Minutes

March 24, 2004 Master Plan Committee Meeting

Taken by Charles Hill

Meeting started at 7:20 PM

Mr. Abramson reviewed various school options, starting with Brinckerhoff

• Scenarios assume 20/class K-2, 23/class 3-5
• See the web version of his PowerPoint presentation for more details

Brinckerhoff

• Return art room to full size room
• Move OTPT to a resource room
• 4 classrooms per grade
• No additional changes needed for 516 student size

Evans

• Return art room and teacher room in basement to storage areas
• 2 classrooms per grade
• Possible expansion on the west side would cram the site

A digression took place regarding build vs. add-on scenarios.

• How much would the voters support? Would they support constructing a new elementary school?
• Assemblyman Miller commented that he thinks that the state will never again offer as much funding for building as is the case now. You could choose not to build now, but the result would be that state construction money would go to other districts.
• Can we expand Evans toward Wappingers JHS? Abramson thinks not.

Fishkill

• Could connect the back wings with a 3-4 classroom addition
• Pull music out of the basement
• Possibly get the main entrance back to the old entrance, put in a reasonable office for the principal

Fishkill Plains

• The current configuration works for a 3 classroom/grade configuration (387 students)
• Has the land area to double the size of the school; would have to move the bus garage out, adding a wing toward where it is now and another wing off the north side of the back; add a gym, art room, other facilities (question: what about the cafeteria? expand into adjacent rooms?) (774 students). Thinks that development in the area will bring sewers nearby that the district could connect to.

Gayhead

• Operate as a 4 classroom/grade school (516 students); add a gym on the north side

Kinry Road

• If it is to operate as a K-5 school, would need to add rooms for kindergarten (and kindergarten-sized students)
• Add 8 classrooms
• Lack of sewer hook-up limits the ability to expand it

Myers Corners

• Needs and elevator.
• Add 4 rooms to hold 774 students; works well at 645 (don't need to add rooms)

Oak Grove

• Could add 4 rooms to bring it to 516 students

Sheafe Road

• Add 2 rooms to bring it to 516 (4 classrooms/grade)

Vassar Road

• Lack of sewers limits expansion
• To go K-5, need to upgrade the gym
• Needs a significant addition to get to 387

IF BUILD A NEW SCHOOL

• Size max at 516 students (4 classrooms/grade)

COSTS APPROXIMATIONS (ROUGH)

• All scenarios include 2 new middle schools
• Scenario A1, 2 new elementary schools, holds 5289 students, cost factor of 40.85
• Scenario A2, no new elementary schools, holds 5547, cost factor of 22
• Scenario A3, 1 new elementary school, 5547, cost factor of 33.6
• Scenario A4, full day K as an add-on to other plans, cost factor of 8.6 by itself
• Some discussion of the idea of a "cost factor" - is this money? No.
• Abramson believes that the state gives more funding to additions on existing building than it does to new school construction.

Showed a chart of Scenario A3. It can handle up to 5547 students at the 20/23 class size maximums. Should there be significant grown in the district beyond that, this scenario can handle 6192 at 23/25.

Question: has parking been factored into the planning? Yes, for the most part. But not at all schools.

Question: Will the district guarantee that all approved projects get done and not, in the long run, just some of them? Abramson commented that equity was a factor in developing a plan and that all schools have some improvement included in the plan; some is infrastructure (windows, doors, ventilation, etc).

Question: Will we be looking at cost information in two weeks? Abramson said that it would be somewhat longer than that, but that we would get to it soon. The costs we are looking at do not include staffing.

A discussion of staffing costs ensured. How many new teachers? 40? What about support staff?

Question: Would the construction work be done while school is in session? Abramson: one option might be to empty a school, do all the work on that, then bring students back. Also, work can be done in the summer.

Wendy McNamara on extended day kindergarten for that subcommittee (see the web version of the subcommittee’s PowerPoint presentation for more detail)

• Everyone gains from this
• How do you get people to understand this
• Proposal, do two shifts of extended day (add an hour to the current kindergarten time): 8-1130, 1230-4 PM
• House students in the vacated grade 6 classrooms from Kinry and Myers, plus one other school
• 20 students per room
• 3 kindergarten centers; results in more evaluation and testing
• Critical to do evaluation at an early age
• May need fewer primary project teachers
• Can do enrichment at the centers
• Makes bus routes more efficient (some discussion of this; some skepticism; worth a look)
• Much discussion on a range of issues: amount of additional instructional time students would really get; what kind of instruction; what kind of building would centers work best in?; what does the research say about extended day versus full day; what is the impact on contractual issues? Will the communications committee convey extended day kindergarten information to the public?
• Many generally favorable comments about extended day, though not a settled issue. Many implications. Busing; parent issues.
• If you do this in centers, does it open up classroom space? Abramson thinks not; some say yes.
• Some questions about what the research evidence says. Variano suggest doing a Wappingers research study.

The meeting broke up at 9:10