By Kate Hill

Staff Writer

During the May 21 Cazenovia school board meeting, several community members spoke in favor of improvements to the district’s athletic facilities.

According to Superintendent Matthew Reilly, the renewed interest in an artificial turf project is due in part to the high number of weather-related issues experienced this spring, which resulted in the repeated postponement and relocation of the district’s athletic events.

“This is also something that has been on people’s minds for over a decade,” he added.

The community members commented improvements to the fields would not only help to mitigate the impact of rain and to increase playability, but also to make the students more competitive athletically and the district more desirable.

“We recognize the need for improvement, whether it be through turf or through [enhancements to] the grass fields that we already have,” Reilly said.

The next step in the process is to conduct a study of all of the district’s athletic facilities in order to gain recommendations for improvements and cost estimates for such work.

Reilly noted that while the study would not guarantee any of the work would actually be completed, it would allow the district to learn about its options and to establish priorities.

The superintendent also discussed funding options for the potential improvements.

“There is of course the traditional way of putting it out for referendum and having the associated tax increase,” Reilly said. “That’s one way, but it’s not the way that is most palatable to voters, and I understand that.”

He added that a few comparable districts in the area recently completed their own projects through a combination of private and public funding — an option that may also be available to the Cazenovia CSD.

“A recently established foundation here in Cazenovia would like to undertake this as part of their mission,” Reilly said.

The third option for funding would be a withdrawal from the district’s capital reserve, which was established with voter approval last December to store money for future capital projects. The reserves are funded through the under-spending of the district’s operational budget on an annual basis.

Reilly concluded that if the district decides to move forward with an athletic facilities project, it will likely choose a path that combines all three funding options — bonding through the increase of taxes; private funding through a foundation; and the use of monies put away in a capital reserve.

2020 Capital Project: Filling the tunnel

The board also discussed the direction of the district’s 2020 capital project — the first phase of the “Cazenovia 2030 And Beyond” long-range facilities plan.

Developed with input from the community, students, the building faculty and stakeholders, the preliminary plan was approved by the voters last December. The $15 million tax-neutral project prioritizes safety and security upgrades, educational space enhancements, infrastructure upgrades and community-shared spaces.

According to Reilly, the project has now transitioned from the “concept phase” — during which the scope of the project was presented to the community — to the “design phase.”

Director of Facilities Matt Erwin said during the concept phase, the district identified an opportunity to create a 4,000 square foot STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) lab on the second floor of the high school.

“As [the project] evolved, the question came up about potentially moving the math classrooms up to the second floor with all of the other core subject areas, like social studies, science and English,” Erwin said.

The district then turned to its team of architects to complete preliminary design work and come up with options for enhancing the building’s use. One of the ideas presented involved filling in the tunnel and moving the STEM lab to the first floor.

“What we are looking at doing is moving the math classes upstairs into the mainstream flow of things and connecting the first floor in a way that it hasn’t been in a long time,” Erwin said.

Reilly stated that the plan was designed with considerable input from the building’s faculty.

The new design places the entire career and technical education (CTE) program — including the STEM lab, a business classroom, a computer classroom, a lecture space and the Ag department — together on the first floor, which will be connected to the main building by two hallways.

“It really enhances the flow of people throughout the building and it eliminates the fact that the eighth graders can’t use their lockers during the day and are carrying their backpacks all over the building,” Erwin said.

Reilly commented that all of the elements of the new design are consistent with the original scope of the project. Erwin added that the plan also aligns with the district’s strategic intent to create a more collaborative environment.

The difference in cost between the new design and the STEM lab alone is $1.2 million dollars. The overall cost of the capital project, however, will remain the same.

“We had about half of [the necessary funds] already budgeted between the STEM lab space and the business classroom space,” Erwin said. “So we were looking for the other half . . .”

Erwin said by working with stakeholders to scale back some other aspects of the project, the district was able to reallocate some funds to the tunnel project.

The district also found funds through the three percent reduction of its construction contingency.

While the district’s facility committee embraced the proposed plan from the start, a few members of the board questioned the reallocation of $1.2 million in savings to the tunnel project as opposed to other priority projects.

“There was significant discussion on [the topic], as there should be,” Reilly said. “In the end, the consensus was that this plan sounds like the right direction [for the district].”

In other news

The board celebrated the 2019 Cazenovia High School Academic Decathlon Team, which represented New York at the United States Academic Decathlon National Competition in Bloomington, Minnesota. Advised by Coach Ben Wightman, the students placed eighth in the small schools division.

The board also recognized the student recipients of the New York State Seal of Biliteracy — a formal recognition of high school students who have attained a high proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing in two or more languages by graduation.

Spanish: Liam Flannery, Tatum Kelly, Taylor Mapstone, Virginia Seeley, Emma Wardell, Mackenzie Yates

French: Abigail Burrell, Laura Connor, Madeline Gavitt, Justin Gagnon, Skyler Grimes, Ian Melvin, Clara Rowles, Jonathan Streeter