SALAMANCA — After reconvening last month, the Ad Hoc Committee (AHC) on Thursday presented a revised and updated $27 million capital project recommendation to the Board of Education, half the cost of the original project proposed in January.
Those AHC volunteers reconvened the committee Jan. 24 because they said they wanted to assist the Salamanca City Central School District in proposing a capital project with a higher chance of approval by district residents.
Voters defeated a previous project, called Salamanca 2020, in December 2015. That project came with a $53 million price tag.
“At that time it was determined that was way too high for the community to accept, and more than likely was going to be voted down,” said Karen Magara, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Business who served as chair and facilitator for the AHC.
The AHC met three times since Feb. 7 in hopes of developing the best recommendation for the district, its students and the community. The members determined $25 million as a good target cost for the full project.
“There are still bits and pieces that probably need to be worked out, but for the most part this is their recommendation,” Magara said.
Between the Jan. 14 and Feb. 7 Board of Education meetings, a portion of the AHC consisting primarily of core group members went through the Building Condition Survey (BCS) and marked specific items in each of the priorities that were recommended for completion.
“That helped immensely to get that narrowed down,” said Magara. “That dropped the $24 million figure down to around $13 or $14 million.”
Although the entire project had a gross cost of $27.57 million, an additional $1.6 million worth of items obtainable by the Smart Schools Bond Act from the state could be used for security and upgrades to the telephones throughout all the building, Magara said.
Paying for the project is broken down into roughly $5.4 million in building aid, $785,000 in EXCEL aid, $2 million capital reserves, $300,000 in a cafeteria balance, $7.1 million in an unreserved fund balance and $11.9 that will be bonded.
Over 15 years, the interest to the $11.9 million bond would equal about $5.7 million, totalling $17.7 million. The state would give the district $17.2 million with the other $500,000 coming from money the district has already factored into the equation.
“There’s no additional cost to the community or anyone as far as additional taxes because we either have the money sitting in the bank right now or it’s going to be given to us to pay off,” Magara said.
All figures were estimated and will not be finalized until a district vote. Cost estimates also have to be reviewed to determine what DASNY and capitalized interest will change, if any.
“To the AHC, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time out of your schedules to do this,” Magara said. “I really think that what is here is a really good project, for both the kids and the community.”
AT THE IROQUOIS Drive campus, which houses Seneca Elementary and the Junior-Senior High School, several changes had been made to the plans presented in January, but the addition of a STEAM wing in the high school remained in.
While the AHC was not the originator of STEAM, they did support its inclusion. The full STEAM project is included with the cost calculations.
The Seneca Nation of Indians had requested several dedicated spaces for its team members to work with students beyond their regularly scheduled push-ins to classrooms. Those spaces remain in the updated project recommendation.
Seneca Elementary would see the most changes and renovations of the three schools.
“One of the goals throughout out all of this is to keep Seneca separated from the high school; keep those different age groups separate,” Magara said.
The committee did not support moving the district offices, but saw the need for an addition for the Seneca Elementary offices be built off of 7th grade wing for Seneca to have sufficient space for 4th through 7th grades. The addition at the rear of the 7th grade wing would house the principal, secretaries, conference room and nurse’s office.
“That would be the entrance for Seneca,” Magara explained. “If you have a Seneca student and you’re going to drop them off or pick them up, that’s the area you would do it from. That really creates Seneca’s identity … and also creates a more secure environment for the staff and students.”
The current Seneca principal’s office and conference room would be repurposed to house the ELA suite for the ELA specialists to use. The remainder of the current Seneca offices would be repurposed to house the assistant principal, social worker, guidance counselor, Seneca Nation social worker and tutors.
A multipurpose room would be fashioned from the existing computer labs as well as a portion of the library. This space would be used as a cafeteria for breakfast and lunch services to the Seneca students, and can be used as an additional gym station when not used for meals.
The remainder of the classrooms in Seneca would remain the same without reconstruction other than any pertinent BCS items.
The weight room would come out of the basement and move into the current junior-senior high art room, which would move to the STEAM wing addition. The existing technology/shop room would be repurposed without cost to a Seneca STEAM room where existing teachers would use this room to begin STEM instruction as early as 4th grade.
In the junior-senior high area, existing classrooms would receive any pertinent BCS items. The STEAM addition would be added on to house art, technology, computer-aided design, robotics a makerspace and the eighth grade language teachers in a corner as the end of the existing wing.
With this addition, two classrooms are lost at the end of the existing wings. One would become space to provide a needed hallway for access to the new addition and one into new restrooms.
At Prospect Elementary, many but not all of the BCS items were recommended for completion and little else would change from the previous design. Cafeteria and kitchen space would be renovated with the creation of additional serving lanes, Magara said. The cafeteria would be used as a multi-purpose room when not being used as a cafeteria space for meals.
The main office of Prospect Elementary would be moved to the front along with the nurse’s office for security, Magara said. The library and computer lab would move to the center of the building to allow for more natural light within and many of the BCS items would be completed.