, according to the agenda, “to discuss the employment history of a particular person and matters leading to potential discipline,” and “to discuss matters pertaining to potential litigation.”