$28.9 million Lynbrook High School bond moves forward

Board rules for October public vote despite auditorium dispute

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The Lynbrook Schools Board of Education voted 5 - 2 on April 20 to allow a public vote on a proposed $28.9 million bond for renovations at the high school. The board is aiming for an October vote.

Trustees Robert Paskoff and Heather Hanson refused to vote in favor of moving forward with the bond vote, saying that renovating the high school would prevent the district from constructing a new auditorium.

“I had one significant concern with the proposal, and that’s when we asked the architect last time for further construction in the future, he said no,” Paskoff said at the meeting. “I think we’re selling ourselves short if we don’t leave that option open going down the line.”

The current auditorium is outdated. While a modernized 646-seat performance center was included in a $46 million proposal last year, the bond was voted down due to its high cost. The board then conducted a post-bond survey and discovered that 45.7 percent of respondents said that a new auditorium was unnecessary.

As a result, board members proposed a new bond on Jan. 11 that would provide funding to upgrade science rooms; create classrooms for the chorus, the orchestra, and the Career Development Program; add a school store at which students could learn business skills; and renovate the current auditorium with a new sound and lighting system.

“The people spoke and we went back to the drawing board, and I think [we] came up with a plan that I think a lot of the ‘no’ votes will now become ‘yes’ votes,” said Ellen Marcus, the board vice president. “I think we’ve looked at this so many times, and it’s not a perfect plan, but nothing’s going to be perfect.”

When the new bond was first proposed, several students and residents expressed disappointment about the auditorium not being revamped.

At the April 20th meeting, Paskoff proposed delaying the vote so the board would have more time to consider options that could fund a new auditorium. He suggested it was possible to build a new auditorium if the board cut about $2 million from the library overhauls and another $2 million slated for repairs to the current auditorium in the proposed bond. But Paul Lynch, the assistant superintendent for finance operations and information systems, said that adding an auditorium would require the school board to rethink the entire bond proposal, and board Trustee Alicemarie Bresnihan said she was against redesigning the bond.

“I think that to redraw plans and to go back to the beginning again would only delay what is really needed,” Bresnihan said.

Paskoff’s second suggestion was to include a resolution in the plan to leave open space untouched in case the board wants to add an auditorium in the future, but Lynch asserted that there would not be enough room for that because of all of the planned renovations. “The problem then becomes what piece of real estate are you willing to give up in order to get it,” Lynch said, adding that district officials wanted to leave a fully functioning softball field.

William Belmont, the president of the board, also claimed that a new auditorium would add to the bond cost. “It’s still significantly less than the original bond,” Paskoff responded.

Other board members agreed with Paskoff that a new auditorium is needed, including Hanson. “I would like to see more performance space rather than simply more paint and upholstery and making inadequate spaces prettier,” she said.

But Belmont only needed four votes to move forward with the bond proposal, which he got. Hanson then said she would support the bond going forward. “I’m going to support this bond because even though it didn’t give me everything that I want, I’m not going to be a spoiler,” she said. “So you all better prepare for me knocking on your door at some point, because the kids in this community deserve better than this.”