Eastchester Middle School Bond Passes By Slim Margin

Eastchester residents took to the polls on Wednesday to decide whether to approve a $12.8 million bond that would increase classroom space at Eastchester Middle School.

By 2 p.m., both polling locations in Eastchester were reporting a very strong turnout despite the inclement weather conditions that notoriously can decrease the number of votes cast.

In the end, the bond passed by what seemed to be a smaller margin than what was anticipated by some residents like Chris Jawarski, who expressed after hearing the results that, “more people should have voted for the sake of the kids who will be in the middle school five years from now.”

The expansion project includes 14 new classroom spaces, one of which is a renovation and also includes five additional bathrooms, an expanded cafeteria and relocation of special needs classrooms.

George Bennett of Garth Road stated that he hoped the bond passed so that students in Eastchester can continue to have the best educational experience.

“It’s a shame that the class sizes are so large but hopefully this money will be used to better serve them in the long-run,” Bennett said.

With increasing enrollment, school officials have said the middle school’s current facility cannot accommodate the number of students the district must serve.

In September, “an insufficient, outdated, and limiting facility for 21st Century Teaching and Learning.”

Board of Education President Paul Doyle echoed the same sentiment, saying in a letter to the Eastchester community that the bond was necessary because the school district had “exhausted all other options.”

“We can no longer delay this project,” Doyle said. “This is about our students and our ability to provide them with the kind of education that they need and deserve in order to be competitive in the global economies of the 21st century.”

While many voters seemed in favor of the bond, some still felt as though conditions are only crowded now and that 10 years from now, things may change again, leaving the district with unused space.

“Things tend to go in cycles,” said long-time Eastchester resident Valerie Brown. “I would hate to see school officials expand the middle school and then once the economy changes and the amount of families living in Eastchester changes, the expanded space becomes a surplus.”