In trying to follow the Greenburgh Central School Board’s efforts, we go to the district website that houses the agendas and minutes for the Board’s meetings. While some information can be gleaned from the site, there seems to be more missing than included. For instance, when we read the minutes of the Treasurer’s report, it simply says the treasurer’s report was accepted without any dollar figures provided. This is but one example of the information missing from the minutes. As we were seeking to confirm something we had heard and posted in a March 24th article (soon after the school bond’s defeat), we began digging for information on Superintendent Chase’s and the Board’s desire to look into floating another bond referendum for a new grades 3-8 building and school campus consolidation. We could not find the information we sought other than they believed they incorrectly communicated the plan to the public and that’s why it was defeated. If they meant that they lied by omission, left pertinent information out and contradicted the NYS Board of Ed website’s information, then they were finally correct. Simply, it was way too much money for the District taxpayers to afford!
When we reported our concern about another bond referendum, that concern was quickly dismissed as untrue. But in the April 11, 2019 minutes, it was right there in black and white. See the red arrow in the image below pointing to David Warner, who detailed their next move to hire and work with the company ThoughtExchange(com). ThoughtExchange is a well-established company that provides an on-line platform to obtain opinions from the community. They have been known to facilitate planning leading to success of large bond offerings. In discussing this company, a staffer referred to them by saying, “It sounds more like Thought Control.” Make no mistake, this appears to be the strategy of Dr Chase, Terry Williams and David Warner after the overwhelming 2-to-1 defeat of the school bond consolidation referendum in March. Is this part of the reason the District continues to retain a Public Relations company?
Suddenly, two days before school was scheduled to start, Dr Chase informed the School Board that the Mansion, the Administrative Building, which also housed the Early Childhood Program classes on the Warburg campus, was uninhabitable and structurally unsound. And the causes we were told that made the building unsafe? Roof leaks. General maintenance that either was not performed or proposed as a bid and offered by a bond to the taxpaying community appears to be done as a matter of routine.
How is it possible that this dire emergency was not discovered during the summer months while the building had minimal personnel and no children using it? How could the condition of the roof and subsequent internal damage have gone undetected and uncorrected prior to the need to declare the building unsafe? This declaration seemed to be more sensationalism than fact. And talking about sensationalism, wait until we start talking about the costs associated with the move out of the building and relocation into others!
In discussing the building’s issues with professional property managers, we were told that a competent engineer would state the problem, identify the causes and more importantly, identify the solutions. In this situation, it was Dr Chase who provided the solution by stating everyone who in the Mansion would be relocated to other district facilities. The three early childhood program’s classes were immediately moved. The staff proceeded to work there for another whole month. In fact, when we visited the facility the day after Dr Chase’s declaration of the emergency evacuation, we found two workers in one of the classrooms. When asked why they were in an unsafe building, they said they were just “following orders.” How unsafe could it be?
So, who else is just following orders? The roof can be repaired and the leaks stopped, but we never hear or see a solution proposed from ANYONE on the Board or in the Administration, just the ever-increasing “the sky is falling” mantra and the call to sell/destroy/consolidate these buildings. Each time we’ve tried to talk to Mr Falcone about any buildings, he always seems to have someplace to go or a phone call to take. We’d like to think this is genuine but perhaps he’s also under orders to stay mum? But we will continue to reach out and talk to people in the district about the schools.
We recently learned of a girl doing home schooling because the physics classes she needs are unavailable to her at the school. Asking around, we were told that a temporary Physics teacher was offered a reduced salary and subsequently turned down the position. How many other students are suffering from this malady? We understand that they’ve suspended Mandarin language instruction for a lack of teachers. Then we learned that there were disciplinary incidents reported the NYS Board of Education. When we dug further, we found that the reporting and classification system has been changed and that the number may be much higher than we’re hearing! We also heard that Resource Officers (school-speak for guards) and numerous teachers have left due to hostile work environment complaints. Our difficulty however, is finding someone who will speak with us on the record. If there truly are more disciplinary actions taking place at the high school, is it wise to consolidate the lower grades to the high school campus? Doubtful.
A flurry of anonymous emails were circulated to district residents starting in early October which discussed issues in the schools. They continued for a month or so. The first email seemed to challenge the replacement of supposedly outdated equipment at the school, specifically, the Smart Boards that are used now instead of old-fashioned chalk boards. These emails questioned the fate of this soon to be replaced equipment and if sold, what of the money raised and how would it be used? Then robo calls started asking community members to participate in a demonstration at the Board of Ed meeting. The robo calls and emails began making demands to investigate Dr Chase and one of the school’s Principal. While we received these emails and robo calls, attempts to verify them could not be made so we have not published them. But some interesting questions were posed. So much so that Dr Chase sent a letter to school district residents bemoaning all of what was being said. Perhaps there is some truth in it...
Most School Board meetings contain a public comment portion. The Board always adjourns to Executive Session to discuss “personnel issues”. These executive sessions typically last for two to three hours after which the Board returns to conduct other business – mostly approval of those items discussed in secret in Executive Session. Why is the majority of their discussion conducted out of view of the public? Is it because their leadership is incapable of running a good meeting or is it because of a need to keep their deliberations out of the public eye? What would be the sentiment of the taxpaying community if these deliberations were held publicly? We’ve been critical of the conduct of the meetings in this manner. We believe Public Comment and all other business should be discussed openly first and Executive Session should be last to accommodate the public who attend these meetings to learn what is going on with their school district and their schools. That would also allow the paid district staff who record the meetings to get off work (they get either overtime or compensatory time for these late-night meetings).
Things need to change with the School Board, the School Superintendent and administration that answers to them, the public with an increased involvement and more transparency. That’s how we’ll get A Better Greenburgh School District.
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