Jefferson School Board Candidates: Be Transparent on Drummond Loan

One million dollars is a lot of money to many people, unless, of course, they have the last name Gates. And when a portion of that money comes out of the pocket of each Jefferson taxpayer, it becomes further cause for concern.

The Jefferson Board of Education has plans to take out a loan of close to $1 million to pay for renovations to Drummond School, turning it into usable office space for the administration when the lease on its current space on Bowling Green Parkway is up on Oct. 31. According to official information released by the Board, the money will be used only to make Drummond, which the district owns, functional for use as offices; no aesthetic improvements will be made. As much existing space as possible will be used, with no walls being reconfigured.

The renovations will include:

• Changing the lavatory fixtures from child size to adult. As Drummond was used as a kindergarten school, the fixtures are small.
• Replacing the windows, which are original to the building.
• Moving the current boiler to the Milton School and adding a zoned HVAC system. Converting the HVAC system will eliminate the need to have a full-time black seal licensed custodian in the building, and zoned heating would also allow temperatures to be lowered in areas of the building not being used, according to the board.
• Adding some walls to existing classrooms to accommodate offices and privacy.
• Making the building energy efficient, compliant to current building code, and able to accommodate some community activities.

According to board documentation, there is no line item in the proposed 2011-2012 school budget for this loan. Instead, it will be paid using the money that the board currently uses to pay rent on the Bowling Green Parkway offices. In fact, it says, there will be a savings to the public. The board currently pays $107,000 per year in rent for the office space. Paying off a 15-year loan of $1 million will cost $67,000 per year, saving the district $40,000 per year.

The Board of Education will have three new members after the April 27 elections. Patch set out to find the candidates’ reactions to this project, and reaction was mixed.

“I will be clear on this: if we own a building, move them into it,” said candidate Mark Krisinski. “If they need to share offices they would have to manage.”

Candidate Frank Cuccio agrees that moving into a district-owned building would be a better idea.

“It’s a typical own versus rent analysis with a practical twist,” he said. “I am in favor of moving the administrative offices to Drummond as opposed to continuing to rent.”

Some candidates, however, feel that there are issues the board hasn’t addressed.

“I find it very difficult to believe that this renovation must cost $1 million, especially since it allegedly has no cosmetic or aesthetic improvements,” said candidate Kerri Batche. “It’s a little tone deaf, in my opinion, to ask for this much money in this economy.”

In fact, it’s the $1 million price tag that has some of the candidates concerned.

“I think this loan has its pros and cons,” said candidate Melissa Heyboer-Senatore. “I would rather see us spend money on something we own, but we haven’t seen the scope of work for this project, so I don’t know if the amount is justified.”

Candidate Stacey Poulas is in favor of the move, and related her idea to ease residents’ concerns over the large amount of the loan.

“My recommendation would be to form a core of volunteer professionals that live within our community to oversee and monitor this project from beginning to end,” she said. “We need to have updates at meetings so that the taxpayers are aware of the stages of development and kept abreast of the costs. Pictures and updates can also be posted to the district website,” she said.

Candidate Stacie Corrao, on the other hand, is not in favor of the proposed loan.

“It is completely ridiculous,” she said. “Our kids are getting a completely substandard education compared to the schools in our area and they want to spend that much money on offices. We have much more important things to spend money on and putting us in debt for that long for something that has nothing to do with the children is just selfish.

“They should move into the building, but spend less,” Corrao added. “Let them make due with the building the way it is and do projects year by year.”

A question that came up was the issue of enrollment, and possibly using Drummond as a school again at some point in the future.

The board’s information states that the building could not be used for a school again unless significant renovations were made to bring it up to current building code. For example, it has no kitchen facilities, so lunches could not be served unless a kitchen was added. The current bathroom facilities are not handicap compliant, another item that would need to be upgraded.

“This is part of my concern with a loan of this size,” Batche said. “What happens if, in 10 years, we need another school, and we still have this $1 million loan hanging around the taxpayers’ necks? I am not opposed to moving the administration to Drummond, but I feel the projected amount is way too high,” she added.

One thing regarding this project that all the candidates agree on is the need for transparency.

“As with all issues the board is facing, I think there needs to be more open, honest communication,” Poulas said. “The taxpayers of this community need to know that their concerns are being heard and addressed with honest answers.”

“I would have been more informative about this issue,” Heyboer-Senatore agreed. “It is a lot of money for the residents of Jefferson to spend, and we have not seen how this money is going to be spent.”

Corrao has not been pleased with the board’s communication on this issue.

“I think it’s been horrible,” she said. I think they tried to sneak it under the radar and got huffy when we started to question it.”

“What I would do differently would be to feature (the renovation efforts) in a presentation at a board meeting with a power point presentation and post that presentation on the school website for all to see,” Cuccio said. “I would include project status updates at board meetings as the project is in progress. That’s what we did when the district was going through major renovations at the high school, middle school, Stanlick and White Rock,” he added.

Patch reached out to all 11 school board candidates for this story, but did not receive comment from Richard Alheidt, Kristine Blaha, Paul Hartle, James Hine or H. Ronald Smith.