Architects Present Plan to Build a New School and Save Greenacres Field; Bids for District-Wide Construction Rejected

Though scores of residents came to the Board of Education's last meeting of the year on June 20 with the intention of learning more about the Greenacres School, they waited hours before seeing new options for the school and were not able to comment on the plans until well after 11 pm.

The Board had pressing business to attend to and struggled to keep the audience at bay to allow the board to stick to their agenda. It wasn't easy, as there were several other factions in the audience who wanted to make their views known. A group of softball players and their parents wanted answers on why Coach Scagnelli's contract would not be renewed next year. Board President Lee Maude said that the Board could not discuss personnel issues but Jay Houseman of Thornwood Place persisted, saying, "We implore you to reconsider your decision to allow the people in the back of this room to speak .... We want an open line of communication with you and Ray Pappalardi. This is hurting my daughters chances of being recruited ..... He (Coach Scagnelli) doesn't play by the rules but he is an excellent coach."

Others saw the meeting as a platform to raise concerns about the village-wide property tax revaluation. Bob Berg and Brice Kirkendall-Rodriguez both addressed the board about the potential effects of the revaluation on raising funds to finance capitol projects for the schools. Berg went as far as to suggest that the School Board bring a lawsuit to void the revaluation. When his three minutes was up, he was repeatedly asked to sit down.

Mayra Kirkendall Rodriguez brought up another issue that was not on the agenda, urging the Board to reconvene the World Language Committee to consider adding more foreign language offerings to the curriculum. She made a long list of suggestions on how the Board should go about studying the issues and publicizing the program to district parents. She ended by referring to Dr. Hagerman's upcoming trip to Singapore, saying "Please have a Singapore sling on us – I think after tonight you may need one."

These comments, along with departing words for retiring Board Member Suzanne Seiden, the announcement of a new contract with the teachers, a discussion of the rejection of all of bids for approved building projects from the $18.2 mm bond (see detials below) and the introduction of new hires for the 2016-17 school year delayed any discussion of Greenacres until late in the evening.

When architect Russ Davidson of KG&D finally did make his presentation, he explained that he had renderings and site plans for option B1 – the renovation of the existing school, and an alternative plan for a new school across the street. The new option C1 would be a two-story school with a smaller footprint to preserve more green space and play area. The school would be on the West side of the field, parallel to Brewster Road. According to Davidson, the school would be a bit less expensive than Option C and have the least impact on adjacent homes.

The exterior of the school would look like a series of "linked houses," with covered porches facing the field. The entry would be a covered gazebo and the school would also include a large covered play area. A full service cafeteria would be adjacent to the gym. The two areas could be joined to make an even bigger assembly space and includes a large indoor stage. Classrooms surround a central courtyard to bring light into both sides of each room.

Another feature of the site is a long access driveway extending from Montrose Road to the rear of the new building. The paved lane would run parallel to Kingston Road and could be used for deliveries and service vehicles. The site of the current school would include a playing field with a 6-7 foot retaining wall to level off the area.

Davidson's plans for B1, or the renovation, now includes $1.4 million for six temporary trailers to be used as classrooms during the construction. He said that kids could be in the existing building while the addition is under construction as it will be done on exterior space. However, there is work involved to renovate the heating and ventilation systems in the existing classrooms, and thus the need for the trailers. The design includes a stair tower extending from the second floor down to street level. Davidson said, "The addition fits naturally into the neighborhood." About the two plans, Davidson said, "These are your two best options."

Which of the two buildings would best meet the district's needs? Davidson presented a chart showing how the two options conformed to the "model program" or state education department targets. In the chart below, red boxes indicate a shortage of space, yellow for similar and green for an overage. Option B1 fails some of the criteria as some of the rooms are smaller than optimal standards. It is interesting to note that the new Option C1 offers 25,000 more square feet of green space than the prior Option C and addresses the concerns of those who valued the blacktop area with 34,204 square feet of blacktop to the current 35,540 square feet.

The new building is estimated to cost $12 million more than a renovation – with an estimate of $40.7 for B1 to $52.9 million for C1. Davidson did say that the new building would be heated and cooled by a geothermal system that uses 50% less energy than traditional buildings and would yield considerable savings in energy costs in the future. These cost savings could narrow the expense gap between the two options. In addition, the state permits 30 year financing for new construction vs. 15 years for renovations, which would again impact the annual debt costs for the two options.

Dr. Hagerman asked the audience to examine these two options with an open mind. He said, "We considered all factors ....including green space and a 21st century building." Referring to the many messages he was receiving he said, "Stop the robo texting and really consider the options. We went line by line addressing the issues that had been brought to our attention." In discussing robo texting, Hagerman was referencing a petition that was circulated before the meeting that asked the Board to take Option C off the table. The "Google Forms" doc was a widget that facilitated the easy submission of emails to the Board. Their inbox was flooded and they struggled to respond to each one for which there was an email address.

Board President Lee Maude sought answers to the safety questions raised by parents at the prior meeting., specifically about asbestos, lead and dust. Davidson assured the board that construction companies follow "section 155 regulations for occupied school buildings," that require a separate ventilation system for the construction area and the occupied building as well as a hard wall between the two. Furthermore asbestos abatement is prohibited while the children are in the building. Davidson says in all their years of practice they have not had a lawsuit concerning the health effects of school construction.

Despite Dr. Hagerman's plea for residents to look at their options with an open mind, most who spoke echoed their prior positions, adapting their comments to incorporate the new information presented. Meredith Gantcher asked why trailers were necessary at Greenacres if none would be provided for students during construction at the other schools. She said the standards should be the same across all elementary school districts. She also wanted to know how drop off would be accommodated at the new building and asked for construction timing for the new options.

Ira Hasson, who lives next to the current school, said that now that Davidson had cleared up concerns about construction safety, there would be no reason for the district to spend $10 million more on a new school and lose two baseball fields when the old school could be safely renovated. Vivienne Braun told the Board that a renewed effort to gather signatures in support of Option B1 had yielded far more support than the campaign to build a new school. She said, "What is the difference between the renovations for Edgewood and similar work for Greenacres? Why is it safe there and not in Greenacres? I don't understand the need for temporary classrooms in Greenacres."

Madeline Hauptman of Brewster Road read a lengthy statement from architect Aaron Lamport who lives in Greenacres. He suggested a proactive outreach effort on the part of the Board to communicate safety procedures for the renovation. He supports Option B1.

Valerie Greenberg said she finds the school to be beautiful and said that all issues with the school will go away with the renovation. She does not believe that new was necessarily better.

Jon Singer of 8 Montrose Road said that classroom size is not tied to educational performance. He said that the classroom sizes in the other schools do not meet these targets and argued that applying the model program to the other schools would require massive changes and the demolition and rebuilding of the other schools. Mike Greenberg agreed that everyone would be demanding a new school.

Mark Lewis, an empty nester spoke in support of the new school, saying the children of Greenacres need a new school that meets the needs of today and tomorrow. He chided the board for doing their consent agenda before giving the audience the opportunity to speak. He said, "People have to go to work and have small children at home."

Tony Coriggio of Brite Avenue said "C1 is spot on. It takes the "save the field" argument off the table.... Take into account the energy and maintenance savings." Coriggio urged the board to get the facts out to the public and to not be swayed by a robo campaign.

Andy Taylor of 37 Walworth Avenue supported the new school, saying that C1 is the only option for Greenacres. He said a facelift of an old school was not optimal and posed questions about the safety and hidden costs of renovating an old building. He said in the long term, it would cost more to run and maintain the old building than to build a new one. He called B1 a "fatally flawed, stop gap measure."

John Krisbergh of Greenacres Avenue told the Board that all of Scarsdale would support "a great new school that we can all be proud of."

David Fenigstein pointed to the deficiencies in B1 in terms of the model program. He told the board to take a look at the energy savings and to consider the advantages of having the school on the same side as the playing fields.

Rona Muntner of Fairview Road questioned the parity issue. She said, "We are one community and can share in the resources. Each school comes up for renovation when needed."

Mitch Kahn of Brewster Road said, "The grounds are school property. I understand there is a baseball game that has been going on there for 50 years, but that's not for kids... To me the "Save the Field" people started with saving the field, so you got an option that saved the field. Then they went to Save Greenacres. Now they are being altruistic and worrying about other areas of Scarsdale and raising concerns about the cost. You guys see through this. You know where they live and you can see what their real concern is. The cost of a new building will not be that different in the end. Do what's right for the kids."

Though people debated the pros and cons for a new school, it was apparent that external factors could have a big impact on the decision. Earlier in the meeting, Assistant Superintendent Stuart Mattey announced that the district had not received any acceptable bids for the work planned at the High School, Middle School, Edgewood and Heathcote Schools. This work was approved by voters in an $18.12 million bond in December 2014. However, the State Education Department delayed their approvals, forcing the district to put the projects out to bid in May. Due to the timing and an uptick in the economy, the bids that were received were 33% higher than estimated and the district did not receive any bids at all for general contractors for the $7 million project at the high school. At their final meeting of the year the Board passed a resolution rejecting all the bids as they exceeded the available budget. 

As a result, Stuart Mattey and Russ Davidson said those projects would need to be streamlined and bundled together to get more favorable pricing. The increase in pricing for these projects could affect the district's ability to pay for the renovation or the construction of a new school at Greenacres. The work was scheduled to begin this summer, but will clearly not begin on time.

Furthermore, the reval has spurred dissent from taxpayers and some wonder whether this could impact residents' willingness to fund new construction projects down the line.

The meeting ended at 12:21 am and there was no timeline or proposed resolution to the issue of the Greenacres School.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Lee Maude thanked her fellow board members for a great year and thanked Board Vice President Bill Natbony for being her wingman.

You can watch the meeting and the presentation here. What do you think of the district's options? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.