CHARGE AND TASKS:

The volunteer committee, Citizens Facilities Committee (CFC), was formed in March 2003 by the Millbrook Central School District and given the following charge:

To review current facilities conditions as well as past facilities projects and studies summarize the history of these projects and studies, identify district needs and provide a list of potential solutions to those needs to the Board.

The committee consisted of community members who represented varying views on what the needs of the District were and what should be done about them.  The committee was unique in that it was comprised entirely of community members- there were no members of the Board of Education, no teachers and no administrators.  To aid the committee, the Board of Education provided a task list that consisted of eight items.

THE TASKS

1. Become familiar with the buildings, facilities and land that comprise the Millbrook Central School District by touring the buildings and site during the school day.
2. Review and consider the relevant facts embedded in a variety of written reports prepared by a number of citizen groups and consultant firms hired by the district in the approximate past decade.
3. Tour a recent facilities project of at least one other school district in Dutchess County.
4. Examine and become familiar with the construction aid ratios for school districts in the region and in the state.
5. Develop a summarized history of past projects and studies conducted by the district.
6. Establish a prioritized list of facilities needs of the district.
7. Provide interim reports on items 5 and 6 to the Board in the months prior to the final report.
8. Include recommendations in a detailed written report to be presented publicly to the Board at its meeting on Monday July 21, 2003.

As the project developed, the committee expanded the task list.  The committee developed nine reports (see attachments), which were prepared in response to each task.
 

BACKGROUND

As we worked through the tasks assigned us, the Citizens Facilities Committee recognized the scope of the issues facing the MCSD and the magnitude of our charge.  The Millbrook Central School District is currently faced with issues of capacity for enrollment and program, of building and systems infrastructure, and of maintenance and overall appearance.

The 3 schools in the MCSD were originally built in the early 1960’s.  Since then, the district embarked on two major building initiatives in support of expanding student enrollment.  In the early 1970’s 21 total classrooms were added district-wide.  Elm and Alden each had 4 new rooms added.  An upper wing comprised of 13 classrooms was added to the high school.  This wing was meant to contain much of the 7th and 8th grades in an environment somewhat independent from the senior high school grades.  In the early 1990’s a total of 13 rooms (7 at Elm and 6 at Alden) were added to the elementary schools and in1998, 2 new classrooms were added to the high school.  The renovation at Alden included expansion of the art room and library.  Other core facilities (all purpose rooms, libraries, art, music, technology, home/careers and science facilities, and the high school cafeteria and gymnasium) have in some instances been moved, in others, modified, or in most cases, made to do.  Of the 10 specialized instructional rooms in the Millbrook Jr. Sr. High School, only 2 meet current State Education Department guidelines.  The all-purpose rooms at Elm and Alden are increasingly difficult to schedule.  This issue is more acute at Alden due to its advanced music program and lack of alternative space.

In the mean time, District enrollment has grown from 896 in 1990 to 1223 as of February 2003.  A decrease of 26 students is projected between 2000 and 2010.  All three District schools are running at or above the 70-75% functional capacity range suggested for optimal operation.  (For an explanation of functional capacity, see pages 16-17.)  Based on the10-year enrollment projections made in 2000 by Western Suffolk BOCES, both Alden Place and the high school will continue to operate significantly over recommended levels, with Alden operating between 97-114% and the high school operating between 91-104 percent.

Changes have also occurred in educational program requirements, which have a direct bearing on our facilities.  For example, in the 1970’s when Millbrook last significantly expanded its high school, a student was required to complete 16 credits to receive a high school diploma.  As of 2001, New York State standards require 22 units for graduation.  In the 1970’s, a Regents diploma was optional.  Students entering ninth grade are now required to earn a Regents Diploma. Attainment of a Regents diploma is dependent on the successful completion of, among other things, 3 credits of science, a minimum number of lab work hours and a science Regents exam.  Of the 5 science core instruction spaces at the Jr/Sr High, one meets State Education guidelines for specialized rooms in a secondary school. The 8th grade science room/lab is in the old woodshop. Beginning next year the students at Alden will be tested on their ability to do hands-on science using math and computer skills.  There is currently no room at Alden to support hands-on science work.

All schools have been impacted by increased need for specialized programs (e.g. honors, advanced placement, academic intervention services, special education).  Millbrook has an excellent music program, but we do not have sufficient room to practice at Alden or the high school.  Nor is our auditorium adequate for the students’ performance (e.g. stage size, ventilation, overall size).  Millbrook’s athletic teams compete with the best in our division.  We do not, however, have adequate bleachers, locker rooms, parking or a regulation size court or track to host events.

In addition to issues of space, enrollment and program, the district faces substantial maintenance issues both of building and systems infrastructure and appearance.  Items such as roofing repairs at Elm and Alden, improvements to the heating control systems in all three schools, including the High School unit ventilators, diffusers and air handler, and improvements to site electrical at all three schools rapidly add up.  Compounding the price tag is the need for a new access road to Church Street to reduce traffic on Alden Place and provide an alternative route for emergency vehicles.

Cost has been an overriding concern throughout the Citizens Facilities Committee process.  We recognize that our rural, residential community does not have unlimited funds and that our tax base is narrowed by tax-exempt properties, limited commercial properties and no industrial properties.  We acknowledge that the voters have within the past year defeated two comprehensive referendums for substantial infrastructure maintenance and a proposed new high school.  The voters have, however, approved a referendum to replace most of the high school roof.  Because state aid is based primarily on property value, income wealth and student enrollment in a given district, Millbrook receives only a maximum of 23% aid. To increase our state aid, our property values and/or incomes must significantly decline in comparison to other districts in the state.  The lower the district’s state aid, the higher the cost that must be supported by local taxes.  In other words, the financial responsibility of any option pursued by the district will fall primarily on the taxpayers.
 

ISSUES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The Board requested that the committee establish a prioritized list of facilities needs of the district.  Early on the committee decided to replace the word ‘needs’ with the term “issues.”  Use of the term ‘needs’ became divisive and in order to proceed, the diverse committee members needed to find a common vocabulary. That common vocabulary was in the term “issues.”

Maintenance and Infrastructure Issues
During the sixteen weeks allotted to the process, the CFC reached consensus that certain issues of building and systems infrastructure and of maintenance and overall appearance should be considered regardless of building option pursued.  Infrastructure and maintenance were among the top three elements to be prioritized in a new plan according to the mailer survey response.   All of the committee members support a recommendation that the following issues should be addressed:
 

• Additional access should be provided to the MCSD school complex to reduce traffic on Alden Place and to provide an alternative route for emergency vehicles.
• Develop and stick to a plan for ongoing maintenance requirements to improve the appearance of the schools.
• Develop appropriate signage to indicate that the main entrance to the Jr. Sr. High School is on the middle level wing and not the auditorium entrance.
• Do any work that is needed to weatherproof the buildings- e.g. re-point walls at Alden, Elm & re-caulk at High School, roof repair at Elm & Alden (see CPA prioritized issues list)
• Investigate NYSERDA funding programs for replacement of the heating control systems in all three schools.  Include in this replacement of High School unit ventilators, diffusers and air handler.  Pursue this if the payback is within 5 years.
• Thoroughly clean both locker rooms, paint the boys locker room and repair any broken lockers.
• Review electrical requirements and upgrade as necessary (see CPA prioritized issues list)
• Replace broken or damaged floor tiles and stair treads (see CPA prioritized issues list)
• Abate Alden heating piping (see CPA prioritized issues list)
• Install adequate ventilation in the server closet at Elm
• Repair or replace any damaged heating grates in the all purpose room at Alden.
• Fix any door hardware that is not up to code or doesn’t work (see CPA prioritized issues list)
• Fix any broken chairs in auditorium

In addition, the committee agreed that the payback for replacement of windows with double-paned windows in all the schools is very poor; the cost is too high to do this.  Therefore it is not included in our list of recommendations.

Program and Enrollment Issues and Options
At the end of the sixteen weeks allotted to the process, the CFC did not reach consensus on a final recommendation for a building plan that would address the district’s program and enrollment issues.  During the course of our investigation, however, the committee looked into the following options, many suggested by the community, but found them to be unworkable for the following reasons:
 

• Moving grades from Alden to Elm and making Alden a middle school for grade 5-8 or 6-8.  The committee agreed that this is not a viable option because the expansion of Elm and Alden to house more and higher grade levels would require not only additions at each building, but substantial renovation to restrooms, drinking fountains, classrooms, and other rooms and equipment to support larger children and a different educational program at Alden.  We would build two additions and still need to address some of the program issues at the Jr. Sr. High School.  As our intent was to develop a plan less costly than building a new high school, this option was dropped.
• Using other buildings in the community such as the Thorne Building or the Village Hall.  The committee agreed that this is not a viable option because the renovations required to bring them up to New York State Department of Education code would involve substantial cost with little gain.
• Building a second story onto the current Jr. Sr. High School is not viable because the building would not be able to withstand the added weight without costly and extensive weight-bearing structural changes.  The Jr. Sr. High School was not built with the intent of building a 2nd story onto it.

The remaining options considered by the committee attempt to address program and enrollment issues by creating a school within a school through the modification of the existing Jr. Sr. High School or by the construction of a new building.  These two options appear to have some level of support based on the limited response to the mailer survey conducted by the CFC.  All of the committee members, however, did agree that the following program and enrollment issues should be addressed in any option considered:
 

• Overuse of the Alden all-purpose room
• Overcrowding in the central corridor of the Jr. Sr. High School
• Better separation of the 7th and 8th grades from grades 9-12
• Upgrades to the science, art, music and technology rooms in the Jr. Sr. High School
• The gym and locker rooms in the Jr. Sr. High School are less than adequate
• Increase the computer room size and link it to the library at Alden to create a library media center
• Having a middle school program is a good idea, but having a middle school building is not essential for the further development of a middle school program.

In addition, there were several things the committee agreed should be considered in a solution:
 

• Move the 6th grade out of Alden Place Elementary
• Use one of the current administrators as a middle school program leader.
• Do an independent review of any architectural plans.

The CFC reached consensus on a number of points (e.g. Alden overcrowding, administrator for Middle School Program and an independent review of any architectural plans), but did not reach consensus on any one solution.  There was absolutely no consensus by all committee members on all the solutions.  A number of members felt strongly that the solutions offered by other committee members were not the right solution.  The committee came up with four solutions:

1. Expand the current Jr. Sr. High School by using a variation of the Alden Space Committee Report Attachment D and bring the 6th grade into it so that the middle school is a “school within a school” of the Jr. Sr. High School.
2. Level the middle level wing of the current Jr. Sr. High School and rebuild it as a 2-story structure and bring the 6th grade into it so that the middle school is a “school within a school” of the Jr. Sr. High School.
3. Build a new high school for 450 students (scaled back from the 2002 bond) and make the current Jr. Sr. High School a 6th through 8th grade Middle School.  The new middle school could house the district’s administrative offices thus removing the need for rental of the Thorne Building.
4. Construct an expandable Resource Center (located on the site of the proposed new High School.  Initially this facility would offer 450 high school students an enhanced athletic facility, science, art and music rooms, a cafeteria and a library/media center. The Resource Center will be designed to facilitate its incremental growth into a complete school over a period of 10 to 20 years, with the addition of an auditorium and one or more classroom wings. The timing of these additions will be determined by the future needs of the District.  By establishing the ‘footprint’ of the completed building, the location of the new access road (from Church Street) can be finalized along with underground utilities, driveways and parking facilities. The transfer of High School activities to the Resource Center would free up enough space to facilitate moving the sixth grade from Alden to the Jr. Sr. High School and to permit increased separation between Middle and High School students.