By:Rebecca Shalomoff
Woodmere Middle School teachers may not get the portable classrooms they were promised this year after all in order to relieve overcrowding in the building.
Superintendent Dr. Charles Fowler made the revelation during a meeting held last week by the district's architectural and construction firms hired to renovate or reconstruct the school. The portables will probably not be available until the following school year, Fowler said.
To temporarily address the overcrowding problem, portable classrooms, which received funding approval by the public in May, were expected to be available for the 2001-2002 school year.
Currently, the design of the three double-wide portables are up in Albany waiting for building approval by the State Education Department -- which can take up to six months. Then it will take another four months for the bidding and construction processes.
Fowler said the only way to speed up the process is for the community to put pressure on local and state government officials to get the SED to approve a building permit.
In the meanwhile, Dennis Sheridan, director of facilities and operations, said that the work to divide the library/media center into another classroom space has been completed. As well, the computer room has been dismantled to serve as an additional learning space.
One parent, angered that the portables will not be ready when district officials initially said they would be, raised the question, "How will the community be able to trust you now?"
School board president Richard Braverman said that he is in the process of writing a letter to District 14 residents, explaining the situation with the portables.
For the first time, the Hewlett-Woodmere community met last week with representatives from Kaeyer, Garment and Davidson, the architectural firm recently hired by the school board to draw up new plans for a renovated and reconstructed Woodmere Middle School.
The July 17 meeting was also hosted by representatives from Turner Group, the construction firm hired for the middle school project. In order for a middle school bond to be successful, many more members of the community must get involved in the pre-referendum process, to know what is at stake and to give feedback before they head to the voting booths, said representatives from both firms. The bond vote is expected to take place in December.
"We will insist on many meetings with the public to make sure your values and district needs are in the same plan," said Lance Franklin of the Turner Group. "We have seen bonds fail for peripheral problems."
Russ Davidson of K G & D, based in Mount Kisco, cited several cases in which a bond had failed or passed in New York State school districts based on how it is perceived by the district. For example, bonds have failed when there was misinformation given to the public about the condition of a school building and when there were too many items on the referendum, as was the case in the Hewlett-Woodmere district.
In March 2000, an $85 million bond package, which would have included construction of a new middle school as well as repairs and changes to the high school, failed. A pared-down $22.6 million bond, which excluded a new middle school, was then approved in June.
This time around, however, district administrators and board members are keeping their focus only on the middle school, which is in dire need of attention. The school's front wall leaks like a sieve, parents said. Pieces of the ceiling have fallen down in many places. Mold permeates the building, which also suffers from severe overcrowding.
A district-wide letter informing residents about three public information session in mid-September will be mailed soon. During those meetings, the community will get a chance to hear about the plans for two proposed buildings: a rehabilitated building or an altogether new one.
Before the plans are finalized, the architectural and construction firms will take into consideration work done by a panel of health and environmental experts studying the mold situation at the middle school.
But ultimately, the board will choose one plan, based on public feedback, which will be put up for a bond vote this winter. If approved, Davidson said it would take at least one year to complete building design plans and get approvals before construction on the middle school could take place. Then, another two summers will be needed to complete renovations, he said.
PTA Council President Teri Stein said, "I hope that when you have public discussions, the inconvenience to the staff, administration and students at the middle school will be spoken about. Will we lose certain areas and for how long? It's a crucial element in the decision the board will make."
