Eldred endorses BOCES expansion

By DAVID HULSE

ELDRED, NY — Although acting Eldred Central School Board (ECS) of Education President Bob Burrow felt the decision could not have come up at a worse time, the district board on January 13 agreed to support a $17.2 million building expansion project at the Sullivan BOCES campus in Liberty.

The board’s decision came after BOCES Superintendent Martin Handler explained to the board that lacking the expansion project, BOCES may be forced to direct outlying districts to special education and technical training in neighboring Orange or Delaware counties.

Detailing the 18-room project, Handler said the construction is being undertaken to meet current needs and is not based on growth speculation. “If it doesn’t pass and we can’t find acceptable rental space … you may be looking at Orange County placements,” he said.

The addition includes a combination cafeteria/study hall, special education rooms and offices and a physical education gym, “not a spectator gym for sports, but a physical education area for programs requiring that component.”

Five vocational rooms are being reconstituted from existing spaces, and three freestanding “bungalows” that were built as temporary spaces 30 years ago will be removed.

The addition will allow the technical career program to add three new programs: welding, landscaping and heating, and ventilation and air conditioning. The expansion would further provide additional space for culinary, precision machinery and theater programs, Handler said.

ECS board member Andrew Boyar questioned whether BOCES’ planning was looking far enough ahead. “Are you going to be coming back here again, even if it does fly?”

Handler said the district has tried to stay current, but two prior building projects were defeated at the polls in 1994 and 1997. “The longer we wait, the more costs increase, but I was concerned about getting approval of a figure higher than $17.2 million,” he said.

The bond issue must win approval on the county’s eight local school district ballots. The ECS share of the project would amount to some $67,000 annually over the course of the 20-year bond, which Handler translated to a $13 tax increase on a $100,000 property assessment.

The bond would appear on the ECS ballot as the district faces a $1.1 million budget deficit prompted by last year’s settlement of the Mirant power facilities tax appeal. Burrow was concerned about adding the BOCES project to the ballot amid the district’s existing problems. “We’re already doing a lot of stretching here,” he said.

In an unrelated discussion ECS Superintendent Ivan Katz asked Handler to revisit a prior presentation he made on consolidation and merger of districts. Katz prefaced the discussion by emphasizing that ECS has no plans to merger or consolidate. Rumors to the contrary are false, he said.