School board mulls next steps on facilities, approves teachers union contract and extends super’s contract one year

Riverhead school district officials are working through a variety of alternatives for completing some of the capital improvements included in the bond referendum overwhelmingly rejected by district voters Feb. 9.

The referendum included nearly $23 million in infrastructure repairs and improvements that district officials and architects characterize as urgently needed. Board members are now trying to decide the best course for obtaining voter approval for funding those repairs and improvements.

During the discussion about the bond proposal, questions were raised by some residents about the the capital reserve fund established by the  district in 2006. In the weeks leading up to the vote, Riverhead resident Laurie Downs, a regular attendee of school board meetings who tapes the proceedings for the Cablevision public access channel and reports on the board meetings on local radio station WRIV, had criticized the district for its handling of capital projects at the Roanoke Avenue school, alleging mismanagement of both the projects and the capital fund.

Characterizing some of the pre-vote criticisms as “misrepresentations” about the capital reserve fund, Riverhead school superintendent Dr. Diane Scricca said she asked district’s facilities manager and architects to make a detailed presentation about the monies deposited into the fund since its inception and the projects on which the funds have been spent to date.  

In an hourlong presentation, district facilities manager Mark Finnerty and architect Lawrence Salvesen of BBS Architects and Engineers, described the status of capital reserve fund projects for each of the district’s seven school campuses and its bus garage. To date, $3,456,480 has been spent, another $3,260,389 worth of work is in production and $1,936,933 is in the bidding phase, bringing the total spent or committed to $8,653,802, Salvesen said.

Following the presentation, Downs came to the podium to question the expenditure listed in the materials for “masonry work” at the Roanoke Avenue school, insisting that the project was not completed as planned. She said the capital reserve plan included “sealing” of the brick facade at the school, which she said has not been done and needs to be done in order to prevent a recurrence of water infiltration at the school.  See video.

Other audience members said roof repairs and the installation of an elevator at Roanoke should also be addressed. Board members acknowledged the existing needs, and said they were looking at the best ways to fund the projects, which might include a new bond vote or line items in the district’s operating budget or some combination of both.

In other action, the board unanimously approved a new two-year contract with the Riverhead Central Faculty Association, providing a 1 percent wage increase effective July 2010 and another 1 percent increase, plus a step increase in February 2011, bringing the total contract increase for RCFA to 2.06 percent over the two-year contract period.

Without discussion, board members in a split vote agreed to extend the superintendent’s contract to June 30, 2013. Kathy Berezny and Ann Cotten-Degrasse both voted against the extension. Scricca’s current contract expires in June 2012.