(Ed.s note: The BOE's Middle School Review will be in next week's issue.)

After months of studying reports, and myriad discussions with staff, administrators, parents, parent groups, the community, hired consultants and board members, the school board reached consensus on two major issues concerning the long range facilities plan. These unofficial decisions will help make the rest of the plan fall in line relatively quickly. The plan for expansion and renovation of facilities is necessitated by a projected and actual increase in student enrollment; a need to accommodate upgraded and updated (and in some cases existing) educational programs for the students; and to comply with State Education Department facilities requirements.

At the end of the first part of the board's work session on Jan. 7, each board member was given five minutes to speak about his/her thoughts and opinions. Each one spoke, with the exception of Richard Sussman, who had missed the first half of the meeting. At the end of the second half of the meeting, Nancy Cowles asked Mr. Sussman if he wished to take his five minutes. Mr. Sussman replied, "I'm against the plan. That's all I have to say."

During Mrs. Cowles' five minute comment period, she said her major concern is that whatever decisions are made, the community is bound to be divided to some degree. "I love this community and don't want to see it blow up over the decisions we make." She added, "The schools are our life." She said that she's still assessing various options, but noted that she's not for any plan that does not make use of Salem and Weber. "We have no need for a new community center," she said.

The middle school was the first topic of discussion by a board member. For the most part, the middle school's fate has been considered the linchpin of the long-range plan. The question has been whether to build a new state-of-the art one, or to make two small ones by either renovating the current middle school Weber/Flower and building a small new middle school somewhere in Port, or else by renovating Sousa into the second small middle school. (Sousa was once a middle school but is now used as an elementary school.) In any scenario, the decision about the middle school had major implications for the rest of the long-range plan.

Board member Sandy Ehrlich said that she is in favor of building a new state-of-the art middle school because the kind of program the middle school administrators and educational consultants strongly suggest for the middle school students, the smaller school within a school concept, requires this type of facility. (The design for a program like this is a hub and spoke one, with support services in the center (hub), and the "schools within schools" in the various spokes.)

Bill Day, one of the educational facilities consultants, noted that the hub and spoke design concept also affords the district better control over enrollment increases or decreases, because the spokes containing the classrooms can be easily added on to, or eliminated from, the hub.

It was also noted that without having one large middle school, two smaller ones would have to be created. However, one of these would be a state of the art school, while Weber would be merely renovated, not having the original design required to convert it into a state of the art facility. For Board President Bob Scheer, this raised the problem of equity for students---which students would attend the new state-of-the art school and which ones would attend the renovated one at Weber, which would be, facilities-wise "less-than" the new one would be. "Every kid will benefit from one large, new, state-of-the art middle school."

With the projected, increase of 700 middle school and high school students over the next few years, Mr. Scheer also pointed out that "too many kids" will be on the Schreiber/Weber campus.

Board member Alan Baer said he was in favor of building a new high school, and moving the middle school to the Schreiber site. However, a new high school has the largest price tag and the rest of the board would not support this idea.

He is in favor of building a new middle school.

In favor of a new middle school also is Dean Nardone. He believes that, in addition to increasing school age demographics which are driving the need to expand the facilities, the time to upgrade facilities is now. "Let's bring our schools up to the next level to match our great teachers," he said. He noted that the long range plan will affect the district for the next 25 years.

Roy Nelson stated that the construction of a new middle school is the single best solution on the table. He feels that the district cannot educate the middle school students in an appropriate fashion, as recommended by the experts in education, without a new middle school. (The experts say that youngsters in grades 6-8 fare better educationally in smaller groups, in which they have a better chance of being successful and thus gaining confidence.)

Commenting on the possibility of renovating Weber into a state-of-the-art facility, Dr. Nelson pointed out that even if the district poured millions of dollars into the facility, Weber is at the end of its life expectancy as a building and would be extremely costly to continually repair.

Nancy Cowles feels that renovating Weber might work, however, she, like Mr. Scheer, has serious concerns about adding 700 kids to the Schreiber/Weber complex. She also mentioned the impact of the increased traffic on campus and on Port Blvd. that those students will generate.

The board now plans to investigate various locations for a new school in Port, including the Guggenheim property, which it owns, and the 41 acres in Port North.

The board also mentioned the possibility of having a study made of the feasibility of annexing Weber to the high school, which would take some pressure off the high school.

The district is anticipating the need to accommodate 2,400 elementary school students in the next few years. To achieve this, the educational facilities expert recommended renovating and expanding the four elementary schools (Manorhaven, Guggenheim, Sousa and Daly) to accommodate 600 students each. However,the majority of board members prefer to go with five smaller elementary schools for a few reasons.

One is a general belief that smaller, as opposed to larger, elementary schools provide a more personal and nurturing environment for the younger students. With a fifth elementary school added, Guggenheim and Sousa might be expanded to only 550 students, while Manorhaven and Daly would be expanded to accommodate 450 each and Salem, or the fifth school, about 400. All schools would also have additional support space (i.e. technology labs, specials rooms, gyms, etc.) added where necessary. Portables would also be eliminated.

Another reason offered by Sandy Ehrlich is that a neighborhood school for the east side of town should be provided for the elementary school students who live there. Dean Nardone pointed out that some youngsters from Salem now spend 25 minutes on the school bus, which he and others feel is excessive.

Most members seem to favor reopening Salem as an educational facility, subject to the building and grounds receiving a clean bill of health by the environmental experts.

In the interest of minimizing the disruption of schooling during the construction phase of the projects at the four other elementary schools, Dean Nardone suggested that Salem might be used temporarily to house students while their schools were being renovated/expanded.

The question of whether to renovate Daly or build a new school from scratch was bandied about. However, this will be determined as the plan becomes further refined.

None of the board members who spoke agreed with this idea which was suggested by the educational facilities consultants. Sandy Ehrlich commented that the interaction among the grades is an important part of each child's learning experience.

The board wanted to let the public know that copies of the educational facilities consultant's report is available at the Administration Office, and also available via email. Call the Administration Office for further information.

* Jeff Oring requested that cost estimates be given for alternative plans that were included in one of the summaries from the educational facilities consultants that was available at the work session.

* Ellen Ginsberg commented that she liked the idea of building a new middle school. She pointed out, however, that a citizens' group does not want any new buildings on the 25+ acres the district owns in Sands Point (a.k.a. the Guggenheim property). She's concerned that litigation would delay construction.

Dr. Nelson replied that if there's litigation, "The kids will suffer."

* Referring to the fact that Mr. Sussman used bad language at a previous meeting, Deborah Berkowitz asked that board members refrain from using offensive language.

This week the board will be obtaining input from the district's administrators, staff, etc. and start to refine the plans. This is all in addition to a host of other issues, concerns, dilemmas, decisions, etc.---all of which the board wants to be resolved by March 9, the date when the final plan is targeted for completion.

Stay tuned....