It’s settled
At last night’s Board of Education meeting a decision was made to make Hampton Street the “south school” using monies from the undesignated fund balance to pay for it. Therefore Cross Street will close in 2011 and Willis will close in 2012. The Board also voted to put up a bond on February 8, 2011 to build an 8 classroom extension on Jackson Avenue. This project will enable Jackson to become a 3, 4, 5 school, thereby keeping the Middle school and High school as they currently are. I will present the new transition plans at the next Board meeting (December 2)
Posted in Around the District and School Closings 13 years, 5 months ago at 1:54 pm. 9 comments
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All three questions can be combined to- “What are we going to do with Willis?” At this point I don’t have an answer for that. If we could find a renter that wants the entire building then it would expedite the reasons for CO to move. Either way Willis won’t close until 2012, right now our energies are focused on renting Cross Street.
I have a few questions about the future Central Administration’s location.
1. Would I be correct to assume the CA would move to the High School if the $4.4M bond passes and keeps the 5th and 8th grades where they are?
2. Should the bond fail, is there any alternative location other than Willis for CA?
3. Now that Hampton has become the south school, has any thought been given towards selling Willis outright?
The minutes are posted once they are approved.
Artie, wanted to thank you for the link, I was able to catch up.
Unfortunately, I too could not make the meeting on Thursday the 18.
Dr. Nagler, when will the minutes from the 11/18/2010 minutes be available online?
I’m not sure how many people are aware of the “e-news” out there, but the Mineola Patch covers many events in the area on a daily basis. It can be found at the following link:
http://mineola.patch.com/news
I am not endorsing or plugging the outlet. I just thought people would be interested.
Debbie- The Board felt the contingent bond option was confusing. In addition, there is an increased urgency to know what building will be closing in September and begin planning for transitions. This decision accomplishes that.
You missed the external auditor’s report that indicated an ‘overage’ of 1 million dollars in the undesignated fund balance. This money was purposely not designated to a reserve because of so many unanswered questions about reconfiguration. So transferring the 1.7 million would mean a decreased of 700,000 in the fund balance, we would hope to replenish that amount in the current budget. Please note that we are not proposing to fund the capital reserve, we are making a transfer to a capital line in the budget.
We have refunded Willis Avenue for 20 years. We do have rental interest in Cross Street.
Hooray!
I was unable to attend the meeting last night and was rather puzzled by the news in this blog. Sorry if these questions were answered last night but I do make most meetings, and I would appreciate a better understanding of what happened last night to get us to where we are now.
Why did we go from a two part bond to determine what the people wanted, to a decision before the bond is voted? I could easily understand this action if it saved the district from holding a vote entirely but as long as a vote is necessary; why not allow the public to vote on both? Sometimes what people say publically is very different than what they pull the lever for under the conditions of anonymity.
If, using the nondesignated fund balance was the prudent financial choice for the district then why were we going out for a bond in the first place? I am guessing because money has rarely been cheaper than it is now. We were holding on to the reserve for a variety of reasons, are those reasons no longer valid? If, so, what has changed to make this the more prudent course of action? If we draw down on the reserve and have to replace it, how do we do that? If a vote to establish a capital reserve fund gets voted down, then what? If you simply incorporate it into the budget and the budget fails, then what? I have a very clear recollection that the auditors indicated that we were on the lower end of the spectrum with our reserves except for the nondesignated funds which I believe are/were about 4%. What are the reserves both designated and nondesignated as of the most current figures? Where do we stand with GASB 45?
What is the status of Willis Avenue in terms of the refunded bond? If the bond has been refunded – what is the term of the new bond and how long before that school is unencumbered and able to be rented to a for profit agency? Where do we stand in terms of rental interest for Cross Street?
I am not saying this is the correct or incorrect choice, but because I was unable to attend the meeting, it appears that when we got to the fork in the road we just took it, and I would like to understand why. Thank you.
The Hampton decision is contingent on the budget passing in May 2011 with the $1.7 million construction cost in it. It is important for everyone to make their voices heard both in February (for the bond vote on the Jackson construction) and in May (for the budget vote).