Budget Process Begins for Valley Stream School District With Building Tours

It’s that time of year again. Like all districts across Long Island, the Valley Stream Central High School District, which includes North High School, has begun to assess what needs to be incorporated into the 2011-2012 high school budget.

The Board of Education held their annual budget building tours on Jan. 8, to see the improvements the state recommended after its survey. The walk-throughs, which was open to the public, began at North High School and continued to the three other schools in the district, South High School, Memorial Junior High School and Central High School.  

Wayne Loper, the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, explained the New York State Department of Education has a mandated building condition survey, which has a licensed engineer come into the schools to see what needs to be done both internally and externally.

“The issues are ranked on a 1-to-5 scale, where 1 is a high priority,” stated Loper. He continued to say that “this year we are focusing on level 1 priority.”

To start the building tour of North, Principal Clifford Odell explained the items on the list that pertained to his building. One recommendation that was made was to complete the installation of combination lock spindles on lockers in the gym locker room. The estimated cost for the completion is $5,000.

Principal Odell stated that these locks provide "good security and there has been a dramatic reduction in locker room [theft].”

The spindle locks are built into the lockers.

“If was an emergency and we needed to check the lockers, there is one master key that can open the locks, instead of the old process of cutting each lock," Principal Odell added.

Another recommendation is to continue the blacktop and concrete repairs around the building, including making the entrance more handicap accessible. The estimated total cost of this project would be $15,000.

There are suggestions for a separate proposition for expenditure from the capital reserve fund. At North there have been many recommendations that will improve the safety for students and other visitors of the school. One of them includes providing a fire alarm fan shutdown, which in an event of a fire, the vent systems would automatically shut down, containing the fire and preventing it from spreading throughout the school. This project has an estimated cost of $38,520.

Another thing that is being considered is to replace the non-compliant visitors bleachers. Currently these bleachers are not up to code and can be dangerous. Loper explained that the visitor bleachers have large gaps that can cause a terrible accident if they are not fixed. The estimated cost for the new visitor bleachers would be $125,000.

The installation of new security cameras has also been recommended district-wide. Currently, the cameras work on an analog tape. It needs to be replaced with a digital system, which has been deemed more efficient and could make all four schools safer. The estimated cost for this project would be $180,000.

According to the district’s website the “Superintendent of Schools will present his preliminary budget during the Board of Education Committee Meeting on February 1, 2011.”

These are just some of the recommendations that are being considered; look at the photos for the complete list and cost of all the projects at North and district wide.

Stay with Patch for updates about the 2011-2012 budget for the Valley Stream Central High School District and District 13 as it affects Malverne residents.