- By Dan Veaner
- Around Town
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In keeping with that mission the group recently released a survey. "It's the capital project survey," says Maureen Bell, a member of the Community Awareness Group. "It presents the issues in the facilities. There are several problems, both with the structures and with the programs for the kids. We're asking people for their solutions to those problems, that are not necessarily monetary solutions."
Maureen Bell (right) handing out surveys
The survey contains some information to give residents background on the issues and the group has also posted a cost matrix and summaries of the meetings so far. The Community Awareness Group is working in parallel to the Facilities Group, which is actually building a recommendation that it will present to the Board of Education (BOE). The former is intended to act as a pipeline between the Facilities Group and the public, getting information out into the community. They are also charged with getting public opinion that the Facilities Group will then fold into their recommendation to the BOE.
"We will summarize the results and tell the facilities Committee in the June 14th meeting what our results were," Bell says. "They will put that together with everything they have been talking about and put together a proposal that they feel would be something that they feel the community would support. They'll report that to the Board of Education and then it's up to the BOE to decide what to do with it."
Bell says she thinks the biggest problem with the first version of the capital project that ultimately was not put before the public was that people didn't know about the physical problems with the school buildings. "All they heard was about an auditorium and a whole bunch of parking," she says. "They didn't realize that was actually the smaller part of the construction project." In fact the building needs were dramatically illustrated during tours recently given by Middle School Principal John Gizzi and High School Principal Michelle Stone (see story).
While Bell says that picking up and dropping off kids is dangerous -- in fact her own car was damaged when another parent backed into it in the pick-up area -- the important issues are needed repairs and overcrowding, especially in the High School. "The High School has run out of space," she says. "They're going to have a very difficult time accommodating the incoming class. Every class after that will be at least 100 kids." Indeed the incoming Freshman class is about 40 students larger than the outgoing Senior class, which will exacerbate already crowded conditions.
Bell says that projections that show a decline in school enrollment are flawed. "The problem with that model," she says, "is that it is based on Tompkins County birth rates. She says Lansing is not typical of the county, with the highest growth rate and many people moving here because of the quality of the school system. Many others working on the capital project proposal have also worried about accelerated growth in Lansing if the sewer initiative passes.
If the capital project passes in December taxes won't show up on tax bill until at least 2008. But the first step is putting together a project that will address current and future needs in the schools and that taxpayers will accept. With something of a tax revolt in Lansing, the failure of the 2006-2007 school budget last month did not bode well for the capital project, and many residents are expressing fear that the version to be voted on June 20th won't pass. If the Facilities Group is successful in putting together a palatable project and the Community Awareness Group succeeds in informing voters about it, their hope is that it will pass despite these obstacles.
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