School district officials unveil scaled-back expansion plans

The Riverhead Central School District has reduced in scope and cost its proposal to upgrade and expand facilities to accommodate the district’s growing student population.

The changes were made in response to community feedback, officials said.

The district has developed three alternative proposals, ranging in cost from $94.1 million to $79.7 million.

All three alternatives eliminate the “field house” indoor athletic facility, which drew a strong negative reaction from residents.

Riverhead Central School District revised capital plans by RiverheadLOCAL on Scribd

The first and most expensive option — dubbed A1 by the district — would cost $94.1 million, of which $87.9 million would be financed by bonded borrowing, proposes the following changes to original proposal:

• remove previously proposed indoor athletics field house facility, which would save the district about $10.1 million
• reduce in scope the extension at the high school cafeteria
• Upgrade the fairgrounds from Pulaski Street School to the Middle School parking, as well as from Pulaski school north of School Street, but reducing the scope in these two areas compared to original proposal
• build new, 15,000 square-feet administrative offices for district office and pupil personnel services at a cost of $7.7 million (a reduction in scope compared to original plans,) and demolishing of current district office building;
• Add three spaces at Phillips Avenue school that are currently modulars for general classroom use;
• Add support spaces where the balcony is at Roanoke Avenue school so current support spaces can be used as general classrooms.

The second option — A2 — carries a price tag of $90.3 million, of which $84 million would be financed by bonded borrowing, would keep the same changes as A1, and add the following reductions in cost:

• Remove previously proposed new district office building, while keeping and renovating one in existing use at a cost of $625,000;
• Upgrade the fairgrounds from Pulaski Street School to the Middle School parking, as well as from Pulaski school north of School Street, but reducing the scope compared to original proposal and completely removing a fairgrounds entrance;
• Build new one-story building for Pupil Personnel Services offices located next to existing district office

Upgrades to fairgrounds for options A1 and A2 would both include: parking lot expansions, intra campus walkways, baseball field improvements, varsity baseball relocation, eight stadium running track lanes, long jump pole vault runway, a Victory plaza and bell memorial garden, a multi-house paved court, a stadium track throwing events, multi-use paved courts, security perimeter fencing and gates, site improvements and the conversion of McKillop Field from grass to synthetic turf.

The third option — A3 — at a cost of $79.7 million, of which $73.4 million would be financed by bonded borrowing, would keep the same changes as A2, but would completely remove all upgrades to fairgrounds, and would maintain them as they currently are, except for the construction of a new parking lot for the new PPS building at a cost of $325,000.

Capital projects at a cost of $25.1 million and district-wide security upgrades at a cost of $2.8 million remain the same as originally proposed.

The scaled-back proposals were unveiled Wednesday evening by BBS architects and district officials at a sparsely attended second community forum at the high school.

Feedback sent by residents asked the district to prioritize student space, while putting less emphasis on additional sports facilities and administrative offices, architect Kevin Walsh told the group.

“Anything you put up, people want to make sure that the first thing we take care of is the overcrowding,” a Riverhead resident and middle school parent said at Wednesday’s meeting. (He declined to provide his last name.)

Currently, the high school is at 99% capacity, the middle school is at a 70%, and Pulaski Street Elementary School is at 114% capacity according to data provided by the district. Overall, all other elementary schools are at or below the 85 percent capacity, which is the optimal goal for the entire district, Walsh said. A Western Suffolk BOCES long-range planning study estimates enrollment to keep growing during the next five years.

“The purpose of this bond is to increase building capacity, maintain our facilities and provide a well-rounded, quality education for our students,“ Superintendent Dr. Aurelia Henriquez said.

Walsh said that several comments received by the public asked the district to explore the possibility of keeping Pulaski school as a 5th and 6th grade building only, something that was echoed by several attendees Wednesday night. Currently, the proposal includes combining the student populations of Pulaski Street Elementary School and Riverhead Middle School, to create two buildings to house grades 5 through 8.

“I don’t feel any 8th grade boy should be near a 5th grade girl, they still have middle school mentality,” Dean said.

Officials acknowledged the parents concerns and said that the two new 5-8 grade buildings would have two separate wings, one for 5-6 grade students and another one for 7-8 grades students, effectively keeping the two groups apart.

However, an exploratory option to keep Pulaski as a 5-6 grade building was included in the new proposal for taxpayers to consider. Walsh said that that option mean an additional cost of $12 million. A new gym would also need to be added at Pulaski to accommodate the student’s physical activities needs, adding another $5.5 million to the total amount of the bond.

Additionally, the proposal also includes a separate option to unify all pre-kindergarten programs in one space at the same location, Phillips Avenue school. The construction of a new pre-kindergarten wing there would add another $8.3 million to the final bond amount.

In addition to the increase in student population, attendees at the meeting also raised the issue of the cost to taxpayers.

“I want to know how much will this cost me, many of us are senior citizens on a fixed income, and we have the right to know,” said an attendee who did not wish to be identified.

Deputy Superintendent Sam Schneider said that the district would have a clearer idea once the board finalized the scope and cost of the bond. The district, he said, would then create a special phone number to allow members of the public to call the district to determine exactly how much the bond would cost given their current assessment.

That amount would have to be added to the amount taxpayers are currently paying for a capital construction bond that was approved in October 2011 for $78.3 million for renovations, upgrades and additions to the district’s school buildings.

As of July, the 2011 capital project had $66,185,000 in principal and $15,114,071 in interest remaining, Schneider said.

In an interview, Henriquez said that she felt “the meeting was productive” and they are “moving in a positive direction.”

“The school district is actively listening to the community and making adjustments as we go,” she said.

Henriquez urged community members to study all options and provide comments, and said that if a bond to expand and upgrade current facilities is not approved the district would have to take drastic measures to address growing enrollment.

The next community forums to discuss the proposal will take place at the Riverhead High School (Room 133) on Wednesday Oct. 30 and Tuesday Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.

“If the bond is not supported, the thought of offering a split session high school experience will need to become a reality and will offer our children a bare minimum educational experience,” Henriquez said. “That experience would not include the many after-school opportunities and enriching experiences that they now have,” she said.

“Our priority continues to be to educate the whole child, offering our students every opportunity to excel and become contributing adults to our global society,” she added.