POSTS
Facilities Committee looks for land
The Facilities Committee is searching for property within the school district that might work for athletic fields and a bus garage.
The property would need to be buildable and a minimum of 20 acres. Anyone who has property that they think might work should send information about it to Superintendent Josh Meyer at [email protected].
The committee is currently looking at options to renovate Mountain View Campus in Elizabethtown to include space for elementary school programming. That would move all educational programming to one site, which would consolidate operational costs in the long run. Committee members have reviewed other available properties that could fit a new school building, but none of the sites have been viable options.
They are looking at two options for renovations at MVC, one that is a full upgrade that would bring the building to like-new functionality, and another that would do the bare minimum to bring the building up to code plus add the space needed to bring elementary programs into the building. The committee is leaning toward finding a compromise between the two options to present as a recommendation to the district’s Board of Education.
With moving all educational programs to the Elizabethtown site, the district would still need to find a place for sports fields and a bus garage. The committee is working with real estate professionals to identify potential properties that may work, but committee members also wanted to put out a public call for anyone who might own a space that would be a workable contender.
The committee explored the idea of using the Lake View Campus in Westport as a space for transportation and athletic needs. They found that it would cost too much, since the structures on site would need to be demolished before any fields or transpiration buildings could be installed.
At the committee’s next meeting, members plan to look at cost models, consider potential properties for the sports fields and transportation, look at parking counts at MVC, and check to see if the district has any updates from the state Education Department.
For more information on the committee’s work including meeting notes and recordings, go to boquetvalleycsd.org/facilities.
Click here for our printable meeting update.
Feb. 13, 2025 Board of Education Meeting
The Boquet Valley CSD Board of Education will hold its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 6:00 PM in the Library at the Lake View Campus in Westport.
Agenda items will include budget development workshop #1, a report on the Governor’s Executive Budget proposal, a status report on the facilities condition using the State-mandated building condition survey data, a winter report on the District’s fleet of school buses and forecasted near-future priorities, a status report on planning for next school year’s priorities for instructional program staffing, monthly LVC Principal report and any other business that may come before the Board. Click for the full agenda.
The meeting is open to the public. Community members and interested others are invited to attend.
LVC Griffins learn about leadership through student council
Elementary students are developing leadership skills, gaining confidence and learning about school processes with the new Student Council at Lake View Campus.
LVC Principal Lee Kyler decided he wanted his students to have a student council this year because he’s a big believer in shared ownership and shared decision making.
He asked teachers to recommend students from their homeroom to join the council. For grades 4-5, homeroom teachers recommended two students, and one student was chosen from each homeroom in grades 2 and 3. The younger cohort doesn’t have a vote and only observes meetings, while the older students are each given a vote to make decisions.
When he first gathered the council, Mr. Kyler asked the students what they would like to focus on. They came up with three priorities: the cafeteria, the playground, and supporting the school’s PBIS efforts. At that first meeting, Zoe Glanda was voted president of the council, and Daniel DiBartolomeo was voted vice president.
Students said that being a part of the Student Council made them feel proud and important. They said they feel mature when given the chance to help make decisions, advise adults, and find ways to compromise.
Student Council work so far
With the cafeteria, the council was hoping to explore some additional options for school breakfasts and lunches. They met with Cook Manager Stevi McCann and then School Lunch Manager Julie Holbrook to request some new food and drink items be added to cafeteria menus. They talked about all that goes into making decisions about feeding students, from nutrition needs – protein and fresh veggies and fruits help students’ brains work at their best – to the resources involved, like the availability of ingredients and the amount of time it will take staff to prepare, cook and serve. In the end, they compromised, with the students seeing some of their requests approved – notably, Tillie Kullman and Levi Worrell had the idea to ask for poutine, and that’s now an option added to the mix for school lunches. Everyone on the Student Council was excited about this success.
Ms. Holbrook was excited about the opportunity to meet with students, and she said it was nice to see young students so engaged and interested in learning.
The council has also been working with Jason Fiegl on plans for the playground. They gave him some ideas, and he helped them talk through what options wouldn’t be doable and which ones might be possible.
The school is holding monthly Positive Behavior Interventions and Support assemblies this year, and student council members have started helping out with those in various ways. At the last assembly, they put on a skit to encourage students to think about empathy in which Kayson Simpson played a kid who got bullied because he kept carrots in his pocket to snack on. Then Adelyn Drummond and Lucy Wilson told the students gathered about iReady testing. Student Council members are also using the assembly to give updates to their classmates about what they’ve been working on.
Spreading out the experience
Members of Student Council have attended Board of Education meetings to give updates about what they’ve been working on, and Mr. Kyler expects these updates to continue regularly throughout the school year.
Mr. Kyler spreads out the work, making sure each member of the council gets to try out various tasks like public speaking, meeting with adults, and getting creative.
LVC Student Council 2024-25
Levi Worrell, grade 5
Lucy Wilson, grade 5
Kayson Simpson, grade 5
Arianna Crandall-Otis, grade 5
Finley Markwica, grade 4
Tillie Kullman, grade 4
Zoe Glanda, grade 4, President
Daniel DiBartolomeo, grade 4, Vice President
Daphne Adamson-Dwyer, grade 3
Aria Goff, grade 3
Forrest Cockerline, grade 3
Adelyn Drummond, grade 3
Adelynn Mitchell, grade 2
Scarlett Ostroski-Hanley, grade 2
February 2025 District Newsletter
Congrats to spelling bee winners!
January 2025 Newsletter
Committee narrows options to consider
Please note: We are striving to provide recordings of each Facilities Planning Committee meeting, but we do not have one to share from the December meeting due to technical difficulties. We have new equipment that we hope will ensure all future meetings will be recorded so we can provide them for public review.
At their December meeting, the Facilities Planning Committee made several decisions to focus their work and start to move forward toward a plan for the district’s facilities.
Committee members decided to focus on a single site for Pre-K through 12 classrooms moving forward rather than considering schools at multiple sites. The committee felt that there is value in the unity that can be gained by having all staff and students at a single physical location. They also felt that the potential operating efficiencies, such as streamlining maintenance and food operations, and logistical flexibility of a single site would be worthwhile.
The committee also decided that they will not consider using the Thrall Dam site, which was the location included with the last capital proposal. The exit poll done after the vote in early 2024 showed that the public did not approve of using this site.
Committee members decided that it would cost too much to renovate the Lake View Campus in Westport to house all classrooms. It is still being considered to house athletic fields and transportation facilities. Members are still exploring the idea of full or partial renovations at Mountain View Campus in Elizabethtown to move elementary programs there.
The committee asked for the following information to be shared for discussion at their next meeting, which will be held Jan. 23 at Lake View Campus:
- A program review that includes the constraints used to determine the needs for the options that were previously proposed.
- A breakdown of what would be included in the full renovations at the Mountain View Campus (approximately $25 million, as discussed).
- A breakdown of what would be included in limited renovations up to the Maximum Cost Allowance (MCA; $15 million +/-) at the Mountain View Campus.
- A site sketch of locating transportation and the athletic fields at the Lake View Campus.
For more information on the committee’s decisions and work, please visit boquetvalleycsd.org/facilities-committee.
Jan. 9, 2025 Board of Education Meeting
The Boquet Valley CSD Board of Education will hold its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, January 9 at 6:00 PM in Room 106 at the Mountain View Campus in Elizabethtown.
Agenda items will include a presentation by the District Superintendent Dr. Mark Davey, State of the District mid-year report from the Superintendent, preliminary forecast of significant budget factors for the next
school year, benchmark report on administrative, instructional and operations staffing, monthly MVC Principal report and any other business that may come before the Board.
The meeting is open to the public. Community members and interested others are invited to attend.
Facilities Committee building a vision
The group that has been organized to figure out how the district should move with its facilities held its second meeting in November.
Led by Capital Region BOCES Facilitator Joe Dragone, the Facilities Planning Committee spent its first two meetings gathering information about the past, present and potential future of the district’s buildings. The September meeting was held at the Mountain View Campus, and the November meeting was held at Lake View Campus. Both meetings started with a building tour to let committee members observe building conditions and ask questions.
Building Condition Survey
At the November meeting, BCA Architects & Engineers shared information about a Building Condition Survey they did this fall. School districts are required by the state to do a BCS every five years. Boquet wasn’t due for one until next year, but the district decided to go through the process early to have a clear understanding of the current status of all of its facilities.
Taylor Woolf and Mike Harris detailed the bare minimum needed at both campuses to keep them open and operating safely. The total cost associated with the immediate needs is $20.5 million for both campuses, with incidentals, contingency and inflation figured in. The architects stressed that other costly immediate needs would likely turn up soon if this bare minimum is all that is done.
To explore details of the Building Condition Survey, review the presentation slideshow from the meeting.
Other topics
A range of other topics were also discussed at the November meeting. A few of the considerations to be taken into account include:
- The district’s athletic fields are in need of work, and state aid would not be available for upgrades or moving them to a new site unless the fields are moved to a property that also has school buildings on it.
- The district’s bus garage also has some needs, and much more work would be needed if the state moves forward with requiring all districts to move fully to electric buses in the coming years. A bus garage not on a site with a school building would likely not get as much state aid but will be eligible for some.
- There’s a 10-year window for extra state aid on construction due to the school district merger in 2019-2020. That money will be gone if it isn’t used by then.
- There would be savings associated with operating at a single site rather than two different sites.
- Committee members not employed by the district or with students in the district expressed surprise at the space in school buildings needed for counselors or partnerships with other community organizations and programs.
Informing the public
The district is seeking to prioritize communication about the committee as its work develops, because the results will have a major impact on everyone in the community.
- Updated web page: A new landing page has been created to share information about the committee and act as a place to gather documentation and other information. It can be found at https://boquetvalleycsd.org/facilities-committee/
- Meeting recordings: Starting with the November meeting, all committee meetings will be recorded on video and will be shared on the committee’s landing page, https://boquetvalleycsd.org/facilities-committee/. Presentation slides and notes from the meetings will be shared there as well for anyone who wants to review them.
- Physical fliers: Printable fliers with overviews of the committee’s work will be shared after each meeting. These fliers will be printed out and shared in community gathering spaces throughout the district.
The committee also discussed getting more of the public involved in the discussion using surveys and other means in the future.
Next meeting
The next committee meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 17 at Mountain View Campus.
Mr. Dragone’s team plans to bring to that meeting information about potential land parcels that would be big enough to hold any new potential facilities. They will review previous parcels that were considered in the last round of facilities work, and they are looking into any new parcels that may have become available since then.
With this information and everything else they’ve learned so far, Mr. Dragone intends to help the team start narrowing down options to consider moving forward. He also mentioned encouraging them to start developing a timeline. The first decision he is encouraging the committee to make centers on whether it will be a priority for the district to have both schools on one campus or to keep operating on multiple sites.
December 2024 Newsletter
Read the December 2024 Newsletter here!
Dec. 10, 2024 Board of Education Meeting
The Boquet Valley CSD Board of Education will hold its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 at 6:00 PM in the Library at the Lake View Campus in Westport.
Agenda items will include a snapshot report on progress toward district goals, monthly Principal report and any other business that may come before the Board.
The meeting is open to the public. Community members and interested others are invited to attend.
Time to sign up for OASIS Session 3
OASIS Session 3 will begin Monday, Nov. 18.
It’s time to sign up for sessions now. Session 3 has a variety of options, including the return/continuation of some of our popular activities and some exciting new ones.
Visit the OASIS page to view session options and download a sign-up form.
Nov. 14, 2024 Board of Education Meeting
The Boquet Valley CSD Board of Education will hold its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 6:00 PM in Room 106 at the Mountain View Campus in Elizabethtown.
Agenda items will include the annual independent auditor report, a status report on facilities and grounds priorities, monthly Principal report and any other business that may come before the Board.
The meeting is open to the public. Community members and interested others are invited to attend.
November 2024 Newsletter
Read the November 2024 Newsletter here!
Annual Notice of Availability of Asbestos Management Plan
Federal regulations require that schools be inspected for the presence of asbestos, a material that was used in the construction industry in the recent past. The buildings of the Boquet Valley Central School District were inspected for asbestos containing materials during July of 1989 and the results of that inspection are contained in the Asbestos Management Plan.
If there is asbestos containing material in the building, the Asbestos Management Plan shows the amount present as well as the specific location of the material. The Asbestos Management Plan includes the results of material samples that were taken during the inspections and in preparation for building projects. It also contains documents related to asbestos abatement.
In compliance with Environmental Protection Agency requirements, the last AHERA Triennial Re-Inspection took place in November 2022. Six-month surveillance inspection of asbestos containing materials in BVCSD school buildings was completed in October 2023 and January 2024. The next six-month surveillance inspection will take place in June 2024.
The Asbestos Management Plan is available for review during business hours at the District Office located at the Mountain View Campus in Elizabethtown. A copy of the Asbestos Management Plan is available by request for a minimal fee.
For more details regarding the Asbestos Management Plan and the specific abatement decisions, please contact the Director of Facilities, BVCSD, 518-873-6371 ext. 2504.
Click here for the official Annual Notice of Availability of Asbestos Management Plan.