WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. May 11, 2006 UPDATED May 13, 2006 12:30 A.M. E.D.T.: The Board of Education has selected a cross-section of citizens, students, teachers, and businesspersons to analyze and recommend to the Board of Education which of $67 Million in proposed capital improvements be put up for public referendum in the fall.

Peter Bassano,  the member of the Board of Education who is supervising the selection of the committee told WPCNR Wednesday the Committee (known as the Capital Projects Committee) would be made up of seven citizens, and four persons working in or attending White Plains schools, and “ex officio” members representing preparers of the plan, there for “expertise” and himself as a Board member.

Mr. Bassano said 13 persons would be on the committee. Those who have agreed to serve are: Brent Brown, Assistant Principal at Highlands Middle School, Mitch Barnett, a teacher at Post Road School, another teacher from Mamaroneck Avenue School and a student from the White Plains High School. Servicing from the community, he said, are Bill Brown (member of the WPHS Athletic Hall of Fame and currently builder of affordable housing on South Kensico Avenue in White Plains), Mike Graessle of Nelson-Vrooman, former Commissioner of Planning in White Plains, and Patricia Siebecker of the PTA Council, Marc Pollitzer, Richard Hecht and Eli Fritz. Bassano reported Friday that there are two others who have not told him their intention to serve yet.

There are “Ex officio” members in the committee They are: Mr. Bassano, Mike Lynch,  School District Director of Facilities & Operations, Russell Davidson, the principal representing Kaeyer, Garment & Davidson Architects who prepared the Capital Improvements plans being reviewed (there as Bassano put it to answer questions), Timothy Connors, Superintendent of Schools, Terrance Schruers, Assistant Superintendent for Business, and Michele Tratoros of the Board of Education, who will substitute for Mr. Bassano, when he is unable to attend meetings.

Asked if there would be a construction source other than Bill Brown, Bassano said the district was in the process of hiring a construction manager to review the estimated costs of the project as prepared by the architect, to “put another eyeball on the pricing.”

Meeting May 22

The committee is expected to meet for the first time on May 22 to organize and develop their approach to the Capital Improvements Analysis. A chairperson would be chosen, issues would be defined and an agenda/timetable set. Bassano said he expected the committee would work through the summer, in search of decisions by September. Bassano said if the committee felt they needed more time they would take it.

A referendum is tenatatively planned for October or December, according to the Board of Education, (carefully avoiding the major electoral turnout of the November election).

Mr. Bassano, responding to the first edition of this report, explained Friday why the Board opted for the referendum date in either October or December:

"The general election is governed by NY Election Law while a school bond referendum is governed by the New York Education Law.  According to the counsel's office at the Education Department, combining the election would require adhering to two separate and different sets of regulations including the requirements for separate voting machines, separate vote counts, separate sets of election overseers and possibly the requirement that some voters cast their ballots at two separate locations. Because of these and other legal obstacles and the lead time that elections require, we opted for an October or December vote," Mr. Bassanog wrote WPCNR in an e-mail.

Not Waiting for Strategic Plan

WPCNR asked why the Board of Education would make decisions on capital improvements now when they are in the process of hiring a strategic planning firm to prepare a comprehensive long-range plan for growing the School District over the next fifteen years. Why wouldn’t the Board execute the strategic plan, then adjust  the $60 Million capital improvements being considered against the needs determined by the long range conditions and challenges unveiled by the strategic plan?

Bassano said one of the representatives of one of  the strategic planning firms the district is interviewing said it would take a long time to develop the strategic plan (about a year), and that the district could not consider both endeavors: the capital improvements and the strategic plan at once, it being too much to consider at once.

The advice by that strategic planner was the capital improvements should simply be included as part of the strategic plan as the plan is developed. Bassano said the major issue of building a new Post Road School (A $36 Million option) only affected one building of five elementary schools and that the strategic planning firm recommendation was that would not significantly effect overall macro-planning for the district, it being considered to be a “need” now.

Selected Not Solicited. No Independent Sources.

Asked why the committee consisted of teachers and persons with an interest in the facility, Bassano said the teachers and Assistant Principal and student would give perspective on the needs of the buildings. Questioned on why the Board of Education would not hire other consultants to start independent studies of the buildings on their own as a check and balance on the plans and recommendations of the present architect, Bassano said “We have that anyway,” pointing out the construction manager being hired would do that, especially in the matter of pricing.

Asked if persons could volunteer for the committee, Bassano said it was the Board of Education decision to select members to keep the committee from becoming “unwieldy.”

Members Have Stakes.

However, the record of the conception and introduction of the capital improvements plan, shows that some members of the chosen committee may have a hard time being totally objective because plans involve the school where they work, and interests that would benefit causes they support.

One of the committee members has been a strong supporter of the football field artificial turf projects promoted with virtually no community support at Highlands and White Plains High School. Another member of the committee works at the school being proposed to be replaced; another serves at the school where a new field facility is being proposed; a third teaches at Mamaroneck Avenue School where the second major interior renovation is proposed. Another member is a student.

Another member is from the PTA Council which is strongly supportive of district improvements by tradition.

The architect has been observed by this reporter as very proactive in support of his own plans in his presentations of these projects, answering questions asked by the Board without presenting both sides of an issue objectively, proselytizing for his plans passionately based on positive experiences in other districts.  The Superintendent of Schools has been supportive of the capital improvements. Previous vocal critics of the plans, with the exception of Mr. Pollitzer and Mr. Bassano, have been excluded from the committee.

At this time, Mr. Bassano does not know whether  the committee’s deliberations will be conducted in public. That is up to the committee to decide, Bassano said.