More than a dozen residents attended a public information session April 23 on the proposed $6.67 million Capital Project that will go before voters next month.
In addition to those present for the forum, countless others attended the session virtually, asking questions and showing support for the district, as well as the proposed renovations and additions project.
The 90-minute forum was led by Superintendent Jennifer Cannavo and featured a presentation by Melissa Renkawitz, a representative of architectural firm CSArch.
The project will address the educational space needs of the district while also taking care of school infrastructure needs, such as the replacement of original ‘leaky’, wooden windows and 30-year-old boilers, Cannavo and Renkawitz said.
For owners of a $250,000-assessed residence who do not have a STAR exemption, the cost of the project is estimated to be $24 a year; for senior citizens with a STAR exemption, the cost is estimated to be $16 a year and for all other property owners with a STAR exemption the annual cost of the project would be $21 a year, Cannavo said.
The project would provide 3,585 square feet of much-needed new classroom space, Cannavo said, while expanding educational opportunities for students.
“Over the last few years, we have had to move 5th grade into the Middle School to accommodate larger class sizes. At the same time, we have increasing special education demands and an overall shortage of space,” she said.
Addressing community questions regarding the impact of the Riverside Special Education Collaborative on the project, Cannavo stressed that there is no correlation between students being sent to Menands by other districts who pay tuition and the need for additional space.
The superintendent stressed that the additional classrooms are needed for Menands students and that the approximately 12 students from outside of Menands that attend the school have zero impact on the spacing needs.
“The bottom line is that we need the classrooms regardless and only open up to other districts the seats we cannot fill with our own students,” Cannavo said. “By doing so, we are able to offset the costs of the staff and faculty that we need to have to serve our students.”
“We are seeing increases in kids with exceptional needs and we have a responsibility to educate our kids in the least restrictive environment. The fact is that we are the least restrictive environment.”
Menands Coordinator of Pupil Personnel Services Audrey Koslowski told the crowd that the district opened its first self-contained classroom in 2017 for students in kindergarten through second grade; it since has opened a self-contained classroom for students in grades three through five and current projections show the need for a middle school classroom in 2026. Each classroom has between three and five Menands students in it this year and those numbers will increase to five and six Menands students in 2026.
If Menands did not offer these classes on site, Cannavo said the district would be liable for between $1- and $2-million-a-year in tuition costs to educate these students in out-of-district placements.
“This is truly a win-win situation. We are able to educate our own students in district, not pay tuition and generate revenue to offset the costs by offering seats that would otherwise be empty to our neighboring districts,” she said.
Enrollment
In the nine years since a capital project was last proposed, enrollment has increased by 52 students, up to 306 for the current school year. That has resulted in the addition of two elementary school sections.
Cannavo said that, combined with the additional faculty and staff hired to address the increasing special education population and the PreK program, has left the district in a space challenge.
“We don’t have a ounce of unused space,” she said.
Infrastructure
Renkawitz stated that most of the infrastructure work proposed addresses general issues that every property owner must face.
She said some of the work was initially proposed during 2016 capital project vote, but had to be removed from consideration of that project due to cost increases driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vote information
The May 20 capital project vote will take place from noon until 8 p.m. in the District Office, located at 19 Wards Lane in the village.
More information on the scope of the work is available here.