District 12 looks to reorganize

If the Malverne Board of Education moves forward with school reorganizational plans recommended by the district's Educational Facilities Task Force, the 2010-11 school year will mark the start of a new grade setup in District 12.

At a recent school board meeting at Howard T. Herber Middle School, administrators announced that they are aiming to reorganize three of the district's four schools. The recommendations were made by the task force, a 31-member group that includes administrators, staff, parents and community members.

Beginning last year, school officials said, the group analyzed data in the district and visited other districts in the area in Long Island to make the recommendations. The district serves Malverne, Lakeview and North Lynbrook.

"The force explored many different options for reorganizing some of the schools in our district, and we decided to move forward with a primary recommendation, which we believe will improve this district," said Superintendent Dr. James Hunderfund, who was the chairman of the task force. "This is all about addressing and accommodating the needs of our students as well as our school buildings and grounds."

Under the proposal, Maurice W. Downing Elementary School would become a primary school, housing kindergarten through second grade, and Davison Avenue Elementary School would serve the district's third and fourth grades as an intermediate school. Both schools currently have kindergarten through fourth-grade classes. If approved by the school board, the change is expected to take effect in September.

Academically, administrators said, the changes would improve, among other things, the efficiency of class scheduling, teacher collaboration and mentoring and end comparisons between Davison and Downing because students in the same grades will be in the same school no matter where they live.

Hunderfund added that the changes are also needed because the district expects kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment to increase by 330 students, or 20 percent, by 2017. The new setup, school officials said, would prevent the district from having to dramatically increase class sizes.

The task force's recommendations also call for the fifth grade classes at Herber to be moved to Davison Avenue, which would leave Herber with the sixth through eighth grades. In recent years, parents have stepped up efforts to encourage the district to consider transferring the fifth grade students out of the middle school because, they said, the students are too young for daily interaction with seventh- and eighth-graders.

This part of the proposal, however, would require the reconstruction of Davison Avenue to make room for the additional students and classrooms.

Serial bond issue

As a part of the proposal, the district plans to take out a $25 million bond, which would pay for moving the fifth grade to Davison as well as needed infrastructure refurbishments in the district's four schools.

Spiro Colaitis, the district's supervisor of facilities and support personnel, said that the condition of all of the schools is deteriorating, in part because the district has no capital project debt. The estimated $25 million construction work in the schools, which includes $7.1 million at both Malverne High School and Herber, and $5.1 million each at Downing and Davison, includes upgrades to lighting and fire alarms as well as enhancements to science labs and technology.

"Our buildings have been neglected for many years, and it's time for us to invest money in our infrastructure," Colaitis said. "Our buildings need to be repaired and the instructional space in our schools need to be modernized so we can continue to provide our students with the best education."

The district expects to get $9.9 million back from the state, because it currently receives just under 40 percent in building aid for approved capital projects, reducing the net cost of the bond to the district to roughly $15 million. The specifics of the bond have not yet been determined, but Hunderfund said that the district expects that the average taxpayer would pay between $200 and $250 a year for the life of the bond.

"We suggested that the school board consider a figure near $25 million with the bond because we felt that in this economic climate, a very large bond issue would not be very feasible to get passed," Hunderfund explained. "We expect the life of the bond to be between 20 and 25 years, and that will be determined after we find out what the district would qualify for in terms of rates."

If the bond is approved by voters, school officials said, the fifth grade could be moved to Davison in September 2012. Hunderfund said that construction work at all the schools would take at least two years to complete because most of the work would be limited to the summer months, when students are on vacation.

The Malverne school board said it would review the task force's recommendations and announce at an upcoming meeting whether it will move forward with issuing a bond and reorganizing the schools.

Reaction

Many parents have spoke in favor of the district's plan. Lynbrook resident Barbara Keane, co-president of the district's Special Education Parent Teacher Association, said "the time is now" for the district to improve its infrastructure because it has been "prolonged long enough."

"We can't keep putting this off and continue to let our buildings deteriorate like this," Keane said. "There is never going to be a right time for something like this, so we need to act now."

Malverne resident Jeanine Rodriguez noted that the cost to the average taxpayer would be around $25 a month and that is not a lot to ask for to improve schools and education in the district.

"My child and the children in this district are worth $25 a month," she said. "To allow our buildings to keep crumbling will turn $25 million into $75 million worth of work in no time. This is all about investing in our children's future."

Some residents, however, still feel that this is not the right time for the district to put out a bond. Lakeview resident Ida Berry said she thought it was fiscally irresponsible for the district to propose the bond now, with taxpayers struggling in the current economic recession. Malverne resident Patricia Callahan had similar sentiments, suggesting that the district move forward with only the necessary refurbishments to the schools to reduce the costs to residents.

Lakeview resident Ronica Ebron said the district needs to focus more on improving academics, and the schools do not have to be reorganized for that to happen.

"Education should be priority right now, and I think we should leave Downing and Davison the way they are and keep our attention geared on providing our students with the best education," Ebron said. "This is not the time to be adding expenses for residents because people are struggling, and that's the bottom line."