by Thaddeus Flint
The mothballed elementary schools in the Towns of Grafton and Stephentown appear to be one step closer to being sold to a developer with plans to repurpose the buildings into apartments. The topic was discussed at the June 16 Berlin School Board meeting.
[private]A proposed bid—not apparently an actual bid—was presented by Board member Gina Goodermote to the Board. Goodermote said that the developer was interested to know if “the Board was serious about taking them up on their offer.”
Their offer is not all that much. Apparently the bid for Stephentown, closed in 2009, is $35,000. This would just be for the building and the parking lot, with the District retaining the playing field, still largely used as a park by Stephentown residents. The price, Goodermote noted, does reflect “a lot of asbestos” present in the building which would have to be dealt with.
“Grafton is a lot worse,” said Goodermote, in terms of the amount of asbestos abatement that would be needed in the process of converting that school building, closed in 2010, into habitable housing. The offer reflects this at $18,500 for only the building, parking lot, and septic system.
“Is this in the best interest of the School District?” asked Board President Frank Zwack. It was not clear how much it would cost to divide the two lots up, and with the other various fees and outlays that inevitably accompany any property sale, Zwack wondered if there would be much left over of the $53,000 once everything was completed.
“The longer they sit, the more they deteriorate,” pointed out Goodermote.
It was decided to provide the bids to the rest of the Board for further study and discussion. The District’s lawyer would also be asked for an opinion. Should a bid eventually be accepted, it was thought that a closing date could be reached before the end of the year.
The night was Goodermote’s final meeting after six years as a member of the School Board.
“Gina was a barrier breaker,” said Zwack, who noted that her years on the Board had a real impact on the School District. She was “instrumental” in the capital project that saw the restoration of the Berlin Elementary building, he said, and then when the work was in progress she was right down at the site “pushing the contractors” and making sure the project got done on budget and on time.
Goodermote, however, had a few more things to take care of before she handed her seat over to retiring School Nurse Kellie Kaschak.
“I’ve been on the Board so long, and some things I just want to get finished up,” said Goodermote.
The biggest of these “things” is the portable buildings and walkways at Berlin Elementary School. The problem with breathing new life into that building is that all that new life makes all the ugliness of the portable buildings, and their crumbling walkways, stand out even more.
“It’s like a cob-job” said Goodermote, who wants the entire south end of the grounds cleaned up, to “make it really look good for the taxpayers.”
At least one of those buildings, she envisioned, could be cheaply moved over to the bus garage property where it would be cheaply set on a concrete slab and used as a workshop for the building and grounds staff. As nobody would be expected to spend an entire working day in there, Goodermote believed that the idea would not be hindered by State Education Departments regulations. The total cost for this project was estimated at less than $25,000.
Goodermote also asked that the clock tower be repaired and that lockers be returned to the Elementary School.
The three plans were voted on, with all in favor, to be added to a priority list of building projects.
But that wasn’t all. As a final goodbye, Goodermote asked that a Request For Proposal (RFP) be drafted that would identify the costs involved with lighting the soccer field at the High School. The RFP would show how much was needed to either lease or purchase the lighting equipment.
“We have been talking about this for three years,” said Goodermote, “and now it would be real.”
All voted in favor of an RFP to make lighting the soccer field real.
The night began with the yearly honoring of retiring employees and of faculty who have made tenure. And yet the tenure announcement for Director of Pupil Services, Nancy Mills, who has over 26 years of special education experience and who was lauded by District Superintendent Stephen Young as being “invaluable to the District” was met with an obvious show of non-celebration by several of the District’s employees in the audience. Some grumbling has been apparent in the past few months, from both residents and staff and it seems to be directed largely toward Mills and the Special Education program. The Board does not publicly address it or acknowledge it, which is not really all that out of order as employee and Special Education matters are largely handled in private. This, however, has not quelled the growing grumblings, and this month resident Dawn Phillips read a statement in defense of the Special Education students. “No child should be left behind for selfish reasons such as a budget,” she said. “We as parents stand before you and demand that you help our children by giving back what has been taken away. “ Philips argued that the District has removed Teaching Assistants that were important to the Special Education program, and she named Mills as the Administrator thought to be responsible for those decisions. There is divisiveness within the schools as well. “There is so much you the School Board members do not know about that happens within the walls of Berlin Central,” Phillips said.
The Board, as usual, chose not to respond. They did however, along with Dr. Young and Mills, leave the audience sitting for about an hour while they went into executive session.
The Board of Education’s next meeting will be the reorganizational meeting on Tuesday, July 7, at 7:15 pm. [/private]