Clarence Schools Bond Proposal Passes: Real Work Begins

What are you doing the next seven weeks?

If you care about Clarence schools, you'll be joining the effort to pass the two bond resolutions to finance 30% of critically needed repairs and upgrades to the district's buildings & grounds; the remaining 70% will be covered by the state.

Monday night, the school board voted 6-1 to bring the resolutions to the voters in a special referendum on November 18th. Roger Showalter was the sole "no"vote.

There appears to be no debate over that portion of this capital project that deals with repairs and mandated upgrades to the school buildings and bus garage. Roofs are in critical need of repair, many buildings need asbestos abatement, and other items relating to health and safety need immediate attention. These are problems that have, in some cases, not been addressed in generations.

There was, however, some concern-trolling from Mssrs. Showalter and Lahti over the proposal to replace some high school playing fields with modern artificial turf and a new scoreboard, and it's easy to dismiss this part of the project as optional or frivolous.

Well, it would be, except for the fact that sports are mostly played on these fields during the Fall and Spring - seasons not known for their dry predictability in western New York. In the Spring of 2014 alone, over 110 events had to be canceled because of wet, muddy, and unplayable conditions on the playing fields. If the district invested in turf and drainage upgrades, conditions would be playable in any weather except lightning.

Trustee Matt Stock argued that the tipping point for him was the fact that the fields are a school and town asset, and that turf would enable them to be utilized more often, and the money to maintain them would be better spent. It hardly makes sense to pay desperately to try and make fields playable if the weather won't cooperate.

Think of it this way: if you're a sports family, you have pride in your school community and you don't only want your physical education infrastructure to be excellent, but you recognize that it's in the civic interest to ensure that all of the school's programs are top-notch. By the same token, even if your family isn't involved in sports, it's in everyone's broad interest to ensure that the sports programs have modern fields that cost less to maintain and result in fewer injuries to players.

The meeting itself was unusually well-attended, with many parents speaking in favor of the one point of contention - the turf fields.  They spoke of how embarrassed the district should be over the dilapidated conditions of the high school field infrastructure. Just last Friday, a part of the bleachers broke during a varsity football game. (The bleachers are covered by the repair part of the capital project).

There was some debate and disagreement initiated by Trustee Roger Showalter over the actual board resolution about the two capital projects.  He objected to there being only one resolution, because he wanted to vote for the repair piece and against the turf piece. There was some clumsy fumfering over Robert's Rules of Procedure, and the district's lawyer explained that any last-minute effort to strike and amend the board's resolution would result in the contingency being omitted.

As it currently stands, the passage of the repair bond is contingent in part on the passage of the turf bond. Specifically, if the turf project is contingent on the passage of the repair project - it is impossible to pass only the turf. (It is, however, possible to vote in favor of, or against, both. It is also possible to vote for the repairs and against the turf, but not vice-versa).

Showalter and Trustee Jason Lahti complained that they were "concerned" about public sentiment over the turf. It should be noted that not one person rose to spoke against the turf at any recent school board meeting. They suggested that there might be an effort to defeat the turf proposal that might spill over and cause the repair piece to fail.

Trustee Susan Altman noted - correctly - that the board's resolution was simply to present these items to the voters, and that this wasn't technically an opportunity for the board members to voice their specific support or objection for the underlying substance of the capital projects.

The effort to strike and amend the board's resolution failed 5 - 2.  The board then voted on the existing agenda item, and it passed 6 - 1 with only Showalter dissenting.

Over the next 7 weeks, expect thousands of dollars in mailers, ads, and signs to pop up throughout the town to reject the whole capital project.  Expect numerous Bee Heards and letters to the Bee's editor to relentlessly attack parents, students, and the board for allegedly "disrespecting the taxpayers".  Why?

Because the board voted to pass a resolution to make repairs and needed upgrades to assets that the taxpayers own and use. 

So, over the next 7 weeks students, parents, teachers, and alumni will need to coalesce and fight hard to get the vote out and energize the apathetic. We will need to set the tone, agenda, and message before the other guys do. We will need to get the parents who don't bother and don't pay attention to wake up.

The next 7 weeks will be tough and possibly as hard-fought as the 2013 budget. This time, we need to be ready.

If you want to help, please send an email to fixclarenceschools@gmail.com.  Don't wait for someone else to do it - we need people to put out signs, make calls, canvass, write letters to the editor, do Bee Heards, and leaflet at sporting events. It's up to you.

Fix Clarence Schools!

Today is Monday September 22nd. Tonight at 7pm, the Clarence school board will vote to put two bond proposals before the voters.  If approved, the district will finance 30% of the cost of necessary repairs and upgrades to buildings and grounds, while the state will fund the remaining 70%. We, as a school community, must show the board that we support this effort.

Earlier this year, a task force of board members, school officials, and community members met and analyzed enrollment in the Clarence Schools, as well as a wish list for the district's buildings and grounds.  The task force reduced the "wish list" to a "needs list" and recommended two separate bond proposals be put forth to finance needed upgrades and repairs.

Despite a current downward trend in enrollment, new development in town as well as an aging population is going to lead to turnover and new residents. There is no guarantee that enrollment will continue to trend down, and at this time no schools are slated to be closed.

At an August meeting of the school board, Superintendent Hicks recommended that the task force's repair & maintenance piece be reduced to $30.9 million.  The district would need to raise $9.3 million, and if successful, the state would fund the remaining $21.6 million.

The second bond would be for turf playing fields and other improvements at the high school. The athletic field bond would be for $5 million, including a $1.5 million town investment to leverage $3.5 million in state money.

The passage of the athletic bond is contingent on passage of the repair & maintenance bond, but not vice-versa.

Bonding and state financing such as this is only available for capital projects involving the school district's buildings & grounds. Despite the devastating losses in faculty, administration, social workers, and curriculum that the district has endured over the last few years, we cannot borrow and leverage state money for any restoration of personnel or programs.  We must continue to press the board and wage that battle.

With respect to repairs, the district has waited 40 years to undertake a comprehensive program to address deteriorating schools. This is the time to do it, when we can marshal 70% of the cost from outside sources.

If we do not pass it now, we will need to pay to make the repairs and mandated upgrades out of future operating budgets, and the town will have to cover 100% of the cost, rather than 30%. Here is how the money will be spent on needed upgrades and repairs: 

Here is the information on the athletic field drainage repair and upgrades: 

The school board is poised to vote on these proposals at tonight's monthly meeting, and it is expected that the bonds will be put to the voters sometime in mid or late November. Although there appears to be unanimity on the repair piece, at least two board members are anticipated to be "no" votes on the athletic field proposal, arguing that turf fields are a "luxury" and not a necessity.  

But something has to be done. In just the spring semester alone, over 110 events had to be canceled due to unplayable fields. If the school had turf fields with the associated drainage upgrades, the only impediment to gameplay would be lightning. Due to the evenness of the turf, you eliminate natural imperfections, leading to a reduction in injuries to players. Newer synthetics have been devised to reduce the harmful effects of "turf burn".  The cost to continually maintain natural grass fields for gameplay in WNY's unpredictable climate is in the tens of thousands of dollars, and when you have a particularly wet spring such as this year's, no amount of money can bring the fields up to playable condition. With turf, the maintenance is practically non-existent by comparison. Furthermore, when it comes time to replace the turf, the cost to do so is significantly less than the initial investment to construct all of the substructure and drainage. 

A study of a Michigan State University field showed that annual maintenance costs could be reduced by up to 20% over that of a natural grass field and that a savings of up to 40% can be seen in costs for maintenance equipment.

While this turf proposal will likely be spun by some as school district greed, it makes good business sense to improve civic assets such as this. These fields aren't just the school's - they belong to everybody, and the entire community has an opportunity to enjoy and use them. We should expect that our assets be - at the very least - usable, given the money spent to maintain them. 

There's a petition online urging the board to adopt the task force's recommendations, and it's close to 400 signatures now. Please go sign it, attend the board meetings, and contact fixclarenceschools@gmail.com to get involved in the coming campaign to fix our schools. 

As Goes East Ramapo, So Goes Clarence?

This is an absolutely heartbreaking story of an anti-tax takeover of a school board in downstate New York. Clarence came close, but it must never, ever let this happen.

Listen here