NY School Board Actions After a Failed Renovation & Expansion Referendum

Reader Rebecca Stockwell emailed this link to a PDF document published by the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns (Westchester County, NY) after a renovation & expansion referendum failed. The newsletter begins:

The referendum was to finance a major school facilities renovation and expansion project. The proposal, which was the result of more than two years of analyzing our facilities needs and evaluating options for addressing them, was defeated by a vote of about 1200 to 1000.

Factors that appear to have contributed to the “no” vote include 1) concern about the cost of the project in a community that had not faced a major facilities referendum in 50 years, 2) some disagreement with the scope and/or conceptual design elements of the project, 3) some confusion and mis- trust over the district's analysis of the tax implications, and 4) the perception by some that they had not had an adequate opportunity to participate in or be fully informed about the process leading up to the project referendum.

At the same time, feedback also strongly indicated widespread support across all segments of our population for continuing to take a long-range, comprehensive approach in addressing our facilities needs.

We have listened carefully to the feedback.

Moving forward, we seekpublic input as we re-evaluate our options. Once the Board selects the option we wish to pursue, we will convene committees that include community members to help us make the final plan as cost effective as possible and to help us make sure that our financing plan and the analysis of the tax impact are as credible as possible.

This newsletter will provide a review of steps that led up to the 2004 referendum and a description of the process we now propose to follow.

Due to space limitations and increasing enrollment, the High School Chorus now rehearses in the Korean Church, which is located next door to the high school.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 2, 2005 8:25 PM
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