The Elmont School Board's "Open Letter to the Community" about the ATS building is a collection of ridiculous myths. The center of the myths is a statement that the cost of renovating the ATS building is no longer $8 million - the amount Elmont agreed to in their contract with Sewanhaka last February - but "over Fourteen (14) Million Dollars." That statement is not true and, as we will show, the Elmont Board knows it is not true. Their intent is to impact the dollar amount so strongly that their own bond issue will fail and the Sewanhaka Board will take the blame.

Myth No. 1: "...the cost of renovating (ATS) had more than doubled in the last three years, rising from Seven (7) Million Dollars to over Fourteen (14) Million Dollars."

Reality:

The cost of renovation is $8 million, not $7 million. In February the Elmont Board agreed to this as the amount needed to restore the building to a basic operational condition, comparable to all of the other buildings in the Elmont District. Since then, Elmont produced a new architectural study that set a new figure at $12.4 million. This represents a 55 percent increase! Where did it come from? How did an estimate that Elmont agreed to in February, 1998, suddenly grow by 55 percent in June, 1998? The answer is that the new figure is a deception. It is not the amount needed for restoration to a basic operational condition. It is a wish list for an ideal school, one that would be the envy of any district in the nation. Here are some of the improvements - not listed in the original cost estimate - that Elmont would add to ATS and ask the taxpayers to fund:

* Air conditioning for the entire building $ 575,000

* Convenience Receptacles $ 69,000

* Additional Crawlspace lighting $ 20,000

* Media Retrieval Systems $ 435,000

* A building-wide assistive listening system $ 13,000

* Repaving all parking lots $ 75,000

* Renovating outside basketball and tennis courts $ 150,000

* Additional land survey $ 10,000

* Additional sanitary lines $ 172,000

* New auditorium stage rigging $ 50,000

* New auditorium stage lighting and sound $ 115,000

* New auditorium seating $ 65,000

* New telecommunications system $ 85,000

* Additional roof reconstruction for snowdrifting $ 125,000

* New stand-by generators $ 80,000

Total additional and unnecessary cost estimates $2,039,000

These would make ATS the only elementary building in Elmont - or possibly New York State - with central air conditioning, with a state-of-the-art theater complex, and fully wired for Internet and all computer services. They would turn ATS into the Taj Mahal of Elmont. No board would ever submit these to taxpayers as educationally necessary and fiscally responsible. Their only possible purpose is to inflate costs, spread panic within the public and cancel the upcoming vote. Some Elmont Board members DO NOT want ATS at any cost - and those that don't want it should say so! At this point, the Elmont public should survey their board in public to learn exactly who still supports the purchase of ATS - and who does not.

Myth No. 2: "ATS has now entered the final stage of deterioration (movement into the area of structural failure)."

Reality:

Prior to signing the original contract in February, Sewanhaka's architects inspected ATS and pronounced it in sound condition. At no time during the entire negotiation leading to the sale did the Elmont Board hire any inspector of its own to evaluate the condition of the building. They bought a building without inspecting it. On Aug. 5, Sewanhaka's engineer reinspected the building and reached the same judgment as before - it is structurally sound in every aspect. Elmont's own architectural survey (done after it bought the building) likewise begins with the statement: "Overall, the facility was in good condition for the limited maintenance." The sky is not falling. Nothing in ATS is remotely close to "structural failure." Any public official who states that the building is structurally unsound is not telling the truth and is promoting panic within his community.

Myth No. 3: "Throughout the negotiation process the Sewanhaka Board had maintained a very significant informational advantage. Only very recently was Elmont in a position to understand the true conditions of the ATS building. Asking Elmont to document information and facts that were better known to Sewanhaka was and is not the behavior of a group seeking to negotiate in good faith."

Reality:

This is absurd and also impossible. The Elmont Board has smeared the character and reputation of the Sewanhaka Board of Education, and insulted the intelligence of their own community. Two members of the Elmont Board are full time members of the Sewanhaka Board - not guests, not people excluded from executive sessions or privileged information. (It must be noted that the individual trustees representing Elmont on the Sewanhaka Board during the negotiations are no longer members of either board. Current representatives were not part of the ATS negotiations.) Sewanhaka can do nothing without the full knowledge and participation of Elmont - the two boards are joined at the hip. The writers of the message know this and are taking the members of their own community to be fools. First, they say it is Sewanhaka's fault that they bought a building which they didn't know was ready to collapse; then they say that Sewanhaka keeps information from Elmont when Elmont Board members make up 25 percent of the Sewanhaka Board. The insult to their own public is worse than the insult to their colleagues in Sewanhaka.

Both boards of education drew up the original ATS contract in good faith. Elmont's lawyers and the Elmont Board president signed it. They were not forced to do this. Now, for whatever their reasons, they want out. To do this, they announce to their community that they have bought a building in blind ignorance - and only after they signed the contract did they think to inspect the structure they had bought.

This bizarre action is not just a web of fantasy, it makes no sense and it harms the interest of their own community. If Elmont Board members have changed their mind, if they no longer want to buy ATS - that's fine. Let them tell Sewanhaka they want out and we will deal with it. Instead, they have resorted to a deplorable political tactic. It is time for the Elmont Board to stop inciting public alarm, work constructively with the Sewanhaka Board, and move in good faith toward whatever direction they would like to go.