By Marianna Levine
On Monday night the Bridgehampton School Board once again discussed the difficulties pertaining to the school’s imminent and necessary window replacement. The meeting which started an hour later then usual due to a lengthy, earlier Executive Session, during which the board met with Student Leadership LLC to discuss the superintendent search process, also involved a lengthy conversation about the school’s food program, a short discussion on Sag Harbor’s desire to join Bridgehampton’s pre-k program, and the swearing in of new Audit Committee members.
Bill Chaleff of Chaleff and Rodgers Architects started the open meeting with a report to the board concerning the forensic survey the board had authorized in September when it became clear some of the windows that needed to be replaced were in worse shape than anticipated.
Chaleff, who had just received the survey explained, “They observed a lot of problems with the façade. There are five different types of conditions that are problematic to the façade mainly due to the rusting of the steel lintels.”
He noted the windows on the east side, especially the ones on the first floor, were in the worst shape.
“They recommended that they or we (Chaleff and Rodgers) go through every window and decide what condition the lintel is and whether it needs to be removed and replaced on a case by case basis. It’s a more exhaustive process but better than what we originally thought at the last meeting where we thought we had to replace every one.”
Chaleff, still couldn’t give the board an exact number or time frame, but he confirmed he would get back to the them shortly with the final information.
Interim business administrator, George Chesterton, expressed concern it would be difficult to come up with an accurate dollar amount for the project to present to the voters who need to approve the budget for this process.
Board President Elizabeth Kotz cautioned that the board would need to make a decision concerning the budget and time frame for the project soon if they wanted the windows to be replaced in the summer.
“We need to talk about the Excel Aid for this,” she added. “We don’t want to miss the window of spending this Excel Aid.”
Following this was a discussion on Whitsons’ proposal to increase the price of bottled water in the cafeteria from $1 to $1.10. Kotz and board member Lillian Tyree suggested the school go green and have the students either use cups or reusable containers to utilize the school’s water coolers and fountains.
But board members Nicki Hemby and Ron White noted that their children would easily misplace or forget those containers, and Doug DeGroot noted that without an option to buy bottled water, kids on the go would only be left with sugary drinks to choose from in the cafeteria. The board hesitatingly approved the increase.
The food discussion continued with Chesterton’s presentation on the cost of lunch per student and the general cost of the school’s lunch program. Board member Joe Berhalter has been aggressively seeking a reason why the lunch program has been running on a deficit as well as ways to have the program pay for itself.
Chesterton explained, even with the entire cost cutting he could come up with, the program will still cost about $77,000 or $78,000 a year. The cost per student is about $5.35, of which the state pays back the school $2.86. About 32% of the school’s lunches are subsidized.
Chesterton explained he is trying to reduce the cost by talking to the Sag Harbor, Tuckahoe, and Southampton districts. Through combining their programs the cost per student may go down. So far Sag Harbor and Tuckahoe are interested. Southampton is yet to be contacted.
Berhalter expressed frustration with the process, “Why didn’t we re-bid? We talked about this July and you came up with more regulations (in the bidding process) and now here we are. We can’t just walk away from this, but I agree working with other schools is a good option.”
In other Board news, principal Jack Pryor mentioned that Dr. Youngblood and he had been talking with Sag Harbor Elementary School principal Matt Malone about having that district join their pre-k program in some form. This, he noted has been an on-going conversation for years. The problem presently, Dr. Youngblood cautioned, is that the pre-k program is full with a waiting list at the moment.
She added, “working with them may require more teachers and additional space. We may need to expand.”
Also during the meeting Phyllis Davis was sworn in as the Audit Committee chair, Berhalter as the committee secretary, and Joanne Comfort as member.
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