Tour Rye High Facilities Up for Renovation

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1. The tours are great. Let the community see what the facilities look like, see where repairs / renovations / extensions are needed. BUT, in addition to marketing the need for work / spending (aka a bond), the schools should also be finding (and explaining) ways to reduce the costs of the proposed work. In particular –

   Does the Lab extension really need to be built to support a 3rd floor? If so, better count on adding an elevator at some point. Not cheap. How about looking at what realistically an expanded HS / MS facility could support in terms of enrollment before planning for future expansion.

   Why is a new field house needed? Sure the existing one is a mess. Tear it down. But how about upgrading the existing locker rooms in the school so that they can double as the changing rooms for sports teams. Nothing is that far away from the fields. And is putting in new showers really going to lead to usage? The kids are typically heading out as soon as a game / practice is over.

   Okay, so turf fields (that aren’t in flood zones) are more reliably available than grass fields and require less annual TLC. But rather than trying to squeeze in another turf field at the HS – driving up traffic, maybe leading to a request for more lights, further encroaching on the neighbors – how about turfing Rye Rec? Sterling? These places would be accessible to the entire community, are out of a flood zone, could be a pretty large spaces, and would leave more open space by the HS / MS if it is needed for yet another expansion. There’s also the idea of cost and benefit sharing with the entire city.

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2. Bob,
   You bring up some valid points…
   A. I for one am not in support at this time for a 20mil school addition for science labs.
   B. Agreed, tear down the field house, upgrade the locker rooms, but as for the showers, when my oldest played baseball there they practiced before school at 6am, showers would be nice instead of stinking all day in school.
   C. At what/who’s expense (INJURIES) do we add more turf fields? As for “more” attractions at the REC which would bring more traffic to Midland Ave they would get quite the argument from me on this until they get serious about Midland Ave and the dangers presented here!!!

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3. Jim – short correction. The total building cost is estimated at about $27million, not $20million. At last night’s BoE meeting, a handout was provided that allocates that $27million across 3 funding sources –
   + $18.524million bond;
   + $4.3million to be funded out of annual facilities spending;
   + $3.7million to be other Budget or Donations.
   So, the total cost of the program is still $27million, but the question to be put to the public as a bond vote may appear to have a lower cost, without having actually lowered costs.

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4. News Flash – City of Rye Board of Education postpones vote on HS/MS Construction Bond. Impact is delay in targeted Dec Bond vote by taxpayers.

   Why? Why you ask? The School Board is also asking, “Why?”. But not why they postponed their vote. Rather, why did the City, at the last minute and apparently without prior notification (think phone call) send a letter raising concerns about the impact of construction (and or increased enrollment to be supported by the construction) on street traffic conditions?

   More to come, obviously. But I believe this means that the originally planned date for a public Bond vote will now slip because of the minimum amount of time that must pass between the Board agreeing to put a Bond vote to the community and the vote taking place. Of course, there will be knock on effects – depending on the time it takes to resolve the City’s points, they could be short (a week with a “special” BoE meeting to vote on the Bond) or long (slip the Bond vote into the Budget season? slip construction start into 2013?).

   Hopefully the BoE will get the City’s lette posted on its Web Site ASAP so we can all see a little bit more of what’s going on. But more importantly, hopefully the City will get straight with the Schoosl ASAP.

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5. Apparently the City Council and the Board of Education need to figure out a way to communicate better, especially with one another. Regarding communicating with the public on the proposed building project: I believe that whatever the BOE decides to include in a Bond initiative Each category needs to be clearly described in a paragraph or two so the public clearly understands what they are being asked to vote on. I also believe that the PUBLIC needs to be the deciding vote, not just the seven members of the BOE as to what the community is willing to fund to maintain our school facilities.Give the community options, but don’t skimp on addresssing the true needs of the diatrict. Yes, people, there is a time when brick and morter is important. With regard to the City Council, are the telephones not working at city hall? A joint meeting between the City and the District and no mention of the concern? Student parking (aka street parking) and traffic – There hasn’t been on campus student parking for years. IDEA – Maybe build a two story parking garage on campus, just like the one discussed in town to address the City’s own parking problems!!
   Let’s get real – THE STUDENTS ARE ALREADY IN THE SYSTEM AND THE CLASSROOMS ARE NEEDED, AND YES AS THE COMMUNITY HAS SEEN WITH THE WALKING TOURS (MAYBE THE CITY COUNCIL NEEDS A SPECIAL INVITE FOR A TOUR) THERE ARE FACILITIES RENOVATIONS NEEDED IN THE DISTRICT. Bottom line: Lets work together for our CHILDREN, our STUDENTS and our COMMUNITY.

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6. Well, the bond vote is back on the School Board’s agenda for next Tuesday night. And the PTOs are out plugging more tours to show off the decrepit state of the schools (MS/HS) – so bad that our kids can’t learn. Hmmm. Guess you gotta drum up support for a $20million bond and 2.75%+ tax rate increase with lots of tours.

   Cross posted from Patch.

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