The Oyster Bay-East Norwich Board of Education heard a report from the Facilities Committee that has been meeting since last August to evaluate district buildings. Speaking for the committee, resident Donald Zoeller reviewed the members' in-depth evaluation of suggestions made by the architectural firm Burton, Behrendt, & Smith. "In examining the buildings, we focused on health and safety issues, deterioration, risks of future deterioration, compliance to building codes, especially the Americans with Disabilities Act, new systems, and ways to save money," stated Mr. Zoeller. Working with the architects, the committee asked hard questions, including why, why now and why so much. "The committee felt that costs had to be reduced but we still had to accomplish what had to be done," stressed Mr. Zoeller. As a result, the plans were revised to reflect the most responsible and economic renovations and upgrades.

In conclusion, the Facilities Committee recommended a bond issue of approximately $14.5 million. "It is extremely important to have this message carried to the larger community and I urge you to talk to your friends to support this issue," stressed Mr. Zoeller. "Schools have to have roofs, parking lots need to be safe and the children need adequate facilities," he said.

"This is the right thing to do," stated Superintendent of Schools Phyllis Harrington. "Take into consideration that Vernon is 50 years old and the original High School was built in 1928, with an addition constructed in 1958. It also is important to remember that, over the past five years, capital projects were removed from the annual budgets to reduce the budget-to-budget increase," Dr. Harrington added.

The main areas needing attention include the 20-year-old roof, unsafe drop-off area, and new classrooms at the James H. Vernon School, and science labs and classrooms at Oyster Bay High School. Gary Robertson, Kirk Hatzmann and Fred Seeba, representatives of Burton, Behrendt & Smith, described a new parking lot and drop-off area at Vernon that will augment traffic flow by separating buses and cars, add 40 parking stalls and, most importantly, improve safety. Six new classrooms, storage and maintenance areas, and a fire access road will be added, along with renovations to bathrooms, offices, the library and corridors.

At Oyster Bay High School, a new area will house science labs and classrooms. The original science rooms will be renovated, along with some classrooms, offices and bathrooms. The Administration Building will be upgraded to meet ADA requirements, including a new entrance ramp with automatic doors and renovated bathrooms. At the Theodore Roosevelt School, needed upgrades will be covered by an energy performance contract.

During the meeting, the board of education recognized Roosevelt teacher Keith Harrison for presenting a workshop on "Teaching Technology in K-12 Classrooms" at a Nassau County conference; math supervisor Terri McSweeney for defending her doctoral dissertation at Hofstra University; and students for achieving all-county and all-state status in music and all-county and all-conference status for the fall athletic season.

Board member Dolores Grieco described her attendance, along with fellow board member Judith Wasilchuk, at a Fiscal Training Workshop required by New York State for trustees elected or appointed during the past year. The six-hour workshop covered the budget process, revenue sources, monitoring finances, preventing fraud and misuse of resources and rules and responsibilities. Mrs. Wasilchuk also reported on her meeting with Nassau Executive Tom Suozzi and board of education members from the county to address school funding issues. The meeting focused on the imbalance of state aid, unfunded state mandates and ways to share costs of goods and services. Mrs. Wasilchuk signed up for a committee looking into unfunded state mandates.

Upcoming meetings of the OB-EN Board of Education include a work session on Jan. 3, a regular meeting on Jan. 17 and the first budget forum on Feb. 4 (moved from Jan. 28 on the school district calendar).