Journal News Article
Eastchester to vote on $5.4 million school bond Tuesday
By Hannan Adely (Original Publication: February 3, 2007)
EASTCHESTER -Residents go to the polls Tuesday to vote on a $5.4 million bond for roof
repairs and a fire alarm system upgrade in all five district schools, three months after rejecting a
proposal to spend almost five times as much.
On Nov. 1, voters said no to a $26.9 million borrowing plan, and the Board of Education responded
by drastically paring down expenses. The plan now will cover the district's most critical needs, but
not classrooms as the earlier plan had anticipated, said Superintendent Robert Siebert.
"Time keeps moving by, and roofs keep leaking, and we don't have up-to-code fire-alarm
systems," he said, adding the district has been contemplating improvements for four years.
Stacey Blau, president of the Eastchester Schools Parent Teacher Association Council, said the
district needed to act quickly to take advantage of state aid that might not be available in the
future. Eastchester schools expect aid from the state's EXCEL program worth $914,000, which
would reduce the total borrowed amount to about $4.5 million.
"Economically, it makes sense, and the repairs are needed, and I think everybody in the district
knows that," Blau said.
Not everyone shared Blau's enthusiastic support for the bond proposal.
One resident, Renee Marsh, questioned why some costs had spiked since they appeared in the
previous bond proposal. Marsh said she wanted the district to be more specific and open about
the cost of repairs and upgrades.
Marsh is a member of Citizen Advocates for Responsible Education, a group formed in 2005 to
promote what it sees as fiscal responsibility in the school system. The organization had opposed
the November bond proposal.
"I think we should give (the district) the benefit of the doubt," Marsh said. "However, what I'd like to
see in return, if this is approved, is a very upfront update of the cost as we continue."
Siebert responded that the board has been upfront about costs and said the bond reflects a rise in
prices since the estimates were first done nearly two years ago.
The superintendent remains concerned about a lack of space in the schools, which are coping with
growing enrollment.
"Every nook and cranny we can find in the middle school and high school has been turned into a
classroom or office space," he said.