To the Editor:

The path the current Berne-Knox-Westerlo School Board appears to be following raises a number of concerns. I don't say this lightly, as I am a former member of the BKW School Board and also a retired faculty member.  Further, I am a  long-time regular attendee at board meetings over the years who respects the challenges and  responsibilities of being a board member and understands the harsh reality that the board acts as a group and that an individual may disagree.

Most disturbingly, at the Dec. 12 meeting, an agenda topic listed solely as “presentation” turned out to be a $17 million building project presentation, which was unpublicized but has great significance for all BKW residents.

The  presentation was made by Synthesis Architects of Schenectady, providing an overview of a major new building project. It was a $17 million wish list, which includes infrastructure, safety and security, modernization, bus-garage changes, asbestos removal, architectural changes, engineering, relocating offices (again), and cost overruns.

It was not apparent from the discussion that the board had a real handle on the project’s scope and specific contents. Surprisingly, at this point, the board has yet to seek community input. All of this even though the board was told it has only about 25 days to approve the plan and is leaning towards a bond vote this May. And all bonds, as we know, involve tax increases that the community should know of before approving

Additional concerns from the last board meeting include:

— 1. The public is usually not notified of the Monday meetings until the previous Friday;

— 2. Frequently the audience does not get to see the documents being discussed;

— 3. Numerous significant items are bundled into the consent agenda;

— 4. The required audit report is months late; and

— 5. The board goals for the school year are presented for the first time not in September or at worst early October but in mid-December when the year is almost half over.

This last point is particularly troubling as the stated goals are unaccompanied by specific tasks, implementations, timelines, or evaluation criteria.

For whatever reasons, recent agendas have gotten very light on necessary information for sound decision-making by either the board or the resident voters of the school district.

The district’s budget for 2016-17 is over $22 million with a current enrollment of about 795 students including pre-kindergarten students. Excluding state aid and pre-K, which is funded by the federal Head Start program, the approximately 770 students are, using the most basic means of calculation, being educated for a cost of about $29,300 per student.

While BKW will be spending about $29,300 per student this school year, the New York State average per-student cost in all 811 school districts is about $23,000.

We entrust our board members to balance the need for fiscal responsibility with the need to provide our youth with the best possible education we can provide.

We all need to be more effectively informed about the proposals for the future programs and projects being considered and their costs. The board needs to be doing much more to make that happen.

Helen Lounsbury

Berne

Editor’s note: See related story.