The Bethlehem Central school board is asking the public to weigh in on borrowing the needed funds for district-wide facilities upgrades.
According to a five-year plan developed by the district in 2011, about $9.1 million of upgrades are suggested over 10 years to fix the infrastructure of buildings, upgrade water and lighting fixtures and replace aging equipment. About another $4 million would be needed to make expansive athletic facilities improvements and I.T. system upgrades.
“We have educational needs and infrastructure needs that have been deferred for far too long,” said Superintendent Thomas Douglas. “Even with the previous bond issues (in 2003), it still wasn’t covering the constant deferment of repairs.”
BC Operations and Maintenance Director Gregg Nolte said the main concern is protecting the structural integrity of each of the district’s 11 facilities and 22 out-buildings and ensuring the health and safety of students and staff.
The department has identified repairs needed to the roofs at Slingerlands and Glenmont Elementary Schools, as well as the high school, with façade and masonry repairs needed at the middle school. Nolte estimates $20,000 a year is spent on patching the roofs.
“If we don’t ever want to come to another $93 million bond again, we need to have some type of plan so that when equipment begins to fail or infrastructure starts to exceed its expected life, we can go in and replace and not do it on an emergency basis,” said Nolte.
District officials said the previous bond has been paid off and all of the money was used to upgrade the district’s facilities to allow for growing enrollment numbers. With the expansions completed, other upgrade projects that have been put off for years need to be addressed.
Douglas said the growing number of facilities deferments across the state due to budget constraints led the Education Department several years ago to institute condition surveys for districts. “It is one of the mandates the state put into place that is a very good educational mandate for planning purposes,” he said.
Other projects include replacing old staircases, removing asbestos tiles and retrofitting old bathrooms, lighting fixtures and windows that are decades old to become more energy efficient. Many buildings also need upgrades to the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, such as replacing generators, boilers and insulation.
Another $700,000 would be needed to provide technology upgrades. As more state-required testing begin to move online, the district said server upgrades are needed, the middle school is still not working on a wireless system and a larger storage and backup network is needed in case of emergencies.
“One of the things we also have to recognize is even before we got into the last budget cycle, there was a grassroots community initiative developing in regards to the athletic situation here at Bethlehem,” said Douglas. “They’re just as much a part of the community as anyone else.”
In the fall, parents Jim Giacone, Scott Bonanno and Chuck Clas asked the board to consider a bond to upgrade the district’s sports facilities after many games had to be canceled because of drainage issues and senior night had to be held at a different school.
Athletic Director John DeMeo had already identified needed upgrades to the turf, track, lighting and sound systems and the bleachers. The costs could run between $2 million and $3.2 million.
“Due to the change of superintendents and the budget restraints, we kind of took a back seat with the hope of voting a bond,” said Giacone at the Wednesday, Aug. 8 school board meeting.
The district is holding a community forum to discuss the possibility of a bond, the amount that residents would be comfortable borrowing and what should be included in the bond for upgrades. It will be held on Monday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m. in the middle school library.
“The one thing that is very common and I think the general person knows is the more you put off repairs and the more you put off improving your infrastructure, the more it’s going to cost down the road,” said Douglas. “Nothing is getting cheaper.”
