Slow Going for Facilities Committee
It was slow going for members of the Huntington School District’s Long Range Facilities Planning Committee at a two-hour meeting of the group held earlier this week in the Huntington High School cafeteria. About three dozen residents also attended the session. Two more meetings are planned for August.
Facilitator Roger Smith of the architectural and engineering firm Burton Behrendt Smith, presented 41 possible building and grade level configurations for review and discussion. The group gave no indication of favoring any one plan over another and seems far from being able to recommend anything just yet.
The options presented ran the gamut, with many plans factoring in a reacquisition of the former Robert K. Toaz Junior High School, others including the use of Jack Abrams School, some featuring the absence of one or both of those buildings, some including two middle schools or a dedicated kindergarten center and everything in between.
“It was a lot to digest in one night,” Superintendent John J. Finello said. Mr. Smith did plenty of explaining of how the State Education Dept. works when it comes to building plans being approved and how state aid is awarded to districts for reimbursement of a portion of their capital expenses.
Mr. Smith said many times that he has serious doubts if the district would qualify for any state reimbursements for projects to increase instructional space if Jack Abrams School remains empty of students.
Committee members were led through a presentation of designs for the addition for classrooms and related infrastructure at the district’s five elementary school and J. Taylor Finley Middle School along with an estimate of the costs at each site. To increase instructional space at each elementary school building would cost tens of millions of dollars.
Time and again Mr. Smith emphasized that the plans could be “scaled down” in whole or part. There was a lengthy discussion about whether or not a reacquisition of Toaz was possible and how it would be used. The district could either attempt to negotiate a purchase or go to court under eminent domain laws to obtain the structure and 11-plus acres of land that surrounds it. The district would use the building as an elementary school. The facility could handle up to 900 students.
Another possibility is building a large addition to Woodhull School, which sits on a 24.9 acre parcel. A district-wide referendum will be held August 24 to release $2 million from the Building Improvement Fund to build 5-7 classrooms at Woodhull. Since the money already is in hand, passage of the referendum will not result in a tax increase.
Constructing an even larger addition at Woodhull is also being considered by the Long Range Facilities Planning Committee. To do so would require another referendum. If it is constructed, it could be possible for all fourth, fifth and sixth graders to be assigned to Woodhull and for the district’s four primary schools to revert back to housing kindergarten through third grade youngsters. Such a plan would allow the district to avoid the need to build onto Flower Hill, Jefferson, Southdown and Washington schools.
The committee will meet again on Tuesday, August 10 and August 24 at 7 p.m. in cafeteria A at Huntington High School. Both meetings are open to the public.
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