Priorities or buckets?

So, well into the January 30 special work session on what to include in the capital project referendum May 16, Valley Central School Board president Joseph Bond started referring to priorities as “buckets.” This reflects the board’s consideration mixing what CSArch consultants referred to as three priorities at the board’s January 9 meeting.

The board appears agreed on presenting option #1, with a major part of the $27,542,904 allocated for security and new boilers, at no cost to the taxpayer. The zero price tag stems from the district using its capital reserve balance of nearly $10 million and New York State picking up 75% of the costs.

The board wants further changes made to security at the middle school, moving the main office to the left side, as one faces the building, of the security vestibule.

The board is considering presenting many other elements in the capital project referendum including replacing the tennis courts at the high school at a cost of $1,631,743.

School administrators and consultants, including the Palombo Group, a Poughkeepsie construction company, as well as CSArch, faced each other in a large square for two hours discussing what the public might like to see. No one from the public, however, attended the meeting.

The school board will next meet at 6:30 p.m., Monday, February 13. At this time, the board has not scheduled another work session on the capital project.