Various community leaders are urging people to attend the school board meeting the night of October 6th to learn more about the proposed $50,000,000 bond the district has proposed to fund urgent repairs to the school district’s infrastructure. Below are example of some of them along with documents related to the meeting:
Proposed Bond Resolution Handout
CSDNR Infrastructure Project Budget
Trinity PTA Newsletter:
1. Last year, our entire PTA board went to the Board of Education meetings (BoE) in order to shed light on much needed repairs in our school building, some of which still are urgent. Repairs were due to begin as soon as the school year ended, but sadly, it is now October and nothing has been done. The district has told us that repairs will begin mid to late October, at night and on the weekends. This remains to be seen.
On Tuesday, October 6th, there is a BoE meeting at 7PM, held at the Linda Kelly Theatre located at the New Rochelle High School. We are asking any and all parents who are able to attend, to please do so.
If you wish to speak, you may call the BoE in advance to register, 914-576-4219. Keep in mind that only 2 minutes are allowed. Mr. Jeffrey White will be in attendance, and he is the one that gives the approval to start repairs. The more parents he sees in attendance and speaking up from Trinity, the better. He, as well as the district, need to know that we will not stop until the negligence towards our building is rectified.
Below is a quick summation of the issues at hand. You may touch upon any or all of them, whatever you feel comfortable with. There is no right or wrong.
Here is a list of the most urgent repairs that are needed that directly affect us:
*Leaky roof in the new wing (when it snows, teachers have to use buckets)
*We need to test for mold (where there is standing water, there is mold)
*Lack of proper heating in the new wing of the school, this impacts 3rd, 4th and 5th graders (kids should not have to wear coats, hats and gloves in the classrooms in order to keep warm). This condition is not conducive to learning, not mention it leads to frequent colds and upper respiratory infections during the winter months.
*Poor and dangerous lighting in the auditorium – we were promised the lighting would be replaced as soon as the budget was approved back in June 2015. Well the budget was approved, but the repairs have yet to start. In the meantime, the auditorium is where the upper grades congregate in the morning, where assemblies are held, as well as graduation ceremonies, plays, and concerts take place on a yearly basis. All of this action becomes dangerous when a location is not properly illuminated, as is the case right now.
*Proper and prompt snow removal on Church St. MUST be implemented and enforced. There is a huge liability when parents and children have to climb over ice covered snow mounds at drop off in the morning or at dismissal. This ongoing condition also makes it next to impossible to park properly.
*Sink holes on the blacktop
*Broken structures in our playground
2. Proposed Bond to fund Building Repairs
(The repairs listed under this bond do not reflect those mentioned above. Those repairs were already approved and voted on in the budget)
As you may know, buildings has taken a full-on front seat for priorities the District is addressing. Thanks in part to the combined voices of parents there has been a large amount of work done to improve buildings across the district.
While this was taking place a full Building Conditions Survey (BCS) was conducted and many other necessary projects were identified. These were outlined and presented at the last Board meeting earlier this week. The large scale of work that is needed will require a bond vote during the month of December. This is a very tight time frame to make this happen, if approved to go to vote.
There is a follow up discussion of the bond proposal at the October 6 Board meeting – Linda Kelly Theater, NRHS at 7pm. I encourage all to attend as it is of vital importance to understand what is being proposed and how it will impact our schools. The bottom line, as I see it, is this is work that is a direct investment in our infrastructure and with proper maintenance will not crumble to the state that it has in past years.
The presentation materials can be found in the public section of BoardDocs here: http://www.boarddocs.com/ny/nred/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=A2NJQH4CA55C.
Board Member Jeffrey Hastie on Facebook:
Tomorrow night’s school board meeting has two important agenda items that will impact your taxes going forward. First is the study by consultants WXY that projects the impact of the development plans being proposed by RDRXR for downtown New Rochelle, New York. Second is the financial impact of the proposed $50 million bond for much needed school repairs. Please read go to the link below to read the supporting documentation. Any questions you have, please submit to the Superintendent (bosborne@nredlearn.org), any board member, or reply to this post.
ALMS Parent Amy Ecker:
