Security enhancements to increase Sewanhaka budget next year

Sewanhaka Central High School District officials are considering investing $1.8 million from next year’s proposed budget for security enhancements at all five schools, Superintendent James Grossane announced at the district’s first budget discussion meeting on Feb. 25.

“We felt it was very important to complete the safety plans for the district in one fell swoop,” he said, “and the principals were in agreement.”

Under the district’s initial proposal for the 2020 - 21 budget, security vestibules — which prevent guests from entering a building without proper identification — would be installed at all five high schools, and the district would implement an enhanced lock system that requires faculty to swipe a key card for access to classrooms and offices.

The cost of these enhancements would vary from school to school (see box), and would contribute to a $5.7 million, or 2.8 percent, increase in expenditures over the current budget. 

District officials estimate that the 2020 - 21 budget would be almost $209.37 million, which would be funded in part by a $152 million tax levy — up 2.7 percent from the current levy. These figures, however, are subject to change as the district’s budget process progresses over the next few months. 

The district would also use money left over from the current budget to help fund next year’s increase, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Kevin O’Brien said. The $209.38 million budget would also:

• maintain all programs and staff.
• enhance the English Language Learners and Special Education programs with more co-teaching opportunities.
• support the district’s one-to-one device initiative.
• implement STEM programs in seventh- and eighth-grades. 
• implement flexible seating opportunities for students.

These seating arrangements encourage students to move around more in the classroom. Several studies have shown that classroom design has played a critical role in engaging children as learners, and a 2015 study from the University of Salford in the United Kingdom showed that flexible, welcome spaces improved students’ math progress by 73 percent.

“One of the things that’s going on right now … is we’re trying to break away from working in traditional roles with the old ‘one-armed bandit’ when we were in school to actually replicate more what the workspaces look like these days,” Grossane said. “So get kids to work more in groups so that they’d be able to move more often, because those are some of the skills that kids need to know when they move off from us.”

The district will hold its next budget discussion at Sewanhaka High School on March 24 at 7 p.m.