Number Six School vote is today

The Lawrence School District is in the process of selling the Number Six School for the second time in two years. A public vote on the sale is set for Monday. If it is approved, this would be the third sale of a district building since 1980. The sale is predicated on HALB receiving approvals for its renovations plans from the Town of Hempstead.
The Hebrew Academy of Long Beach wants to purchase the school, on Church Avenue in Woodmere, for $8.5 million, and move its Long Beach-based elementary school — kindergarten through eighth grade — to the site in two years, HALB officials have said.
Along with a multi-million-dollar cash payment, another $2.7 million would be held by the district as a guarantee that Lawrence would realize more than $565,000 in annual savings on what the district now spends on transportation and special education for HALB students. According to figures provided by HALB, more than 90 percent of its 800 students live in the Five Towns.
“While we have managed to provide an excellent education in Long Beach, we know that our programming and educational offerings will be significantly enhanced with a newly designed facility in Woodmere,” said Lance Hirt, president of HALB’s board.
Last year, a referendum to sell the 6.67-acre site, including the 80,170-square-foot school building, to Simone Healthcare Development, which had plans for a specialty medical center, went down to overwhelming defeat, but there appears to be more support for the HALB proposal.
“To have a school there is the best way to preserve the character of the neighborhood,” said Woodmere resident Joshua Schein, founder and president of the Community Coalition of the Five Towns, a group that vehemently opposed the Simone proposal because it included the elimination of nearly all of the property’s recreational space — ball fields, basketball courts and handball walls. Only the playground would have survived under Simone’s plan, but HALB is expected to maintain all the open space. “I have spoken to them,” Schein said, “and my impression is that they will keep the ball fields open and provide access to the community when the school is closed.”
“Nothing should change from the status quo other than during times the facilities are being used for HALB purposes,” Hirt said. If the sale is approved, however, HALB must submit applications to the Town of Hempstead for the renovations it plans to make to the building. “We have not been through the zoning process and are not sure what [the town] will require,” Hirt added. “We hope that they will allow us to preserve every foot of open space.”
North Woodmere resident Greg Wright was a proponent of the Simone proposal, because it would have returned the property to the tax rolls and generated an estimated $1 million per year. And the medical center, Wright said, would have helped revitalize the nearby shopping area. “For me, the biggest issue is it’s another school on the school property that doesn’t pay taxes,” he said of HALB’s potential purchase.
Wright added that he didn’t know how he would vote in the referendum, and that he wasn’t sure that the expected savings for the school district would equal having the property generating tax dollars. “It’s one of those things that sounds good,” he said. “The proof is in the pudding, much like the medical center made lots of promises they could have broken. It’s not fair to criticize everything [the district] is saying. I’m hoping for the best.”
Cedarhurst, Woodmere and North Woodmere residents can vote on the proposed sale on Monday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Lawrence High School, at 2 Reilly Road in Cedarhurst. Lawrence residents can vote at Lawrence Middle School, at 195 Broadway. In Inwood, the vote will take place at the Number Two School, at 1 Donahue Ave., and in Atlantic Beach, the site is Village Hall, at 65 The Plaza.