Comments from School Board President Mary Beth Gose on the Bond Referendum Vote Today from 7 am to 9 pm

Scarsdale residents go to the polls at Scarsdale Middle School from 7 am to 9 pm this today, December 11 to vote on a proposed $18.12 million bond to renovate and improve facilities at many of Scarsdale Schools. The proposal was timed to coincide with the retirement of existing debt so that there will be no increase in annual debt service to taxpayers. The decision to put the referendum to a vote was approved unanimously by the Scarsdale Board of Education and all major community advocacy groups encourage voters to approve it.

The projects funded by the bond will address needed repairs such as a roof replacement at the Quaker Ridge School and auditorium seating at the high school, while upgrading the technology infrastructure for the district and adding new spaces to accommodate small group instruction and design thinking.

Over $5 million of the $18 bond will be allocated toward a new Learning Commons in the high school that will provide an innovation lab, flexible instruction space and additional cafeteria facilities. The commons will accommodate work in independent small groups, house breakout rooms for collaborative learning and tiered seating for presentations and performances.

At Edgewood, $3.5 million will be spent to build a larger library and relocate the main office – and at Heathcote School a new multi purpose room will be built to accommodate overcrowding as well as an entrance canopy to facilitate drop off and pick up at the school.

These are just a few of the many projects that will be undertaken with funds from the bond initiative.

To get an overview of the plans, watch this short video produced by the school district:

All residents are encouraged to cast their vote today between 7 am to 9 pm at the Scarsdale Middle School.

School Board President Mary Beth Gose made the following comments at the School Board meeting on December 8 about the two-year process that led up to the vote:

Preparing for this bond vote has been a continuing collaborative process which has highlighted the work and strong, positive support for our schools by, among others, our community volunteer organizations and many individuals, both professional and volunteer.

On behalf of the Board and the District, we are deeply grateful to the Scarsdale Schools Education Foundation, led by its President Ellen Miller-Wachtel, and Executive Director, Steve Seward. The Foundation's generosity and dedication to strongly supporting technology for our students, as well as its earlier gift of Makerspaces to the elementary schools and its funding of the Gaming and Simulation and HackScarsdale education initiatives at the Middle and High Schools, have been a welcome new resource of support for which we are thankful. We are looking forward to furthering our relationship with the Foundation as we look to future education initiatives for our students.

We are also deeply grateful to the Parent-Teacher Council, led by Pam Fuehrer, and the PTAs at each of our 7 schools for their tireless work in support of the bond. As the District developed the informational material for the bond, the PTC and PTAs provided helpful advice, and they warmly welcomed Board members to their meetings to discuss the bond issue. We are grateful to Scarsdale CHILD, chaired by Leanne Freda, for kindly welcoming us to a meeting to provide information about the planned projects.

We also greatly appreciated the support of the Scarsdale Forum, led by Bob Berg, and its Education Committee, chaired by Dan Hochvert. The Forum's Education Committee wrote a report, approved last month by the Forum's members, which supported this bond and the proposed capital projects. The Forum had also generously hosted us at their membership meeting last month, inviting Thomas and me to discuss the state of the schools.

With deep appreciation, we thank the League of Women Voters, led by Susie Rush and the League's School Budget Chair, Mary Beth Evans. The League also warmly hosted us at two public meetings this fall, at which we discussed the schools and the bond issue. After these meetings, the League issued a positive report supporting the bond.

We greatly appreciate and thank the Scarsdale Neighborhood Association Presidents (or SNAP), led by Melanie Spivak, and the individual neighborhood associations, including Greenacres, East Heathcote, Fox Meadow, Crane Berkeley and Murray Hill, for generously inviting Board members to discuss the proposed projects at their meetings.

We are deeply grateful to the Scarsdale Community Coalition for Schools, led by Art Rublin and Diane Greenwald for their support of the schools and the bond referendum. Diane also designed the colorful, creative logo that is on the informational materials for the bond issue, and we thank her for generosity.
We are thankful to Scarsdale Taxpayer Alert, led by Bob Harrison, for their support of the bond referendum.
Several other community organizations and individuals hosted us at meetings to discuss the bond and proposed projects, including the Advisory Council on Scarsdale Senior Citizens and the Scarsdale Chinese Association. We are truly grateful for their outreach and willingness to speak with Board members. We also thank all the individuals who have taken the time to communicate their views to the Board.

We would not be at this point without the vision and excellent work of the District's architects, KG&D and Russ Davidson, who, in addition, patiently worked with the Board and the community in answering questions and addressing concerns. We are appreciative of their work, as well as of the work of our other outside advisors, including the District's legal advisors, Keane & Beane, and our bond counsel, Hawkins, Delafield & Wood.

We thank the Village, including Village Clerk Donna Conkling, for working with the District on planning the election and evaluating the feasibility of conducting the election in multiple locations. Although we are unable to hold this election in the elementary schools, we are continuing to review this option for future elections.
We are also appreciative of the local media, including the Scarsdale Inquirer, the Maroon, Scarsdale10583, the Scarsdale Daily Voice, for their coverage of the bond referendum and the proposed projects. Their work has helped immeasurably in educating the community.

Finally, I personally express my deepest appreciation to my fellow Board members, both past and present, including Jonathan Lewis, Sunil Subbakrishna, Liz Guggenheimer, and Jill Spieler. I am also grateful to Suzanne Seiden for the wonderful leadership she gave to this Board and the community last year in bringing these projects to the point we're at today---poised for a community bond vote this Thursday, December 11, from 7 am to 9 pm in the Middle School.