KCSD Superintendent Paul Padalino. (Photo: Dan Barton)
Padalino said the plan’s “design population”; i.e. the number of students it’s optimally designed to serve, is 1,700, but 1,900 could be fairly easily accommodated. While the district is not projecting an increase in enrollment in the coming years, the renovated high school could hold a maximum of 2,200 students. In response to a question at the Nov. 18 tour of the high school, Padalino said state building aid is tied to the state’s enrollment projections, so the district can’t build space for more students than the state thinks will be there in the next 10 years.
Another aspect of the plan is security — in the wake of recent incidents elsewhere, schools everywhere have been reviewing their procedures and points of access. The plan, if approved, would reduce the number of outer doors from 58 to 11. It would also reorient the main entrance to the rear of the building, a move that would improve traffic flow. The current main entrance facing Broadway would be used for ceremonial purposes only, Padalino said.
The money part
While Padalino said he was surprised to hear so few questions about the cost of the proposal at public information sessions, he’s well aware people will want to know as much as possible, especially how it will impact their own taxes. Though there is no guarantee, the district has consistently mentioned a reimbursement of roughly 60 percent in building aid through the State Education Department; less than a week before the bond vote, Padalino is sticking close to that figure.
“I think 60 percent is probably the ceiling right now,” he said. “As I’ve been telling people, 60 cents out of every dollar will be paid for through state building aid. Our architects and our construction management group, it’s their job to make sure we maximize our building aid. We’re feeling confident that our approximations are right, the local share being about $55 million, and the state aid covering $88 million. Of course everything is approximate, but we’re standing by our estimates.”
Based on current assessments, homeowners with a $200,000 assessment, cited as the approximate average for Kingston homes, would pay $12 a month ($144 a year) for 20 years, with commercial property owners, who are in the city taxed at a higher rate, $17 a month.
At the Nov. 18 public tour of the high school, someone asked whether the high school project would become another Ulster County Jail fiasco, which came in three years late and almost $30 million over budget. Padalino said state law does things differently than the county legislature — the district is not allowed to exceed the amount of borrowing approved by voters. “We are not the jail. We can’t spend one nickel more than the voters approve on Dec. 10,” said Padalino, noting that there is $10.6 million in contingency funding included in the overall bond issue.
The superintendent also promised that the district would not seek an additional bond for the high school. His confidence in this stems from, he said, the fact that the last three projects the district and the architect on the high school plan, KSQ Architects, collaborated on came in on time and under budget. “We’re not going to go over,” Padalino said.
Padalino said that he believed the economic climate would actually favor the district as it goes out to bid on the various elements of the project.
“We’re in a great bidding environment right now,” he said. “People want work.”
Asked if he was confident the referendum would pass at the polls on Tuesday, Padalino chose instead to express confidence in the project itself and hoped that would be enough to sell it to the public.
“I’m very confident in the merit of the project,” Padalino said. “I think it will be great for the community, and it’ll be great for our students. I think it would really make a big difference for the City of Kingston and the Kingston City School District. As far as predicting the vote, I’m not going to go there. But the people that have come to the meetings and forums and presentations have given us a very positive response. We realize this is not cheap and easy, and I’m not going to downplay it and not say it’s a major project. I understand people having reservations, but I hope they look at the merit of the project and understand the positive impact it will have.”
Polls will be open in all seven elementary schools in the district on Tuesday, Dec. 10 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. For your polling place, visit khsproject.com/vote or call the district clerk at (845) 943-3003. For more information on the proposal, visit khsproject.com.
I don’t know if I am like many others, but I have questions that I would like to have answered. My questions are not about the need for a better facility.
On the facility side, I feel the public and taxpayers have been let down by leaders behind the enormous cost overruns with the Ulster County Jail and the failure of the hospital merger – all the effort and cost toward combining Kingston and Benedictine only to see the idea fizzle. What assurances or steps have been taken to guard against cost overruns or concept failure — going to all these efforts only to find out that the new and improved architecture doesn’t work or we don’t have enough students to fill the new facility?
My second question does concern education – not the delivery but the outcomes. I want to know how this will support better high-school retention, better learning, more advantages to the underprivileged and not only the high achievers.
The answers may have been put forth earlier and I could well have missed them.
Let me sleep on it! Let me sleep on it; I’ll give you an answer in the morning.
“The current main entrance facing Broadway would be used for ceremonial purposes only”. In other words, closed most of the time. A parent new to the area, walking up the hill to register their child, might see a sign, “Go around the corner.”
I went to settle a bill at Kingston Hospital for a family member and walked around for 15 minutes to find the entrance.
Very strange, two buildings so close, where the front is the back and the back is the front.
Other cities welcome you with open arms-we turn our back to you! Kingston, the city of faux fronts.
This project is not only vital for our KHS students, but for the city of Kingston as well. Who wants to move here, or start a business here, with the high school in the deplorable shape its in? And as for the answers to the questions of how it will improve education, first off, improve any environment and kids will do better. Right now, there are cockroaches, crumbling ceilings, mold and unsafe conditions. There has already been tremendous improvement in attendance and retention with the 8th grade academy under Mr. Manuel. Go to a Board, PTA, or one of the many recent informational meetings, and check out www.khsproject.com. We should spend money (less than $20 per month, per household) on our kids instead of building expensive prisons. – A concerned parent and taxpayer.
Your comments make a lot of sense. No one wants a deplorable structure,and no one wants to see us invest in the education of our children, our most important assets, more than me. I certainly hope that the improvements under the new superintendnent will continue and parallel the improvements in the infrastructure. I also hope that the political leaders and their associates don’t drive the project budget into the stratosphere or leave us with a poorly executed mess. Maybe we need to figure out a way to keep a taxpayers’ eye on the process?
For the record, prisons are being closed down, not being built. Also, my comment about the unused front doors (I forgot to add the Carnegie Library building) leads to decreased foot traffic on Broadway. Less traffic has to affect businesses. It also gives an empty feeling to the area.
I’m glad that there are educational improvements, but I’m suspicious of the high school projected enrollment number-a 500 student range is very large-especially when schools in the area have been closed.
I’m also suspicious of the “show and tell” that’s been going on. The taxpayers are being shown a finished product. Why not have community, staff and student input? Also, why did the district hire a Public Relations person? And we all have to turn out at a special election(at added expense, I bet), well, it’s just doesn’t sit right.
I also have serious concerns about the lead and asbestos abatement and making sure that all workers are being paid prevailing or union wages. Health and safety of students, staff, community and employees is most important.
Finally, last year the Superintendent discouraged students from opting out of the excessive testing. This year, many progressive Superintendents in N.Y. are protesting these tests and the giving of student’s personal information to a private company (InBloom). As the educational leader who wants to start a multi-year multi-million dollar renovation, it’s important to know where he stands on this issue.
No … simply no more. This is the same group who wanted a high school in a flood plain. The names might be different but it’s still the same old rhetoric. How about getting a hospital first, maybe job’s above the minimal wage … there are too many people in this area who can’t afford anymore. This vote is a sham, why wasn’t it done during the general elections ? Just take a look in Esopus, a new high school in a very old building – the kids there are learning more / doing more than Kingston. Or how about the Coleman High School … Just vote NO