Tuckahoe To Consider Revised Bond Referendum

TUCKAHOE, NY — In the wake of defeat of the Dec. 5, 2017, bond referendum vote, the Tuckahoe Union Free School District board of education is thinking about its next step. Superintendent of Schools Carl Albano sent a letter to the community saying that the district is examining various options to mitigate some of the immediate challenges facing our school facilities. The referendum was rejected by a six-vote margin.

On Monday, Feb. 5, at the board of education workshop meeting, the design and timeline of the revised capital project plan will be presented by KG+D Architects. The financial impact o the bond will be presented by the director of finance and facilities.

The plan will address the district’s most basic needs for additional classroom, safety and security upgrades and high priority infrastructure repairs.

SEE ALSO: Tuckahoe Voters Reject $20.5M Bond Proposal

The board anticipates a vote on Feb 12 to schedule a bond referendum vote by the public for April 10.

Architects for the district said it will have to submit the scaled-back version of the plan under an “emergency” status, which may allow the district to receive the state education department’s approval to begin construction on new elementary classrooms starting in the summer of 2019.

For the next school year — 2018-19 — the district considered modular classrooms and relocating fifth-grade classes to the middle school.

The decision was made to keep all kindergarten through fifth graders at the elementary school for September 2018.

Albano said class sizes may also need to increase on particular grade levels and the WEC library may need to be converted to a general education classroom depending on the number of students entering kindergarten in the fall.

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