Update on District Facilities and Strategic Plans from BOE President Suzanne Seiden

Here is an update from Scarsdale Board of Education President Suzanne Seiden on the Strategic Plan and Facilities Master Plan that are both currently in development by members of the Board:

Dear Parents and Community Members,
I would like to give you an update on two of our goals for this upcoming school year:

1. The Strategic Plan and
2. The Facilities Master Plan

The Strategic Plan

• Last year, the Board promised the community we would undertake a long range planning process. Given that we will have new leadership next year, we felt it was an ideal time to begin the process.
• The Board is not planning to hand our new Superintendent a finished detailed strategic plan to implement.
• This is really a plan for the plan.
• We want to understand community views and educational values. This will be achieved through focus groups and surveys. We hope you will participate.
• We also want to develop a quantitative fact base with a baseline scenario that projects the costs of maintaining current programs and enrollment. We will also consider denidenscenarios involving variations in enrollment.
• The new Superintendent should lead the strategic planning effort and "own" the plan. This background material will provide valuable information for the community and new superintendent so we can develop a detailed strategic plan together.

The Facilities Master Plan

• The Board promised the community that we would develop a long range plan for the District's facilities. The plan will include potential renovations and improvements to a high school building that will be 100 years old in four years.
• We need the plan for two reasons. First, it is important to understand what kinds of facilities may be required to support emerging technologies and teaching approaches.
• Second, we need to be able to project long term needs as part of our strategic budget planning.
• We do not know how quickly we will pursue these plans or how they will fit into long term financial planning. We probably will include some items in the regular operating budget, as we have for years.
• The only decision we have made is to develop a long range plan.
• As we have discussed with the community, we will consider whether some projects might be bonded. A natural time to do that would be in 2015-2106 when a significant portion of debt falls off, and renovation and construction might involve little or no increase in taxes.
• We are in the process of appointing a joint committee of community members and staff to help assure we are considering fully—the range of building needs and to help us understand community views.

We will continue to keep you updated on the strategic and facilities master plans. Please look for these updates and let us know if you have any questions.
Suzanne Seiden
President
Board of Education