9/22/24 Community Update / Capital Project
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