Shifting Funds Leads To Tense Greenwich School Board Discussion

GREENWICH, CT — A request to shift capital funds from a heating, ventilation and air conditioning project to cover school cybersecurity resulted in a tense discussion between some Board of Education members and district officials last week.

During a recent meeting, the district's Chief Operating Officer Sean O'Keefe requested that $647,805 be shifted from the $3.79 million requested for an HVAC project at North Street School and be used to improve school cybersecurity.

According to a cover sheet submitted to the board, cybersecurity had not been originally requested in the board's capital submission.

O'Keefe said the North Street project was "of the same vintage" as a similar project at Cos Cob School, which ended up being smaller in scope than originally anticipated and came in at a lower bid. (To sign up for Greenwich breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

Board chair Peter Bernstein clarified the number that was originally requested for the North Street project was now believed to be higher than necessary based on the latest numbers for the similar Cos Cob project, so shifting the money is not anticipated to affect the North Street project.

The discussion led board member Karen Kowalski to question some aspects of the board's budgeting process and why a larger than necessary number was originally requested for the North Street project.

"It's a unique situation," O'Keefe said. "We are thinking that the number is going to be high. We have not yet bid [the North Street project], so we don't know for sure."

She also called attention to the district's Facilities Master Plan, a "comprehensive assessment of all school facilities and to plan for maintenance, replacement cycles, renovations and next generation schools," according to the district website.

The plan was developed by district administration and KG+D Architects in 2018 after a year-long comprehensive assessment of school facilities, according to the website.

Kowalski said she did not disagree that the board should put money into cybersecurity.

"I think the fact that our children are online every day," Kowalski said, "is all the more reason why we need to up our cybersecurity...I just don't understand the math and the information that's being given to the board."

She also noted the board knew the Cos Cob project numbers at their last meeting.

"I'm not sure why we put in $3.7 [million] and voted on that when it really should have been the Cos Cob numbers," Kowalski said. "I just want to understand the sequence of events. The math is a little fuzzy to me, and it doesn't make sense."

Dan Watson, the district's director of school facilities, said the $3.7 million figure was based on numbers that were provided in the master plan and input from consulting engineers.

He also noted the numbers in the master plan are more of a jumping off point and not necessarily actual estimates for projects.

"The point I'm trying to make here," Kowalski said, "is that I'm just concerned about the numbers that are being given to and put in front of the board at times that we're voting on without the necessary backup...I just think that if the board is expected to vote on numbers then we need to have the accurate backup and support behind what's going into this rather than just guesses."

Board member Peter Sherr also raised concerns and said this was the second meeting in a row where someone in the administration has "repudiated the master plan."

"We have a really substantial credibility problem," Sherr said, "because now we're hanging many of these capital proposals we're making off the master plan, we're saying the numbers in there are not valid by big percentages...this is not a good place for us to be in."

Sherr noted he was glad they were focusing on HVAC and air quality issues, especially in light of the coronavirus crisis, however the conversation had made him "very nervous."

"If we don't get good information, the board doesn't operate properly," Sherr said. "This has got to get tighter."

Toward the end of the discussion, Bernstein noted the Cos Cob project in the master plan is of "a different scope" than what they are actually doing for it.

"We are not replacing all of the vents, so the project cost is different because it's a different scope," Bernstein said. "What's in the Master Facilities Plan is guesswork; they didn't go and bid all of these projects out."

Board member Joe Kelly noted Watson and O'Keefe did not make any of the projections for the mater plan.

"Nobody here on this Zoom call made any of these incorrect projections," Kelly said. "Basically there was a group hired by the previous board to make these projections, so there seems to be some reprimanding of people on this call who had nothing to do with the incorrect projections that we're talking about."

The shift of $647,805 from the North Street HVAC project to cover cybersecurity was, ultimately, unanimously approved by the board following the discussion.

A full video of the discussion during the meeting can be viewed here.