The Stealth BCS Capital Project

by Thaddeus Flint
With a $6.8 million Capital Project coming up for referendum on December 13, the fact that not a word of it appeared on the agenda of the Berlin School District’s Board of Education meeting Wednesday, the last meeting before the vote, seemed a glaring omission.
Just as the meeting was coming to a close, resident and parent Julie Harrell took it upon herself to try to bring the plan’s existence into the realm of public consciousness. “Half the people in this valley don’t even know this is going on,” stated Harrell.
What’s going on is that Board President Gina Goodermote and Board Member Jim Willis, took it upon themselves to quickly put together a plan to use $5.1 million in State aid and $1.75 million of the District’s Capital Reserve fund toward repairing and updating the many problems that exist in the Berlin Elementary School and the Middle School/High School buildings.
The Elementary school would get new windows and doors, an elevator, handicapped toilets, better ventilation, improved wiring and a new emergency lighting system. Some outside roof repairs and masonry restoration would also take place.
The Middle School/High School would receive masonry repair, storm water management and a new roof. Ventilation would be improved and the stage removed from the cafeteria. Details of the entire plan are available to the public on the District’s website, www.berlincentral.org.
For Harrell though the Goodermote-Willis Project does not seem adequate to address all the problems that these buildings have. “They really need a crazy amount of money,” she said of the structures. And the earmarked funds do not even take into consideration the need for updated water supplies or sewage systems, among the other issues that rack the District’s crumbling buildings. “I’m not convinced this plan is realistic,” she said. The push for a December vote so hastily after word of the plan’s existence reached the public – if it did at all – for Harrell, seemed entirely too sudden.
Board Member Beverly Stewart agreed and demanded that a public hearing on the referendum be scheduled. “The Board as a whole is trying to pass something off,” she said, pointing out that no real effort has been made to get the opinions of the residents whose tax dollars have gone into the Capital Reserve Fund.
The opinions of the District’s Building Advisory Committee have also been strangely missing. Though this committee has been working for years on trying to put together a comprehensive “foot-print” for the District, not a word has been heard from them since the plan’s announcement.
Goodermote refuted the charge that the project has not been well publicized. She pointed out that all along updates have been added to the District’s website. Also there was an article in the Troy Record.
“I don’t get the Troy Record!” stated Harrell.
Goodermote then pointed out that the new Superintendent  of Schools, Dr. Stephen Young, is currently holding town meetings in each of the towns that make up the district. A discussion of the plan is part of each meeting. But according to Stewart, “The people do not see the meetings as being about the referendum. The building bond is buried in there.” Board Member John Nash backed that up. He was of the belief that Young’s meetings were advertised as Young introducing himself and his 21st century teaching program to residents. How did spending over $6 million get added to these introductions? “It’s been slipped in,” stated Nash. “No,” said Young, “It’s part of 21st century teaching.” It seemed obvious to Young that teaching in the 21st century should be done in facilities that had adequate ventilation and lights that would go back on after the lights went out.
So was the Board trying to push a multi-million dollar spending project through without public input? “I’m not trying to push anything,” said Goodermote. And to prove all was on the up and up, a vote was taken on whether or not to add a separate public hearing to Young’s final town meeting at the Berlin High School. In the end, all were in favor of having a public hearing on the project to be held right after Young’s final town meeting. It will take place at the high school in Cherry Plain on December 5 at 8:30 pm.
For a district on the brink of spending millions it doesn’t have to improve the ageing buildings it does have, it might have been good news then that the District’s auditor reported that spending in the previous year was on track. “There are no material issues,” said Ray Preusser, a Certified Public Accountant who has been auditing the District’s finances for the past five years. In fact, revenue had exceeded expenditures. The District is in a “strong cash position,” said Preusser. “The Business Office actively controlled spending…they spent only what they needed,” he said. However with a State mandated cap of 2% on property tax increases by the District, by a State with a $300 million deficit as of November, the outlook for the long term was gloomy. “There will probably not be any increases in State aid,” said Preusser. In fact there might be surprise cuts in them. So Preusser cautioned, “You are going to need your reserves over the next few years.”
Nash is one of the more adamant of the Board’s members about conserving fund reserves for the future. In the light of a building project that would deplete the District of one of its reserve funds, and with a growing pressure on expenditures like retirement, Nash pressed Preusser for a prediction of how the State might or might not fund schools in the future. Preusser could only forecast certain uncertainty. “You don’t know, and you can do nothing about it,” he said. Preusser advocated going back to a three year budgeting plan instead of a five year plan. “Five years is too far now,” he said.
Board Member Alan Webster, tried to bring some hope to the situation. “I assume all the [school] districts have the same problems,” he said.
Preusser responded, “Actually, you are one of the better ones.” The Preusser audit was accepted with all in favor.
Once again the Board brought up the subject of whether or not first responders who are on staff in the District should be allowed to go out and fight fires and save lives during school time. Young informed the Board that his research had found only six employees who acted in such a capacity. Two are teacher’s assistants. Three are bus drivers. He didn’t say what the other one did. All are in service in the Town of Berlin. Young felt it was important to the community that these employees be able to serve the townspeople. He advocated implementing a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) through the CSEA bargaining unit to allow these individuals to be able to respond to emergencies as long as it did not interfere with their immediate tasks. The District’s legal counsel was against this, but Young felt that there was a “pressing need for the community to have these responders.” Young even volunteered his time to fill in for the teacher’s assistants who might be summoned to duty.
Board Member Frank Zwack thought that the MOA should be a yearly renewed agreement to “make sure we don’t have a precedent we can’t get out of,” in case this plan turned out to be a problem. Goodermote agreed, saying, “I want a backup plan first,” before she would agree to a solution. The Board decided to table the matter once again until December before they would bring it to a resolution.
The lack of a supervisor for the District’s bus garage has been solved, albeit temporarily. The District’s Business Manager, William Burke, after being recommended by Young, was accepted by all. Burke will now also be part time Supervisor of Transportation for the rest of the school year, a task he hopes will only take a few hours a week. Nash advised both Young and Burke to take a trip with some bus drivers through the District’s bleak hollows on a snowy, frozen and dark morning. “It might give you a frame of reference of what these drivers have to go through,” he said. Young said that the position was only provisional and that he hoped a full time successor could be implemented in the next year’s budget. He said he was actively working to see if the District could save money by eventually combining transportation supervision with that of another district. Burke cheerfully accepted the position, even while he acknowledged, “I may become the most hated person in the District.”
As promised at last month’s meeting, Tonya Brock, a high school student in her senior year, petitioned the Board to allow the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) to be a recognized club at the Berlin High School. Brock, with both humor and candor, outlined how the GSA, which has as many as 20 members, worked to alleviate bullying, decrease absenteeism and increase motivation of its members. Presenting a petition with over 70 names of current students, Brock said, “It warmed my heart to see how many people would support us.” High School Principal, Dr. Cathie Allain, recommended the acceptance of the GSA. She said, “Certainly they are helping us make a difference in the overall tolerance of our school.” A motion was made to make the GSA a recognized club, and all were in favor. The room applauded both Brock’s efforts and the Board’s decision.