Syosset voters say yes to $143M upgrade to aging school facilities 

The Syosset board of education members' applause reverberated through the South Woods Middle School auditorium late Tuesday evening after district voters passed a pair of bond issues totaling $143.8 million and meant to upgrade aging school buildings and athletic facilities for a growing student population.

The Facilities Improvement Bond was grouped into two propositions. Costs to individual taxpayers will be $211 annually per $10,000 paid in school taxes for Proposition 1, and $76 for each $10,000 for Proposition 2 — a total of $287 per $10,000 in taxes, according to Superintendent Tom Rogers. 

Proposition 1 passed by a greater margin — 1,175 to 883 — than Proposition 2 — 1,073 to 969.

"The Board of Education spent a year crafting this plan and put a lot of thought into it, and it reflected a lot of community input," board president Carol Cheng said through a district spokesperson Tuesday evening. "We are pleased to now see that the community has supported the plan that we crafted with its help."

The first proposition will provide $110.5 million for structural maintenance and improvements to the district's 10 buildings, most of which were built in the 1950s and '60s, Rogers said.

Proposition 1 includes $26 million to replace portable classrooms, $11.4 million for a new gym at the high school and $4.6 million to create a location for centralized guidance counseling and increased space for robotics training, district officials said. 

Proposition 2 will spend $33.2 million to accommodate Syosset's expanded enrollment, officials said. Projects include a new $8.5 million gym at Robbins Lane School, a $7.8 million gym at Baylis Elementary School and a $6.5 million gym at Walt Whitman Elementary School. 

Rogers thanked the Syosset community for passing the facilities proposal in a statement sent to the district's residents late Tuesday evening.

"This represents a significant investment in our schools, our students, and the community at large," Rogers said in the statement. "We are excited to take this major step toward having our facilities reflect the same high standards as the programs they house every day."

"We will keep you posted as we begin this journey," Rogers continued. "Thank you again for your continued support."

District representatives said that Syosset's enrollment has grown by about 720 students, or 10%, in the past decade, to a total of 7,200, and that the high school population will increase by another 10%, to 2,558, by 2030. 

Both propositions required a simple majority vote. Rogers said, however, that Proposition 2 could pass only if Proposition 1 was approved, because much of the work in the second proposal depends on completion of projects in the first. 

The first proposition will be among the more expensive on Long Island in recent memory, according to Robert Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association. 

Rogers said that Syosset is making up for projects that were delayed for decades, and also taking advantage of favorable state reimbursement rates, which are decreasing. This could mean that the same work, if done in the future, might get less state reimbursement, the schools chief added.