• 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

     take this poll.  

    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