District voters approve Building Project Referendum

On Tuesday, November 13, 2007, district residents approved a $26,971,500 building project referendum to renovate portions of the district’s five elementary schools; upgrade safety, security, and technology systems district wide; and relocate the district administrative offices to Guilderland High School. The project will enable GCSD to continue to provide safe and well-maintained facilities to support student learning and achievement, and will address many of the district’s long-range needs. The proposal also aims to maximize the use of $1.78 million in EXCEL Aid that the district has been awarded by the State.

Committed to our future

At the start of the 2006-07 school year, Guilderland Central School District was notified by the state that it was eligible to receive $1.78 million in EXCEL aid (a form of state aid). To explore how the district might best utilize these funds, the Board of Education authorized the formation of a committee to examine the needs of the district’s facilities with particular emphasis on the following areas:

• Renovations in each of the district’s five elementary schools;

• District wide technology improvements;

• Safety and security improvements;

• Options for future district office space; and

• Maximizing the use of $1.78 million dollars in EXCEL aid.

Guided by the district’s architects, the Facilities Committee—made up of administrators, teachers and district staff, Board members, parents, and community volunteers—met throughout the spring to assess conditions within the seven school buildings, touring facilities and talking with staff. Their guiding principles were to ensure that the district can provide safe and well-maintained facilities to support student learning and achievement, to promote responsible stewardship of the district’s investment in its facilities, and to consider the long-range needs of the district.

The Committee presented its final building project proposal to the Board of Education in late summer. At its September 11 meeting, the Board adopted a resolution to put the proposed plan before district voters in mid-November.

What areas will be addressed under the proposal?

 The goal of the proposed plan is to protect the community’s investment in its schools by addressing necessary internal and external improvements focusing primarily on the five elementary school buildings. These needs have not been addressed on a comprehensive basis when compared to the high school and middle school which had large scale referendums approved by district residents in 1995 and 2001, respectively.

Many of the items identified by the Facilities Committee as requiring attention at the elementary level are health and safety concerns (traffic patterns, ventilation, asbestos abatement, lighting, etc.) or through their failure have the potential to disrupt the educational process (heating systems and roofs in need of replacement, upgrades to electrical systems, etc.). These needs will not go away.

With the current availability of the state’s EXCEL aid program, now is the time for the district to address these building concerns. The district can be proactive in making necessary renovations before having to make the repairs on an emergency basis—which can often be more costly.

With respect to technology, over the past ten years the district has annually allocated $200,000 to $250,000 for equipment and hardware to support well over 5,000 students and more than 1,000 employees. However, this approach by itself will never enable the district to surge forward or reach the “cutting edge” in the ever-changing world of instructional technology.

As the nanotechnology era continues to unfold in the Capital Region, the technology plan outlined by the Facilities Committee will enable the district to institute much needed improvements well beyond the capacity of its annual budget. We will be focusing on the infrastructure and K-12 instructional priorities which will directly impact students in the following ways:

• Students and teachers in all schools will have greater access to computers and computer network services. n The High School technology education classrooms will be renovated and the program restructured so that students can take pre-engineering courses with appropriate computer and technical equipment.

• Security systems (additional security cameras, swipe card door access, etc.) will be enhanced at each school.

• The technology cabling infrastructure and electrical service will be upgraded in the elementary schools.

The proposed plan lays the foundation to meet our technology needs both now and in the future.

Finally, the third part of the proposed plan calls for relocating the district’s administrative offices to Guilderland High School. In addition to structural concerns, the current office building suffers from poor heating and ventilation systems, inadequate site drainage, an overburdened electrical system, and is at capacity with respect to both workspace and conference areas.

By relocating the offices to the High School, versus making major renovations of the current site, the district will not only be eligible to receive NYS building aid on the project but will also be initiating a much needed long-term solution.

Protecting your investment

Utilizing the district’s $1.78 million EXCEL aid allocation as well as the newly established $750,000 Capital Reserve Fund (approved by voters in May 2007) as a foundation, the Facilities Committee recommended to the Board of Education a project totaling $26,971,500 which has the following components:

8$17,380,900 for renovations to electrical, heating and ventilation, roofing, and communications systems at Altamont, Guilderland, Lynnwood, Pine Bush, and Westmere elementary schools.

This facet of the project will address the following:

8 $5,710,600 devoted to technology infrastructure and program improvements as well as safety and security upgrades.

This facet of the project will address the following:

8$3,880,000 to relocate the district administrative offices to Guilderland High School and construct new classrooms to accommodate the change in the building configuration.

This facet of the project will:

• Renovate existing classroom space at the high school to house the relocated district office.

• Construct a 10-classroom addition to the building in order to accommodate the district office relocation.

• Create additional shared conference room space.

How much will the project cost me?

In addition to the EXCEL aid mentioned previously, the cost of the proposed project would also be offset by New York State building aid (60%) and by the Capital Reserve Fund established earlier this year ($750,000).

The tax impact of the proposed building project will be approximately 16.2 cents per $1,000 assessed value. For district residents owning a home or property with an assessed value of $180,000 (the average assessment in the Town of Guilderland), the estimated tax increase is $2.43 per month or approximately $29 per year.

The proposed renovations are expected to be completed by the fall of 2010.