Garden City board talks spending impact
With the last of the 2009 bond projects beginning to wrap up, the Garden City School Board recognized the crucial impact that the changes made on the district.
“It really is quite a remarkable journey we’ve taken during the last five years or so,” said Dr. Robert Feirsen, superintendent of schools. “Pretty much anywhere you go in the district, you can see the impact of the bond.”
The district, noted Feirsen, put about $40 to $50 million in the physical plant and, he said, “We are delighted with everything.”
However, Feirsen explained that there was more good news for the Garden City community—because the district was able to borrow at low interest rates because of the recession, there was an estimated total savings of $5,996,000 over the life of the bonds.
Feirsen also told attendees that the Energy Performance Contract that the district has with Con Ed Solutions has included renovations, modernization and other improvements to the district worth more than $12.5 million at a 15-year low interest rate. Improvements — which include the replacement of the boiler, hot water heaters and oil to gas conversion, to name a few — are slated to save the district $850,649 per year in energy costs. District-wide, it will save 2,821 tons of carbon dioxide.
In addition to the remaining bond projects, another large part of the discussion was the school calendar. Because Labor Day is late this year, the children will be returning to school before the holiday with the first day of school slated for Sept. 2, explained Dr. Fino Celano, assistant superintendent for personnel. Also, he added, because Passover and Easter are in completely different months in 2016, the district will have a spring break I and a spring break II.
The district also granted tenure to Susan Kenny, assistant principal, effective Feb. 1.
The next board of education meeting will take place on Jan. 13 at Garden City High School.
