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Mostly Cloudy Board of Ed prepares two propositions for taxpayers' permission
Taxpayers in Malverne can plan on heading to the polls again this summer — this time, to vote on two school board propositions for which funding has already been set aside.
The Board of Education will ask voters on Aug. 12 for permission to spend about $535,000 from reserve funds to purchase three school buses and buy property near the Davison Avenue Elementary School.
A new bus policy, adopted during the board’s June 15 meeting, mandates that the district provide late-bus service to all high school students who already receive bussing. To qualify for bussing, students must live in the district, but travel to a school farther than three miles from and within 15 miles of their residences.
As it stands, the only Malverne school district students who qualify for bussing are those who attend one of four local private or parochial schools — Chaminade, Holy Trinity, Kellenberg Memorial and Sacred Heart Academy. “Our is district is so small, nobody in the [public] high school gets bussing,” said Spiro Colaitis, district supervisor for Facilities and Support Personnel.
Colaitis said the board decided purchasing school buses and hiring drivers would be a more cost-effective and reliable way to provide the after-school transportation. Contracting with other companies for the service would be more costly in the long run, he said, noting that purchasing three buses now at about $330,000 — up to $110,000 apiece — will save the district some $3.5 million over 10 years.
Lakeview resident Linsdale McKenzie, whose son will begin 10th grade at Holy Trinity in the fall, has spent the last year lobbying the Board of Education for late-bus service. “Thirty-three school districts provide late-bus at Holy Trinity alone for their kids. Why can’t Malverne be a part of that?” McKenzie had consistently asked. Upon learning of the proposition, he said, “I appreciate that they’re seriously considering this issue.”
Without the service, McKenzie added, “these kids will be deprived of a lot of extra-curricular activities, sports, extra help.” He plans to support the proposition and encouraged other parents to do so as well.
Don Pupke, a Malverne resident whose 14-year-old son attends Kellenberg, said he supports the proposition “100 percent.” Earlier this year, Pupke led the fight for district-provided transportation for Chaminade, Kellenberg and Sacred Heart students who used public buses to get to and from school. After the board agreed to provide the transportation, Pupke tackled the late-bus issue.
Regardless of the vote results, the district will provide late-bus service, as mandated by the new policy, Hunderfund said. If taxpayers vote down the proposition, the district will contract out for the bus service.
During last month’s meeting, the board also agreed to seek taxpayers’ permission to purchase a $205,000 property at 15 Davison Ave. in Lynbrook, citing its proximity to the Davison Avenue school and relatively low asking price, and the district’s plans to eventually expand the elementary school building. Hunderfund said the new property would be used to expand the schoolyard as an outdoor playground for recreation and physical education.
It could potentially be used to add a new wing to the building, which, following this summer’s school reorganization, will host grades three and four. And the district may need to create additional classrooms for the fifth graders it plans to move into the Davison Avenue school building in 2011-12. “So, it makes a lot of sense to purchase this property,” Hunderfund said.
The district had considered purchasing a second adjacent property on Davison Avenue, which would allow for both schoolyard and building expansions, but decided its asking price was too high.
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