<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2w6auZ_1FbdHAMK00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2w6auZ_1FbdHAMK00" width="375" height="250" ><figcaption>The Enterprise — Michael Koff</figcaption></figure>NEW SCOTLAND — With the paint barely dry at Voorheesville Elementary School, the district is already sizing up its next capital project.Superintendent Frank Macri told the school board on Sept. 14 that a state-required building-condition survey, which the district cannot begin until 2027, will set the scope of the next project.Macri said the process of bringing a project forward typically takes four to five years; his goal, he said, is to have one ready for the board and then the public in about two. A full wish list, he said, could run to $80 million; what the district can realistically carry is closer to $25 million to $30 million.“So will there be a new project? Yes,” Macri said. “Are we starting a new project? No. Are we having the conversation to begin new projects? Absolutely.”He characterized the current school year as a “learn and listen” year for the project.<h2>Next project</h2>Over the past seven years, Macri said, the district has redone the high school and middle school facade, replaced unit ventilators, rebuilt its technology and earth-science rooms, resurfaced the track and upgraded the tennis courts, built secure entry vestibules at the middle and high schools, and pulled out the old networking infrastructure and replaced it.The most recent capital project, which Macri said took five years from conception to completion, was shown off at a self-guided community showcase at the elementary school on Sept. 24. Before the next large project, the district will do a smaller one. Each year, Macri said, the district undertakes a capital outlay project of up to $100,000, the most the state allows under its capital-outlay exception. The state aids that spending on an expedited basis, generally in the following year, at the district’s building-aid ratio — meaning the state would cover about $62,000 for a $100,000 project at Voorheesville.This year’s project, which Macri said has state approval, will replace the flooring on the second floor of the elementary school’s 1924–1940 wing with rubber flooring, with the third-floor bid as an alternate. The rubber matches what was installed on the first floor during the recent capital project, and Macri said it is quieter, more slip resistant, and requires no stripping or waxing. The goal is to award the bid by October and finish the work by May.<h2>Larger project</h2>The larger project is a longer road. The building-condition survey will catalog roofing, windows, and other deferred-maintenance items. Some components are already known, Macri said.“The track is over 25 years old,” he said. “We put the banding on that track four years ago when we resurfaced it.”The track, he said, appeared in the last building-condition survey and will appear in the next one. He said the board, with community input, will have to sort needs into tiers: essential needs driven by condition, useful life, safety, and infrastructure; strategic priorities; and “what would be great.”Macri pointed to the last capital project as a template for that winnowing. That project, a $25.2 million proposition on the December 2022 ballot, paid for the elementary school renovation, a new transportation facility, and new instructional space at the high school.“When we first started this project, I think it was $70 million that we wanted to do all these things, and we got it down to the $25 million project that we did,” Macri said. “So again, I anticipate doing that again where you put it all together and you’re at $80 million, but you know you can probably do a $25 million to $30 million project. So we’ll have to kind of scope it down.”He said he expects to have “a good estimate of where we can be” by the beginning of 2028.<h2>Senior tickets</h2>The board’s policy committee continues to weigh changes to the district’s admissions policy for school plays after a resident questioned what the drama club, the Dionysians, charges elderly residents.Board member Matt Bergeron, who chairs the committee, said the policy as written forbids charging admission in such cases at all district-sponsored events, but the Dionysians are the only club that charges admission. Senior sales have averaged about 24 percent of tickets for high school shows in recent years, he said. The club itself proposed charging seniors the student price, Macri said. Board President Rachel Gilker said free senior admission would cost the club about $3,000 to $4,000 a year, calculated at the student price.Board member Argi O’Leary said she wants a process that lets anyone facing financial hardship be able to request a free ticket, because she “would hate to see … families that can’t afford a ticket to miss out on the opportunity to see the productions.”Macri asked her to define hardship, whether by the poverty line or by ALICE [Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed], the United Way’s category for households above the poverty line that still cannot cover basic costs. O’Leary said she had not settled on a metric, or on whether one was needed. She added that the district’s admission charge for events such as dances might deserve an equity review too.Gilker, recalling a 2017 decision, said ticket prices must cover the high cost of mounting productions, and that pricing is up to the clubs. She and Bergeron both favored “aspirational” language that encourages free or reduced admission while acknowledging, in Bergeron’s words, “the significant cost that they have to produce a show.”</div></body>

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NEW SCOTLAND — With the paint barely dry at Voorheesville Elementary School, the district is already sizing up its next capital project. Superintendent Frank Macri told the school board on Sept. 14 that a state-required building-condition survey, which the district cannot begin until 2027, will set the scope of the next project.

VCSD starts to size up its next capital project

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NEW SCOTLAND — With the paint barely dry at Voorheesville Elementary School, the district is already sizing up its next capital project. Superintendent Fra

VCSD starts to size up its next capital project

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