After listening to various options presented by the school district’s architect, the Walden Elementary School committee has made a clear choice: they prefer a brand-new school on a brand-new site in the Village of Walden
Gregory Heidemann, Walden Elementary School Principal and committee chair, made the recommendation last week, following a comprehensive report by architect Tom Ritzenthaler, Vice President, CSArch.
Heidemann said the committee wants to ensure the best educational opportunities for Walden students for “the next 100 years.” The committee reviewed a survey, distributed twice by the district, which received 900 responses. With another scheduled tour, the district will have offered seven opportunities to visit the school.
Superintendent Evette Avila began the October 30 meeting by bringing residents up to date on the process that included a feasibility report, an equity comparison with other elementary schools both inside and outside the Valley Central District, and a gathering of community feedback as part of Phase one.
“Phase two is where we are right now, where we are going to share the results of the feasibility report today,” Avila said. “The Walden committee will make the recommendation to the board of education. Today, the board will not make a decision, but they will make a decision. And once the board decides, they will also decide on the voting process, and then the community will vote.”
Ritzenthaler began his presentation the way he does every time.
“The purpose of this whole process is to improve education for children,” were the words he flashed on the screen. “That’s why we’re here.”
The process began with a community survey that gathered more than 900 responses, Ritzenthaler explained that the purpose of the study was to evaluate long range options for the Walden elementary school.
Based on that survey and study, Ritzenthaler presented four options:
- A ‘full gut’ renovation of the existing facility at 75 Orchard Street.
“So this option does not increase the size of the existing site. So that’s one big thing. We aren’t increasing and we aren’t correcting that one big deficiency,” Ritzenthaler said. “The option to accommodate 430 students, the building would still lack two grade level classrooms. (Avila clarified that enrollment was 430 at the time of the study, but 449 today. Projections have it going as high as 540.)
“So we would actually be still, we’d be two classrooms shy,” he added.
Ritzenthaler noted that 42 percent of the spaces used for learning in Walden do not meet the standards of the education department. That number is significantly higher than in the other elementary schools in the district.
The building would lack the dedicated performing arts venue, the stage venue as a permanent feature.
The strength of this option, he concluded, would be that it represents the lowest overall cost.
2. Building renovations that would include the construction of new additions.
“Again, all of the same improvements initially, the 2021 Building Condition Survey work, the five-year capital facilities plan work, trying to again, make every space meet the minimum space standards, bring the school up to current code compliance, ADA accessible, and the addition in this case is laid out to accommodate a cafeteria, a media center, and maker space,” Ritzenthaler explained. “So in this option, at 430 students, the existing building enrollment, plus or minus, one classroom would still fall below the (State Education Department) minimum standards. So here we actually have all but one space that will meet the minimum standards because we’re building the addition to allow us to accommodate that. The site would still fall below the SED minimum standard because this wouldn’t add on to the site.
“And just for perspective, if we actually acquire the entire block around Walden, we still would not meet the site standard required for this building. So even if we were to consider doing that. The building also would lack the dedicated performing arts venue. It still doesn’t change that as well. In the option to accommodate 540 students, now if we look at trying to put more, even with the addition, put more students in the building, the building would still lack one grade level classroom and 11 of the classrooms would fall below the SED minimum standards. The site, again, would still be the same site, still below the minimum standard. And then obviously we wouldn’t have the performing arts venue as well.”
The strength of this plan is that it would still be substantially lower than the cost of new construction.
3. New construction of the Walden elementary school on its current site with no site expansion.
“So this is new construction on the existing site,” the architect said. “So whether it’s 430 students or 540 students, all of the educational programs would be delivered meeting every standard of the New York State Education Department because you’re building it as new. And you can set it up for 21st century learning, flexible learning areas. It really allows you to tailor this building to the most appropriate education for each of the grade levels. Supports the planned and projected enrollment and can support the enrollment in the expanded catchment area as well.”
“We’re always talking about enrollment when we’re talking about looking at a program like this,” Ritzenthaler said. “So the district is in the process of updating their enrollment projections with Western Suffolk BOCES. They’ve received some initial information back regarding those projections. And it does indicate initially that the district’s enrollment is going to increase by 7.3 percent by 2034.
New construction at the Walnut Street site would require a three-story building, because the topography of the site is constrained.
Ritzenthaler said the Walden site is by far the smallest in the district, at 2.26 acres, whereas the other schools sit on lots of 51, 40 and 11.78 acres.
“And just as a kind of a note, if you look at Berea Elementary School, the parking lot and roadways in Berea Elementary School are larger than the entire Walden Elementary School site itself,” Ritzenthaler said. “So this is a pretty significant difference. And where this comes into play is certainly outdoor play areas, outdoor play space, green space, the ability to use that even for other educational purposes is very restricted at Walden because of the site size.”
Ritzenthaler said more than 50 percent of the survey respondents, “disagreed or strongly disagreed” that Walden Elementary School provided sufficient outdoor space for students. The same number also disagreed to strongly disagreed that Walden provided sufficient facilities for visual and performing arts.
Razing the current building would likely entail a conversation between the State Education Department and the State Historical Preservation Office.
4. Build a new Walden Elementary School on a new site within the village of Walden.
“We’re gonna meet all the codes and educational standards, ADA compliance, of course, anything we build is new has to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, meets all the SED site standards,” Ritzenthaler said. “We would not look at selecting a site that didn’t meet the requirements of the SED site standards and supporting the plan and projected enrollment of Walden for even the larger catchment area to bring those students back to their local area. So the strengths of this, of course, similar to the last option, really provides the greatest opportunity for engaging in educational program spaces to support this program, a lot of flexibility in how the building is laid out.”
This option would allow for the construction to be completed without the need to displace the Walden Elementary Program. They stay in the current Walden building until the new building’s done and then the program moves.
The weakness, is that it comes with the highest total project cost. Anticipated aid for this scenario, he estimated, is $14.4 million. Total project costs could be anywhere from $38 million to $78 million, depending on which option is chosen and if the district has to purchase a parcel of land for a new school.
Each of the four options projected a timetable of five years for completion.
We’re looking at September of 2029 by the time the project is complete,” Ritzenthaler predicted. “And this is both for existing or new site. That would be the proposed timeline.”
That timeline, he added, is based on a public referendum vote in December, 2025.
Walden Principal Gregory Heidemann took the microphone to share the thoughts of his committee.
“Our committee included students, staff, parents, building administration, and a community member. Non -voting members of the committee included three board members, the superintendent of schools, and the assistant superintendent for business,” Heidemann said. “We began our discussions in September of 2023 to explore future options for Walden Elementary School. Since then, the committee has done their due diligence to be able to make a recommendation to the Board of Education that preserves the best educational experience and opportunity for the students of Walden for the next 100 years.”
Heidemann said his committee has hosted seven building tours, with another scheduled for Nov. 4, and visited newly-contrasted schools in other districts. Its final recommendation to the Board represents the consensus. The options preferred by the committee, ranked in priority order, are as follows.
1. Construct a new state -of -the -art school building for future generations on an alternate site within the boundaries of the village of Walden, increasing the capacity to 540 students.
2. Construct a new state -of -the -art school building for future generations on the current site for increasing the capacity to 540 students.
3. Renovate the current building with an addition to provide additional space while increasing the capacity to 540 students.
The first option, Heidemann said, provides “the best opportunity to create learning spaces that meet today’s New York State educational standard requirements for classroom space.”
The district will hold a Town Hall on November 14 at 6:30 p.m., at which time people can ask questions and discuss the future of the school. The meeting will be held in the Valley Central High School Auditorium
Ritzenthaler’s report is available on the district’s website.