CCSD BoE: Where’s the Plan?

Nearly four months after the closing of the Congers Elementary School, the Board of Education (BoE) and the Administration of the Clarkstown Central School District (CCSD) have not committed to repairing the school nor developed any plan to address the nearly identical issues among all the buildings in the CCSD. 

Congers residents have certainly made clear the high value their elementary school brings to their neighborhood in educational, social and financial terms.  There is no doubt that other Clarkstown neighborhoods can and would make the same arguments for their schools.  While an argument could be made from demographic data that the CCSD may get by, for now, with fewer schools, the minor savings from those efficiencies compared to the massive impact on the affected neighborhoods should make committing to the all the schools the obvious choice.

This seemed to finally be the case at the last BoE meeting when a bond proposal was discussed to address these long-overdue repairs in all CCSD buildings, including those needed to reopen Congers Elementary School.  When that failed to pass in a fairly unexpected vote, an inexplicable series of votes eventually led to the Congers bond proposal that the BoE is expected to finalize at their meeting tonight at 8 pm.  The problem with this proposal is that it is asking the Clarkstown community to make a decision on the fate of one of its valuable neighborhood schools without any idea what the BoE will do afterwards.  There remains no commitment from the BoE for any plan. 

This proposal got five votes to move forward.  Three of those votes – Chris Conti, Diane Hoeneveld and Joe Malgieiri – have committed to keeping open and repairing all of the neighborhood elementary schools.  At least one can view their vote as one step towards the repairs to all schools.  The other two votes – Board President Mike Aglialoro and trustee Bob Carlucci – may be summed up by Mr. Aglialoro’s statement to the Journal News: “If the bond passes, repairs get made to Congers, and if it doesn’t pass, then the building remains closed and we plan accordingly.”

This is putting the cart before the horse.  The Clarkstown community should be asked to make decisions based upon what the BoE plans to do, or at least be presented with a set of options.  Administration official John LaNave has said repeatedly that he has plans – “lots of plans.”  So why haven’t they been presented to the public or, for that matter, the BoE?  The two remaining Board trustees, Kevin Grogan and Wendy Adolff, have said they need more data and a plan before they will commit one way or another.  If they can’t make a commitment, why are the Clarkstown residents being asked to make it for the Board?

Mr. Algialoro has made clear that that he will not develop a plan for the CCSD’s infrastructure until he can present $10 million in savings per year from the current CCSD operating budget.  These are not mutually exclusive goals, nor does one lead to the other.  They are problems that can and should be addressed concurrently with a plan.  

Until Clarkstown residents have that plan to consider, no bond proposal on any school should be presented to them.  Rather than finalize this proposal, the trustees who voted for this ill-conceived proposal should, according to Roberts Rules of Order and Section 9339 of the Bylaws of the Board, motion to reconsider the proposal and rescind it.  Then they can finally work to present a plan and a budget to merit the consideration of Clarkstown voters.