Board Votes Yes on the Wellness Center at 4/15 Meeting

On Monday night 4/15, the Scarsdale Board of Education re-convened for its penultimate meeting on the 2013-2014 budget before the vote on May 21. The meeting continued conversations from the April 8 Budget Forum on topics ranging from library staffing to the Wellness Center, undesignated reserves and finally to decreasing the tax levy.

The Board began with a discussion of staffing at the high school library where the administration had proposed reducing the staff to one librarian through attrition. Due to the retirement of two of the district's librarians, the Board has been debating the merits and expenses of adding library aides versus trained librarians. However, the community expressed concern about the cut and the Board asked Superintendent McGill to look into how another librarian could be hired. He agreed to reconsider staffing to see if a second librarian could be fit into the budget.

One of the most controversial parts of the budget has been the construction of a new Wellness Center, which was first proposed seven years ago. The Wellness Center would replace the current fitness center, providing a larger, more open space for students to exercise. The Board was faced with three options:

• Move forward with the project by providing additional funding of $325,000 from the capitol budget
• Postpone the construction of a Wellness Center, possibly including it in a larger facilities plan that would include renovation of the auto shop
• Abandon the idea and use the money for other purposes.

Although there has been widespread agreement that the Wellness Center would play a positive role in the high school, the tradeoffs have been questioned. Because of four years of austerity in the school budget due to the recession, the district has fallen behind on improvements to existing facilities. Assistant Superintendent Linda Purvis was able to provide a list of 9 or 10 projects that could be completed in lieu of the Wellness Center (or as part of a bond offering) including a renovated science lab in the high school, new seating in the high school auditorium and a new Fox Meadow playground.

After hours of debate over the course of multiple meetings, Board President Liz Guggenheimer called for a vote on the Wellness Center. Guggenheimer expressed concerns that the plans were not fully developed and that the Center should be implemented as part of a larger project. Supporters, however, concluded that the Center was long overdue and agreed with Purvis that "the community has told us twice that they have given us the funds to build a fitness center." Ultimately, the Board voted 5-2 to go ahead with the project with Guggenheimer, Leone, Lewis, Seiden and Spieler in favor of the renovation of the space underneath the gym to accommodate a new fitness center. Recognizing that the Wellness Center is still misunderstood by much of the community, Board Member Jonathan Lewis and Superintendent Michael McGill highlighted the importance of communicating the Board's vision to the public before the May 21 vote. If all goes as planned, the Wellness Center should be completed in April 2014.

The third topic on the board's agenda was a discussion of $5.1 million in undesignated reserves allocated for the proposed 2013-14 budget. These funds are set aside to shield the district against unexpected expense such as building repairs and by NYS law cannot exceed 4% of the budget. The Board's long-term goal has been to decrease the district's reliance on reserves and the $5.1 million figure was a sharp decrease from $6.6 million level from last year and is below the 4% requirement. Still, Board Members seemed frustrated with the high level of reserves, while the administration countered that further reductions would only make the budget larger for the following year as these funds are customarily used to fund the subsequent year's budget. As of the end of meeting, it was decided that reserve levels will be maintained at the figures in the proposed budget.

The tax levy increase now stands at 4.15% for the 2013-2014 school budget, a number that Board Members expressed reluctance to accept, and asked the administration go back and look for more cuts. Their goal is to bring the levy increase below 4%, which would require an additional $300,000 in cuts. Board members seemed to agree that they should be able to hit this figure. Superintendent McGill, however, contested the Board's optimism, arguing that the administration had already looked many times for cuts and that cutting $300,000 from the budget would not be a trivial matter. Still, he agreed to look again.

Guggenheimer concluded the meeting by listing the budget's successes, including preserving elementary class sizes, enhancing the technology program by adding staff, shifting staffing between the high school and middle school and appropriating funds to the Wellness Center. The final Board meeting on the budget will be held Monday, April 22.

This article was written by SHS Senior Brian Solender