By Andrew Coen
The district, which encompasses Valley Stream¹s Gibson area, will be putting a referendum to voters on Tuesday, Dec. 12.
Days before District 14¹s fourth attempt to improve the aging Woodmere Middle School goes to the voters, Hewlett-Woodmere officials are trying to explain the $24.9 million referendum to as many community members as possible.
District officials have pledged to meet with any resident who may have questions about the proposition ‹ which, if approved, would renovate the 45-year-old middle school building ‹ including giving a public tour of the facility on Dec. 5.
During a tour given to the Herald on Nov. 30, district officials and teachers pointed out numerous challenges the faculty and students face as a result of the facility¹s having gone years without major improvements.
Some of the problems include bad climate control in many classrooms due to a lack of windows, an aging auditorium, holes in the gymnasium floor, no seats for spectators in the gym and plastered-over walls and ceilings as a result of leaks.
³The time has come to give the children what they want, a world-class education with a world-class facility,² Principal Claudette Tableman said during the Nov. 30 tour.
District officials have cautioned that the referendum would not address the school¹s every need, such as floors and staircases, but that the most vital upgrades would be completed. About 90 percent of the proposal would be earmarked for the middle school, with the rest going to other district building needs. The project has been scaled back from the district¹s initial goal ‹ to build a new middle school, at an estimated cost of more than $62 million ‹ but school officials said they feel the revised plan would address the most urgent needs of the structure and has the best chance of being approved.
This will mark the district¹s fourth attempt to improve the middle school, after voters defeated a referendums in 2000 and two in 2002 that would have allowed construction of a new structure. The last referendum lost by only 27 votes.
³The building should be fixed,² Mike Hammer, a Woodmere Middle School sixth-grader, said during the tour. ³I want my school to get fixed because it¹s like a family to me.²
The referendum, which includes elements from a five-year facilities plan prepared by the architectural firm Kayer, Garnet & Davidson, would fund the replacement of the school¹s aging roof, windows, the building facade and the heating and ventilation system. A new main entryway would be designed to enhance the convenience and safety of motorists and pedestrians entering school grounds, according to Peter Weber, the district¹s assistant superintendent for business.
Additions to the facility would include a new 8,000- to 8,500-square-foot gymnasium and a new synthetic FieldTurf surface for the athletic field, similar to the one added at Hewlett High School in 2003.
Ceilings and light fixtures would be repaired, and the music suite renovated. The old shops on the west side of the building would be redesigned as art and technology classrooms. Music teacher Laura Welsher pointed out during the tour that her tiny classroom is the only instructional space for the roughly 130 students in band with, at times, more than 90 students crowded into the room. ³They are literally on top of one another,² Welsher said.
Dennis Sheridan, Hewlett-Woodmere¹s director of facilities, said that if the referendum is approved, the music room space would not be expanded, but would be made more flexible and comfortable for students.
District officials said that although the referendum totals $24.9 million, the ability to significantly reduce the allocation for repairs in the general fund, combined with the scheduled retirement of debt from the 1992 bond to renovate Hewlett Elementary School in 2008, as well as state building aid, means taxpayers most likely would not shoulder the financial burden. Weber estimated that the referendum might cost each homeowner as little as $1, given the district¹s ability to support the project¹s debt payments.
District officials have held numerous meetings with residents to explain the importance of the referendum¹s approval, including a session with 15 people at the Woodsburgh home of Arthur Friedman on Nov. 30. Friedman, an opponent of recent budget proposals because his property taxes have skyrocketed, said he was not impressed with the school administration¹s proposal and does not believe his taxes won¹t be affected if the referendum passes.
Friedman also said the district should not have scheduled the referendum in December, when many senior citizens are in Florida.
In contrast to other school renovation and repair projects across the country, this one would not require portable classrooms to temporarily house students during construction. According to Weber, such facilities are expensive to maintain because they must meet all new-building codes. He explained that the district could begin construction of the new gym next summer, and once the facility was finished, around the spring of 2008, workers could convert the 6,500 square feet of space in the old gym into temporary classrooms, which would be more cost-effective.
Gym teacher Frank Viggiano said it is well past time to replace the gym, which is full of patches from repairs to holes in the floor. He said the gym doesn¹t even have room for bleachers for spectators at basketball or volleyball games. ³It¹s been this way for years,² Viggiano said.
If the referendum passes, construction is expected to be completed in about three years, at which time the old gym would be renovated to support instructional needs. Weber said that district officials hope to complete much of the construction work during the summer of 2007, when there would be little disruption to students.
Some of the work that would be done at other district buildings includes roof replacement at Ogden Elementary School, renovation of the Franklin Early Childhood Center cafeteria, an upgrade of the Hewlett Elementary School auditorium and improvements to the Hewlett High School tennis courts and community pool.
According to Weber, the project represents only a fraction of the district¹s capital needs.
If Hewlett-Woodmere voters again reject a bond to improve the middle school, district officials said they are prepared to recommend expenditures each year to address the building¹s major issues.
Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Woodmere Education Center, at 1 Johnson Place.
