-
September 22, 2024
Dear Parents, Faculty, Staff, Students, and Community Members,
The school year is off to a great start. It is fun to have students and staff back on campus. It has been a busy first few weeks of school so I have a lot to share with you:
Duzine Elementary Welcomes Dr. Melissa Jean-Paul
Since mid-summer, Duzine has been under the very capable leadership of Interim Principal Michelle Knowlton. We would like to thank Principal Knowlton for her service to the district. Friday was her last day with us.
Dr. Melissa Jean-Paul will now take over the Principal role in Duzine. We are fortunate to have an individual with her experience and talent at the helm. Welcome Dr. Jean-Paul.
Capital Project
On September 18th, the school board held their second monthly meeting of September. One of the major events of the evening was a discussion and some resolution regarding the proposed capital project. I am pleased to announce that the board has committed to bringing a capital project to the voters, probably in December or January. If the voters approve the project (or portions of the project), work will likely begin in the summer of 2026.
The capital project proposal is divided into three propositions. The first proposition includes items associated with energy, safety and the successful operation of the school buildings. Because the items in this section are deemed to be essential for the successful operation of the district, it will be necessary for proposal #1 to pass in order for proposal #2 or #3 to pass. Proposition #2 includes mostly upgrades to existing athletic facilities. It also includes audio visual updates in the middle school auditorium and adding air conditioning to the HS and MS auditoriums.
Proposition #3 features only one item. This would be an aquatics center built onto the back of the high school.
Propositions #2 and #3 will not be dependent on each other. Proposition #1 has to pass in order for #2 or #3 to pass, but #2 can pass without # 3, and #3 can pass without #2. All three propositions could potentially pass.
Here is some specific information about the cost of the propositions:
Proposition # 1
Work Location
Description
Estimated Cost
District Wide
LED Lighting Upgrades
$1,578,720
High School
Home Bleachers and Press Box
$1,784,640
High School
Locker Room Renovations
$205,920
High School
Window and Door Upgrades
$1,538,222
High School
Science Room Gas Bib Repairs
$31,231
High School
Corridor Ceiling Tile Replacement
$615,014
High School
HS Boiler Room Upgrades
$249,850
Middle School
Grease Trap Replacement (x2)
$41,184
Middle School
Single Stall Bathroom Upgrades
$1,878,677
Middle School
Science Room Gas Bibs
$36,997
Middle School
Exterior Staircase Repair (x3)
$741,312
Lenape
Roof Replacement
$3,363,360
Lenape
Grease Trap Replacement
$20,592
Lenape
Water Storage Tank Replacements
$2,148,432
Lenape
Window and Door Upgrades
$689,146
Lenape
Asphalt Repair/Replacement
$2,018,016
Duzine
Grease Trap Replacement
$20,592
Bus Garage/Facilities
Protection from Falling Snow
$48,048
Bus Garage/Facilities
Remove and Replace Rubber Roof
$120,120
Total
$17,130,073
Proposition #2
Work Location
Description
Total Budget
High School
Improve drainage and irrigation for baseball and competition fields
$288,288
High School
Improve drainage and irrigation for softball
$288,288
High School
Turf for Floyd Patterson Field
$1,784,640
High School
New Tennis Courts at the HS
!,482,624
High School
Football concessions and storage
$1,647,360
High School
New 8 lane track
$1,921,920
High School
Floyd Patterson Scoreboard
$171,600
High School
New Football Goal Posts
$20,592
High School
Multi purpose field lighting
$686,400
High School
Security Lighting near Football Field
$205,920
High School
HS Auditorium AC Upgrades
$1,510,080
Middle School
New MS auditorium audio and visual
$480,480
Middle School
Remove old tennis courts and improve outside MS recreational facilities
$250,000
Middle School
MS Auditorium Air Conditioning Upgrade
$1,372,800
Total
$12,110,992
Proposition #3
This item includes an aquatics center/pool. The cost of a new 8 lane pool is estimated at $19,219,200. This figure does not include annual maintenance costs or additional staff needing to be hired to maintain and run the pool
Now that the board has officially decided to move forward with a vote, the next challenge will be to fully educate the community on what the proposals include and what the cost will be to the taxpayers. I am sure voters will be very interested in learning exactly what these expenditures will mean to their tax bills. This information will be available soon and will be shared frequently over the next couple of months.
Please keep in mind that a lot of thought went into this proposal. The district facilities committee and the school board listened to a lot of input from the community in formulating this proposal. However, it is certainly true that not all taxpayers feel comfortable speaking at school board meetings or sharing their opinions in writing to the school board.
The school board is very interested in hearing what the public thinks about the proposed capital project and about the New Paltz Central School District in general. For that reason, we are asking all parents, students, employees, and community members to
The information we receive in this poll will help us fine tune the specifics of the capital project and they will help us as we shape our district goals for the 2024-2025 school year and beyond.
Open House
We would like to thank those who attended the highly successful Lenape and High School open houses this past week.
We look forward to the Middle School open house on Tuesday night from 6 pm to 8 pm and the Duzine open house on Thursday from 6 pm to 8 pm. We encourage all parents to take advantage of these opportunities to strengthen the home/school relationship.
If you do attend the open house, please remember to support the New Paltz United Teachers food drive and scholarship fundraiser.
High School Spirit Week
This is a big week for the high school. There are lot of sporting events coming up:
In addition to these contests, modified sports teams are also competing. For a full listing of athletic contests, you can always go to our sports calendar which can be found by clicking on this link sports schedule.
Tuesday night is senior night for the girls swim team. The homecoming football game will be Friday night under the lights on the Floyd Patterson Field. The Homecoming Dance will be held Saturday night.
Continuing Education
The inaugural offering of the NPCSD continuing education program has been well received. Courses and opportunities will be ongoing through early December. If you would like to see the entire continuing education brochure, please click here.
The offerings for the coming week are as follows:
Other Events
While we are pleased by the success of our continuing education program, we support all of the other great things going on in the community. I will end my message with flyers for a few of these events.
If you have any questions about anything in this message, please let me know.
Regards,
Stephen Gratto - Superintendent
Town of New Paltz
Date: Thursdays, Oct 3 – Oct 24th
Time: 4:00-5pm
Location: NP Community Center, by school bus
Description: Learn to Drum! Traditional West African Djembe and DounDoun Drums with Amadou Diallo.
Instructor: Amadou Diallo
Cost: $60
Age: 4th-5th grade
Title: ”West African Drumming"
Number of Students: 20
Sign up: Call Joanna at 845-255-2512 or email recreation@townofnewpaltz.org