Mamaroneck School District Proposes Capital Bond for Improvements

The Mamaroneck School District is considering a capital bond issuance for improvements to its physical fitness facilities.

The bond would require an affirmative vote by residents before moving forward, and the Board of Education is scheduled to discuss it at its Oct. 13 meeting (7 p.m. in the Tiered Classroom at Mamaroneck High School).

The exact amount of the bond was not disclosed, but the improvements would be concentrated on the high school.

Below is the letter School Superintendent Dr. Robert Shaps sent parents and the community describing the project:

Dear Community Members,

Last spring I mentioned that I planned to ask the Board of Education to consider a capital bond proposal (requiring a community vote) to improve Mamaroneck High School’s physical education instructional areas. On October 13, District administration will report to the BOE on the status of current facilities, work that has been done to examine health and safety issues, as well as the potential impact of improved facilities on student learning and the PE program required for graduation. I hope you will join us at 7 pm in the Tiered Classroom at Mamaroneck High School for this important discussion.

The bond proposal would include items that have been recommended in three sets of previous building plans dating back for more than a decade, but deferred each time. For all of these years, we have recognized the need to update our poorly ventilated instructional spaces and locker rooms, but the dollars associated with these improvements have been left out of our budgets/bonds in lieu of other instructional priorities.

A potential bond would address the following:

- Improve air quality and ventilation of locker rooms and instructional spaces (particularly important for some of our asthmatic students).

- Provide proper lighting, egress, doors that meet fire code, and running water. (Many areas lack a water source and present dehydration issues for students.)

- Offer adequate lockers as a secure space for students to store their belongings (Lockers have rusted from the inside. Students now leave backpacks in hallways -- generating fire hazards -- or in teachers’ rooms/offices where there is no supervision; many thefts occur during PE time.)

- Establish an appropriate and safe location for students to change for PE classes. (Currently, some students are changing in the hallways.)

- Re-purpose unused space for required PE instruction

- Enable the high school - Mamaroneck’s designated evacuation/shelter-in-place site - to house community members with adequate facilities in the event of an emergency. (Currently, there is only one working shower in the entire building. Locker room showers have not been used in decades and are used as storage space for team equipment.)

- Provide our athletic teams with a space that meets health requirements for ventilation and cleanliness, as well as a suitable space for pre- and post-game team meetings.

- Ensure that our bathrooms are ADA compliant. (They do not currently meet ADA regulations.)

At the Oct. 13th BOE meeting, the District’s architects will present design drawings and show how outdated and unusable spaces would be reconfigured. They will speak about their proposed plans for specific areas and how to not only meet code requirements and safety measures, but how to transform the PE instructional areas into up-to-date spaces. Our intent would be to partner with the Mamaroneck-Larchmont communities to make the high school a center for the physical health and well-being of our community members at large. Consistent with our facilities use policies, we would make these spaces available for community group access (similarly to the Hommocks), including Recreation Department events, Continuing Education evenings, etc.

As with any capital project, we would work to minimize the impact on taxpayers, considering timing of favorable interest rates and thinking creatively about funding streams. Because our enrollment at the high school will continue to grow, I believe it’s more critical now than ever before that we pay immediate attention to our PE instructional spaces; this is a topic I am certain will interest not only families with children currently attending MHS, but those with children in our middle and elementary schools as well. I look forward to seeing you at the meeting on October 13 and having you involved in this discussion process.

Regards,

Dr. Robert I. Shaps

Superintendent of Schools