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By the time a certain "willy, nilly, silly old bear" was introduced to the world in 1928, Sterling Holloway was 23 years old. By the time Holloway -- widely known as Disney's original voice of Winnie the Pooh -- was born, Chatsworth Avenue School was three years old.
Holloway would have celebrated his 114th birthday in January. This year, Chatsworth will turn 117.
Obviously, Chatsworth -- the oldest school building in our district -- has undergone a few modifications and modernizations since first opening its doors in 1902 (a couple of months before the first teddy bear was produced). The legendary Winnie the Pooh Cafeteria, on the other hand . . .
The good news is that renovations are coming to the lunchroom that for decades was named after the chubby little cubby. That is, if the Capital Improvements Bond proposed by our school district passes
a community vote scheduled for next Tuesday, Feb. 5th. The District has identified $49 million worth of repairs, renovations, replacements and other critical structural and infrastructural projects at all six of our school buildings, plus the transportation garage.
Voting takes place from 7:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. at your local elementary school.
Not all of the
work targeted in this Bond is as visible as replacing the Pooh at Chatsworth. Murray families, for instance, might not actually be able to see their school's upgraded electrical system -- but they'll surely notice a phone system that works reliably. Communities don't necessarily rally around masonry repointing or brick wall restoration or the replacement of wooden floors in classrooms at every elementary school, no matter how badly that work needs to get done. Still, everyone will appreciate having new roofs
over the gym at Central School and atop the East and West wings at Hommocks, new stage lighting and controls in the Mamaroneck Avenue auditorium, and new security and fire alarm systems at the high school.
Some of the work specified in the Bond, in fact, is mandated by New York State -- such as the addition of elevators at MAS, Murray and Chatsworth to bring those buildings into ADA compliance. All of it, though, represents an important investment our community can make toward the safety, security and structural soundness of our school buildings.
Here are a few key takeaways:
* The actual work on the Bond-related projects would
begin in June 2020, with a target completion date of September 2021.
*
If the Bond were not to pass, that does not mean this work does not still need to get done. The chemical grout injection to combat flooding in the MAS gym still has to happen. A defeated Bond means that these capital costs likely would have to be absorbed into the school operating budget on an emergency basis, which would make these projects more costly and less predictable while also challenging the District's ability to meet all of its educational goals. Besides, funding this work through a Bond instead of the Budget makes the District eligible for $778,000+ in New York State Building Aid every year for 15 years, beginning in 2023-2024.
The bottom line . . . there's much work to be done. And as you'll be able to see with the new centralized clock systems planned for each of the four elementary schools and both the Post and Palmer buildings at the high school, the time for these projects has come.
PT Council is the coordinating organization of the individual PTA units at our district's six schools, plus SEPTA. One of our roles is to provide the perspective of the parent-teacher partnership as a complement to the information you receive from the District and Board of Education.
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