Greenburgh School Mansion To Close, Unfit For Occupancy

In a stunning change of direction, it was announced at last night’s Board of Education meeting that the “Mansion” as it’s referred to on the Warburg campus, was not structurally sound and should not have anyone working in it. According to Dr Chase, this was just brought to her attention late yesterday afternoon and the mansion would be not occupied today. But we’ve been told that they are still using the building. So is it not that bad or is it? What’s the truth? When asked at last evenings meeting if she had shared the condition information with anyone else, Dr Chase answered she had not. So, after the Bond vote in March, and the stunning 2-to-1 defeat, the Board and Dr Chase all said they needed to do a better job of communicating with the electorate. They’re not off to a good start.

Rumors abound about the district. We heard after the bond vote in March that the Board was positioning itself to do another consolidation bond vote. Dr Chase mentioned the company Thought Exchange (.com) during last night’s meeting. They are a well-known company whose job is to create surveys for a school district and formulate a plan(s) to get bonds approved in school districts. This company has been discussed before by the Board and even held a webinar with the Board. So bringing up Thought Exchange and making an announcement about an unfit building coincides with the renewal of the contract and associated fee increase that was on the original agenda for a Public Relations company, making us wonder what else might be going on?

It was said that CS Arch architectural firm will provide an estimate for the repair work required for the mansion. This building was included in the 2016 Buildings Condition Survey which reported that it required $6.8 million in repairs. Why was this not announced or reported on sooner or during the Bond Road show while we were being told about the poor conditions of the other buildings? It seemed as though anything that could possibly need a repair was thrown on the list. Except the mansion.

Our understanding is that there are about 28 (or so) employees in the building. They will no doubt be relocating those employees from the mansion elsewhere. There are three  classrooms of early childhood program children that will need to be relocated. It is thought that they will go to the Lee F Jackson school at the start of the school year.

The nagging question for us is the timing of all of this?

If there are structural issues at the mansion, let's certainly get them fixed. Ultimately, however, it's our fault for allowing the Board to operate the way they have for these past many years. We seem to keep coming back to the same questions that were repeatedly asked during the Bond Roadshow: Why were these needed repairs ignored and how much more will this now cost us due to the Boards negligence? The public deserves better and should demand better. But if we do, it's also up to us to follow up to ensure they follow what the community mandates. It will make for A Better Greenburgh School District.