The Port Washington Board of Education plans to formally propose a $69.9 million capital bond next Tuesday that includes projects to renovate the district’s facilities and expand its seven school buildings to accommodate a growing student population, school officials said.
The meeting will take place at 8 p.m. in the Paul D. Schreiber Senior High School auditorium. If approved by the board, the $69,877,198 proposal would go before a community-wide vote tentatively set to take place on March 10.
In a letter to the community, the Board of Education’s trustees wrote that projects included in the bond represent a “vision for the future” that would “accommodate…the needs of our 21st century learners.”
The proposal consists of projects the board has defined as “facility needs” and “spatial needs.”
“Facility needs” make up most of the capital plan, officials said. Projects consist of minor repairs, reconstruction efforts and renovations, as well as the construction of two multipurpose athletic fields, upgrades to science labs at Carrie Palmer Weber Middle School and Paul D. Schreiber Senior High School and the formation of at least one science lab at each elementary school, various technological and security upgrades and the installation of air conditioning in at least one large common space at each school.
“Spatial needs” are made up of construction projects at each school and the replacement of large portable structures with permanent ones, officials said.
The capital plan was first introduced in May 2014. Information sessions, public meetings and facilities tours have been offered in the time since, officials said.
Projects were considered based on the suggestions of the board, the district’s professional and administrative staffs, community groups and the Patchogue architectural firm BBS Architects & Engineers.
In its letter, the board said the bond would be paid over a 20-year span and that homeowners would see a median $101 increase on their school taxes during the first seven years of the bond.
After that, the repayment of a previous bond will have been completed and there would be no additional impact on taxpayers.
