Friday, May 25, 2012

Board Approves Bond Referendum for Science Labs, Auditorium

At a May 24th special meeting, the Bronxville Board of Education approved borrowing $5 million to support a $10 million capital plan encompassing Middle School science lab upgrades, extensive auditorium renovations, and a number of high priority infrastructure items. The overall project represents a private-public partnership, with $3 million coming from the Bronxville School Foundation, the PTA, and other private donors. As stated in the resolution, the remaining $2 million will come from a construction reserve created in 2011.  Voters will have the opportunity to vote on this project at a special election scheduled for October 2nd.

The Board's action fulfills the facilities goal it adopted in 2010, to update and finance a long-range capital plan, including renovating the science classrooms and auditorium. Superintendent David Quattrone reviewed the long history of feasibility  studies, space analysis, and potential designs for the auditorium, including a "B+ Plan" that the Board declined to advance in June of 2011, preferring to commission an independent review and an expanded design team.

The new schematic design, reviewed in detail by the facilities committee throughout the fall, increased the seating capacity from 347 to 508, largely through the addition of a side lobby that gives more flexibility and functionality to the entire area.  Private donations were solicited to make this new design financially possible, and thus far the Bronxville School Foundation has donated $850,000, and the PTA has pledged $400,000 with additional funds expected from the proceeds of this year's benefit.  A third endeavor, the Final Act, spearheaded by three residents, hopes to raise the funds still needed to reach the $3 million target. For residents who want more information, especially those without children in the schools, a session will be held in the auditorium at 7 PM on Wednesday, May 30, 2012.

The District's architect, Russ Davidson of KG&D, described the proposed projects, related budgets, and cost containment strategies. The presentation can be found here. Assistant Superintendent Dan Carlin presented projections about future expenditures, the cost of purchasing bonds, and impact on individual taxpayers. His presentation is here.The Board then engaged in discussion about various options, mostly concerning cost containment strategies.  Although capital expenditures are exempt from the mandated tax cap, there was concern about increasing the overall tax burden. The Board also discussed ways to reduce that burden, including value engineering, developing bidding alternates, and transferring more surplus into the construction reserves.  A combination of these approaches could reduce the need to borrow money.

After hearing a number of public comments about cost, process, the scope of the renovations, and projected expenditures, the Board approved the referendum, 6-1.  The prevailing view supported the idea of a $5 million bond as a way of ensuring project costs would be covered. Board member Chris Atayan opposed the project based on possible future cost implications for the school's academic program and concerns about the District's ability to manage the project.  Outgoing Board member Rick Rugani suggested that the Board seriously consider trimming the project costs, deploying more surplus funds to the construction reserve, and thus lowering the amount to be bonded.

The private campaign for donations continues, the Board will review the allocation of surplus funds at its June meeting, and the special election is scheduled for October 2.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Board Approves Foundation Grants

The Bronxville Board of Education accepted $250,000 in Foundation grants at its May 15th meeting.  Teachers, students, and parents submitted grant applications earlier this spring, and Foundation Board members reviewed the grants after dialogue with each applicant and administrative input. The approved grants encompass a range of requests designed to improve the academic program, professional development, and the learning environment. This year's grants included a rock climbing wall, a mobile TV production unit for the video club and class, a new scoreboard for the gym, and the District's first foray into e-readers. Students and teachers will be able to use the e-books for research, class projects, and independent reading. The Foundation also will provide funds for document cameras at grade 3 and a teaching garden for Elementary science.

Several grants focused on the learning environment, including installing a basketball hoop on the playground, beautification of the Middle School's first floor, and additional displays for the Character Counts program.  Professional learning activities also received support, including a collaboration with Harvard's Project Zero around the assessment of critical thinking, instructional coaching programs, and department-wide participation at certain conferences.

Dr. Charles Cain, the Board of Education's liaison to the Foundation, complimented both the faculty for the range and quality of proposals and the Foundation for its work to shape the proposals and add significant value to the School's educational programs.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Board Holds Special Meeting to Consider Bond Proposal for Capital Projects

The Bronxville Board of Education has called for a special meeting on Thursday, May 24 to review its Capital Plan and consider a bond proposal to go before voters this coming fall.  The meeting, open to the public, will be held at 7 PM in the School's multi-purpose room.  The Board will hear presentations by Superintendent David Quattrone, architect Russ Davidson of KG&D, and Dan Carlin, Assistant Superintendent for Business.  The presentation will address issues of project history, educational need, cost, schedule, and tax implications.

Private contributions have played a key role in moving this plan forward.  In April the Bronxville School Foundation made a grant of $850,000 for the auditorium renovation.  In early May, the PTA added $400,000 and is also expected to contribute about $450,000 that was raised at its benefit, "Staging Our Future." A third effort, "The Final Act," is currently underway, with the target of raising a total of $3 million in private contributions.  The Board of Education expressed an interest in creating a public/private partnership for the capital plan as a fiscally prudent way to respond to economic realities, and the Foundation, the PTA, and individual residents have responded accordingly.  The concept of this partnership is to augment basic renovation work funded by the district with features that add significant value to current and future students.  The total cost of the plan is estimated at $10 million (including the private contributions).

The District has created a webpage dedicated to information about this project. Schematic designs, budgets, presentations, and debt service trends can be found there.  Further information will be added as it becomes available.

School Budget Passes; Atayan and Rohr Elected as Trustees

In this first year of a mandated tax levy cap, Bronxville voters approved a school budget of $44,240,325 by almost a 4 to 1 margin (78%-22%).  The final vote was 299-83. The spending plan represented a 1.46% budget-to-budget increase and a .98% levy increase -- below the limit required by the cap.  In April the Board allocated $950,000 of reserves as a way of lessening the tax burden on Village residents. 


The election also included competition for the Board of Education. Chris Atayan, an incumbent running for his second term, ran opposed and garnered 314 votes.  Three candidates vied for a second, open position, and Jeffrey Rohr took the seat with 245 votes, defeating William Rizzo (206 votes) and Kurt Fuchs (38 votes).  The successful candidates take office in July, when the Board holds its reorganization meeting

Monday, May 7, 2012

Board to Consider Bond Resolution for Capital Plan

The Bronxville Board of Education has scheduled a special meeting to determine whether or not to go forward with a $10 million capital plan encompassing renovation of middle school science labs, the auditorium, and other infrastructure improvements. The Board hopes to fund the plan with a combination of reserves (there is currently $2 million in a construction reserves), bonds, and $3 million of private donations, including major contributions by the Bronxville School Foundation and the PTA.

Proposed MS science lab renovations
The special meeting will be held on May 24th at 7 PM in the multipurpose room. At that time, the Board and the public will hear presentations by our architects, KG&D, and school officials that address several issues related to the proposals:

  • What financial challenges do we foresee in the future, and how do we plan to address them in a tax cap environment?
  • What is the incremental tax burden of these projects and what is the best way to finance the plan?
  • What is our track record of project management? How can we assure the public that we have adequate controls in place regarding cost and schedule?
  • Have we identified ways to reduce costs for both the science labs and the auditorium through value engineering?
  • What financial challenges do we foresee in the future, and how do we plan to address them in a tax cap environment?
  • What is the incremental tax burden of these projects and what is the best way to finance the plan?
Board President James Hudson set the context for the meeting with remarks made at the opening of the meeting on May 3rd. His comments can be found here, and a background document about the auditorium prepared by Superintendent David Quattrone can be found here.

Remarks by Dr. James Hudson, President, Bronxville Board of Education


Bronxville’s Capital Plan

The Bronxville Board of Education has before it a proposed capital improvement plan with a total cost of 10 million. This includes renovations to the auditorium, middle school science labs, and infrastructure related to building maintenance.

None of these projects are new; they have been under consideration for years. They are being advanced now having been on hold pending completion of recovery from the 2007 flood.

What is the need to address these projects now?

Few people see our middle school science rooms, but it has been years since they have been updated to the modern standard we have in the high school. The renovations have been long awaited and will have an immediate impact on the quality of the education experience for the MS students.

As for the auditorium, no one has suggested it does not need extensive renovation. It was last remodeled in the early 1960’s. There has been only minor work since then. The balcony is closed for safety reasons, many seats do not work, much of the rigging is unsafe and unusable, and the sight lines and ability to hear are terrible.

So the question gets down to what scope of renovation is appropriate:
- Should the district merely replace all the seating, patch the holes in the walls put in new rigging, remodel the balcony so it is safe but leave all the other issues which make an auditorium a theater for drama, for music and for public speaking in addition to being an assembly place for students, parents, and the community at large? This alone has a high cost to it and would dramatically decrease seating capacity in keeping with todays codes.

- Should the district make the auditorium a theatrical space worthy of a Broadway musical?

- Or should the district and community advance a project that will allow for an appropriate sized auditorium that can function as well as a theater as it does as the educational space that it is for so many other non-theatrical events?

These are the options posed to the Board and to the Facilities Committee over the past few years. The Facilities Committee, made up of Board members, administration, community members and members of the PTA and Foundation, have been studying this for an extended period and settled on the third option this past fall. With the complete support of the Board, new plans were developed to consider what it would take to make the auditorium an appropriate theatrical, education and assembly space that will serve the community and the school for years to come. Our expanded design team and facilities committee determined that the use of a lobby attached to the auditorium would allow for the appropriate seating capacity, sight lines and audio components in addition to being a welcome education space in its own right. It seems to have resolved the issues that the Facilities Committee had struggled with, and the new plan even satisfied two board members on the Facilities Committee who thought it could not be done.

What about cost and affordability?

Contemplating these financial needs, the Board of Education recommended and the community voted for the creation of a Capital Reserve Fund last year, and we funded that reserve with $2 million dollars intended for these projects.

We are fortunate in Bronxville to approach this project in a rather unique way. With the realization that there are significant costs associated with these projects and it would take years to get a reserve fund to this amount, a dialogue began as to seeking private donations/funding to allow the project to advance from a limited scope to a project that will serve the needs of the students, the district and the community for the long-term future.

Already the Bronxville School Foundation has granted $850,000 toward this project and the PTA has pledged another $400,000. We as a community cannot thank them enough for this generosity and for their hard work as they continue to raise these important private funds. The hope is that $3 million dollars will be raised privately. It is important to understand that these funds are for the project as advanced and are not intended for a scaled back project. They are there to support the schematic design as proposed (see school web site for details).

If we do some quick math we realize that we expect the construction reserve and private contributions to total $5 million dollars. So how shall we raise the other $5 million needed to move forward with our capital plan?

Just two weeks ago, we presented for the first time to the public what a municipal bond for 5 million dollars would look like and how it would impact one’s taxes. It was shown that because of decreasing debt service and historically low interest rates that the impact on a homeowner’s taxes would be approximately $142 per $1 million of assessed property value. And this incremental cost would disappear after 2019.

Next Steps

Although the proposed capital plan has been reviewed and analyzed by the school administration and members of the Board, we recognize the need to communicate with the public about this work. To this end we have scheduled a special meeting for Thursday, May 24th at 7 PM in the multi-purpose room. At that time school officials and our architects, KG&D, will again present an overview of the capital plan. We will once again address the key questions:

  • What financial challenges do we foresee in the future, and how do we plan to address them in a tax cap environment?
  • What is the incremental tax burden of these projects and what is the best way to finance the plan?
  • What is our track record of project management? How can we assure the public that we have adequate controls in place regarding cost and schedule?
  • Have we identified ways to reduce costs for both the science labs and the auditorium through value engineering?

We invite the public to participate in this process, and we remind our fellow residents that ultimately we collectively determine how best to proceed through the democratic process, and if the Board so approves, schedule a vote on the funding of this capital plan in the early fall.