Port Jefferson school officials, twice defeated, not shy in new bond try

Residents in the Port Jefferson school district in May will vote for the third time in six years on whether to approve a plan to upgrade facilities at Earl L. Vandermeulen High School after residents rejected previous bonding efforts.

The new $15.9 million bond proposition cuts about $9.2 million from a building renovation plan that district voters narrowly rejected three months ago.

It also drops a $1.9 million football field turf replacement plan that was overwhelmingly defeated in December in a separate vote.

The revised proposal would fund new heating and cooling systems and renovate classrooms that are long overdue for upgrades, according to school officials.

“We have critical needs throughout our buildings that need to be addressed,” Superintendent Jessica Schmettan said in a statement. “This bond is imperative in moving forward in planning for the future education of our students.”

The school board on March 14 voted 6-0 to schedule the referendum for May 16, the same night as the annual school budget vote. Voting for both will be from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the high school.

District officials said they could not estimate the proposed bond's impact on taxes, but added that those estimates would be available before the vote. 

Residents defeated previous bond propositions — last December and in December 2017 — amid their complaints that voting in December, rather than during the May budget vote, was inconvenient.

Some residents also questioned whether the proposed synthetic turf football field would be safe.

The new plan cuts costs by removing some projects that had been included in the defeated propositions. Some deleted projects, such as bathroom and window repairs, will be funded through the regular budget, school officials said.

Port Jefferson resident Drew Biondo, who said he voted against both bonds last December, said he hasn't decided whether to support the downsized version.

“The devil is in the details,” he told Newsday. “I think if they can only put forth the things they really need, the community can support it. … I hope that they recognize what they did in the past just is not going to work.”

In 2017, voters rejected a $29.9 million bond by a 1,455-374 margin that would have financed building repair and a turf field installation.

Last December, a $25.1 million building renovation plan lost by 24 votes, 498-474. The same night, voters defeated the separate field turf plan by a 734-239 vote.

At recent school board meetings, Schmettan and trustees speculated that the December bonds failed because of low voter turnout or poor publicity.

Schmettan noted that about 800 fewer residents voted in December's referendum compared to the one in December five years earlier.

“That’s a big difference," she said at a January school board meeting. "To fail by such a small margin is not only disappointing, but perhaps shows that we did not have enough people out there sharing their voice.”

Trustee Ryan Walker said officials had failed to pay attention to residents who strenuously opposed the football field plan.

“As far as listening to what they said, we didn’t," Walker said at that meeting. "They said, 'Don’t do it.' … We didn’t listen.”

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.