Proposed Buildings and Fields Improvements Get a Big Public Meeting, Two Votes

Over a hundred parents and community sports leaders came to the Sept. 19 TUFSD school board meeting to discuss a proposed facilities and fields bond measure that would bring much needed infrastructure and field improvements to all of our school buildings. The public forum section of the school board meeting was dedicated to discussion of the list of improvements, which include the following:

Facilities:

• roof
• ventilation and window replacements
• bathroom upgrades
• installation of an elevator in Morse School for children with disabilities
• repair of the high school freight elevator

Fields:

• installation of a turf field at SHHS
• irrigation for WI Upper and Lower fields

The fields improvements are meant to better manage our sports usage and fields throughout the Tarrytowns and are, in a word, “crucial,” said TNT baseball coach and Sleepy Hollow Trustee Glenn Rosenbloom.

Attendees were split into groups to hold discussions and then presented their suggestions and concerns to the school board. The majority of attendees were in support of the plan and many suggested the addition of a second turf field, feeling that we have a large population of children who use these fields and it would benefit our community and school district to invest in safe, playable fields.

As this grass-roots initiative to improve fields coincided with a state-funded initiative to fund facility improvements, the field project and facility project would qualify for a 30 percent state rebate on the investment. The anticipated tax price on a $9 million project would be approximately $111 per $10,000 tax bill.

The school board plans to discuss the initiative again at their next Oct. 3 meeting and at that time will determine the plan to be presented in a referendum on Dec. 10. This vote would be in addition to the May 2014 operating budget vote.

In the meantime, the board wants to continue to hear from the community on these project plans, creating an email address and promising a 48-hour response time.

On the TUFSD.org site, they write:

As the Board solicits input from the community regarding a potential Capital Projects Bond, we offer this email address- capitalbonds@tufsd.org - as a method for interested community members to present questions and comments about the project. We will respond to emails within 48 hours. We thank you for participating in this important phase of the district's growth.

The entire presentation made on Sept. 19 is viewable in above window and here in PDF online.

Thanks to Karen Kuhn for her contributing reporting on this story.