Greenburgh Central School District Board to Consolidate Committees

From: David Warner <dwarner@greenburghcsd.org>
Subject: Fwd: ZOOM MEETING INFO
Date: October 24, 2020 at 11:05:57 PM EDT

This year we are attempting to reduce the number of Greenburgh CSD BOE committees, so we have combined last year's Fiscal Planning and Facilities committees into one committee.

Please join us for a Finance and Facilities Committee this coming Wednesday 10/28/20 at 5 PM. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this will be a remote meeting Zoom call. Per District Clerk Ivy Kraus, in accordance with Open Meetings Law, it will also be broadcast on the Greenburgh CSD channel on Youtube. If you want to participate in the meeting, sign in to the Zoom session.

Below is a draft agenda, and the Zoom meeting link/phone in information. These will also be posted on the district calendar. I'll post a more detailed agenda and some backup documents on Google Drive, and I'll send out and post a link to them prior to the meeting.

I hope to see you there.
-DW
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Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting Draft Agenda: 10/28/20 5 PM (Zoom call)
1. Introductions
2. Elect Chair, appoint secretary, determine membership request to BOE
3. Review Draft Committee Charges
4. Adopt Minutes of Previous Fiscal Planning and Facilities Committee Meetings
5. Schedule 2020-21 Meetings
6. Facilities:

· COVID-19 & District-wide Ventilation Status
· Mansion Repair & Air Quality
· ECP Ventilation vs. LFJ Wing
· Caretaker's House Status
· WMHS Security Vestibule
· WMHS Awning Proposal
· BCS Summary

7. Finance:

· Year-end Closeout
· 2020-21 budget and current reserves
· COVID-19 Budget Impacts & Priorities
· 5-Year Financial Plan
· Budget Code Transfer Reporting
· Comprehensive Annual Financial Report

8. Other Concerns

School Board Terminates Superintendent Contract, Looks To Do More

The last five years in the Greenburgh Central School District (GCSD) have been extremely tumultuous under the failed leadership of Superintendent Tahira Chase. She was hired to replace her boss, Superintendent Ronald O Ross, after charges of racism, harassment and abuse forced his termination. It appears that Trustee Terry Williams intervened to help Superintendent Chase be recommended to the professional search firm hired by the Board. There may have been others participating as well. Superintendent Chase then pulled her ex-mentor out of retirement and hired him as our as Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. All this set the stage for five years of “lipstick on a pig” programs and numerous sideshows, such as the Mansion “emergency” evacuation in August of 2019. Meanwhile, our buildings continued to crumble and our kids’ performance on standardized tests continued to be sub-standard.

 

Let us not forget that it was this Superintendent who also led a failed Consolidation Bond effort. The “Roadshow” to sell $200 million of debt to build new school buildings was publicly spearheaded by Superintendent Chase, Assistant Superintendent for Business Mary O’Neill, and Trustee Terry Williams. The resounding 2-to-1 defeat of the Consolidation Bond in 2019 awakened the stakeholder sleeping giant to send three very clear messages. First, running our school buildings into the ground and then asking for the largest bond in the history of Westchester County to build new ones is unacceptable. Second, student achievement should take precedence over new buildings and is a condition for stakeholder bond approvals. Third, the residents of GCSD are not interested in developing a brand or legacy for the Superintendent and a few long-serving Trustees!

 

The Board of Education election in 2019 brought two newcomers to the Board, Ashley Pineda and Tanya Dragic, finally ousting Lloyd Newman after 18 years on the Board. We are still “served” by Terry Williams who is in his 15^th year, and David Warner who is in his 13^th year on the Board. So much for term limits! However, it seems that the new faces were enough to bring about some change. The current Board President, Antoinette Darden-Cintron, recently sent out a message from the District stating, “The Superintendent's contract expires on June 30, 2021. The Board has determined not to extend that agreement or negotiate a successor agreement and we have begun the process of seeking a new Superintendent of Schools.” (See below document for the entire text). We applaud the Board for taking this action. We also applaud the Board’s hiring of Dr. Corey Reynolds as the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum earlier this year. We believe that a new, professional and dedicated leadership is a first step to helping our kids learn.

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF SUPERINTENDENT CHASE’S PERFORMANCE:

 

The 2020/21 school budget:

The development of the 2020-2021 budget demonstrated that Superintendent Chase, supported by Terry Williams, remained deaf to the needs of the community, while trying to please a small group of supporters, such as the Friends of Greenburgh (FOG). The first draft of that budget started with an increase of over 4% from the previous year! Repeated pleas to curb the budget due to the economic devastation of COVID19 were ignored until a few days before the Board of Education had to vote to accept a budget. It was the behind-the-scenes intervention of certain community members with the Administration that brought the increase down to 1.3%. When asked about her personal salary increase in the budget, Superintendent Chase responded that it was “contractual”.  Same for the Assistant Superintendent for Business. Teachers, however, were asked to forego their contractual increases in order to save money for the district. What hypocrisy!

 

Wasteful Spending

In August of 2019, Superintendent Chase blindsided the Board at the beginning of their summer retreat by saying that the Mansion was unsafe and required immediate evacuation. The Board was not given ample time to react properly to this announcement. The Early Childhood Program (ECP) was promptly relocated to the Lee F Jackson school. The staff however, remained there for another month until the Superintendent’s new office suite was constructed in Woodlands MHS. The cost to move the administration from the mansion was over $250,000. Almost a year later, we learned from the condition report a month later that the mansion did not need a complete evacuation. Now the superintendent is trying again to manipulate a condemnation of this building by playing up the findings of an essentially benign air-quality report. Her shenanigans are a slap in the Board’s face and an affront to taxpayers. 

 

Where are the COVID 19 savings?

Everyone knows that the school year was truncated in March because of the COVID19 pandemic. What happened to unutilized funds for student transportation, after school programs, summer school and special programs from mid-March through August? Some transportation money, but not all, went for food distribution for eligible, needy students.  In addition, the district spent money for technology to support on-line instruction and for cleaning and disinfection, but where is the accounting for the money that was spent as well as the savings?

 

What about academic programs?

Multiple educational programs, such as iReady, Eureka Math, Science Fusion and Naviance have been purchased and then abandoned, wasting taxpayer dollars. Students did not have access to an advanced Physics Program during the 2019-2020 school year, and our very first cohort of IB kids was instructed to retake Chemistry! This glaring deficiency makes a mockery of our calling GCSD, “a world class school district” and undermines the alleged excellence conferred by participation in the International Baccalaureate program. 

 

Public allegations were anonymously raised in Fall 2019 regarding attendance problems and falsified grades of high school students. Results of the subsequent investigation have been withheld from the community. The excuse we're always told is, "This is a personnel issue and cannot be discussed publicly." Perhaps, but an outside agency was contracted to do this investigation for nearly $100,000 of our money. The taxpayers footing the bill have a right to know the results of an investigation that they paid for!

 

What about behavioral problems?

Are the schools, especially Woodlands MHS, a safe learning environment? Concerns have been raised by the community and parents about the lack of student discipline in the high school, including videotaped fights and violence against teachers. Questions have been raised about the accuracy of DASA reporting (Dignity for All Students) to the NYS Dept. of Education by the aforementioned anonymous allegations. There is no evidence that these concerns have been investigated and addressed.  

 

Teacher hiring, retention and morale 

During 2018/19, concerns were raised about the Early Childhood Program being a hostile work environment but the Director of that program remains in her position to this day. Highly qualified teachers are resigning from the district rather than enduring a hostile work environment. A large number of teaching staff have been mysteriously placed on “home assignment”, generating both staffing and supervision issues and fiscal concerns.

 

What’s our future?

The Board of Education must change! Those Trustees who have been in their positions for years are a big part of the problem. School Board elections will be coming around soon. It's time to clean house and elect more new blood, bringing in fresh thinking and fresh ideas to the Board. That’s how we'll get A Better Greenburgh School District.

GCSD Announcement: 

Lies and Misdirection Continue From GCSD

Our Greenburgh Central School District just can’t seem to help itself. Between misdirection with maintenance of our schools, unnecessary evacuations of the mansion, investigations of Superintendent Chase, the firing of the old engineering firm and the hiring of a new one, promised dates missed for reports, attempted consolidation, a 3.96% tax increase to the 2020-21 budget, the Coronavirus cancellation of school and a waste of $300k to evacuate the Mansion, it’ll be a miracle if the public ever sees our dysfunctional school district function properly and actually educate our kids. Let’s dive in.

Consolidation

We’ve written about this extensively. About a year ago the Greenburgh Central School District (GCSD) Administration put forth a bond referendum in order to consolidate the multiple Greenburgh schools onto one campus. Effectually, they wanted to jettison the Highview School (Central Park Avenue behind Presser Park/Webb Field) and the RJ Bailey School on Hillside Avenue. The administration went to extremes to prove how dilapidated these structures were. Admittedly, there was some lack of maintenance and neglect with these buildings because we were told the Board made a conscious decision to allow the buildings to be neglected in order to not lay off teachers. 

When we began to dig into the numbers, based on the facts and figures we were fed, the numbers simply didn’t add up. We learned that we were being lied to by the administration when we pressed them to explain what the bond principle plus the interest would be. They continued to maintain it was only $114 million dollars even though the NYS Board of Education information showed the interest to be almost as great as the principle. The real figure would have exceeded $200 million dollars! The school administration planned to sell the two schools to offset the loan amount. They gave an inflated approximation of what each school should fetch in the open market. A commercial real estate broker even said at a meeting that these buildings, at best, might fetch up to $3 million dollars each – a far cry from the $10-12 million we were being told they were worth.

Maintenance

We’ve already mentioned the Board made a conscious decision to allow the buildings to be neglected to not lay off teachers. Perhaps we can give them the benefit of the doubt for trying to save jobs? However, money was always included in the budget for maintenance and repairs – just not enough for the serious work that needed to be done. Responsibility for the failure to accomplish the necessary repairs falls right into the lap of the long time Board of Education members specifically and the Board as a whole. Was their goal to allow the schools to degrade to such a point that they became uninhabitable? Yes, we know it was.

The community Bond referendum meetings were preceded with slick mailers and superfluous information from the District to all of the Unincorporated resident taxpayers. The first two meetings brought out many residents. There were also a large number of administration members and teachers with their children present who spoke in support of the consolidation. Then taxpayers starting asking hardball questions. When Superintendent Chase was unable to provide them good answers, she reverted back to, “Don’t we want the best for our kids?” Of course we do. That’s why we pay Dr. Chase a $250k salary plus benefits. While not an issue until now, many of us are now being hamstrung by the Coronavirus. Many residents have lost their jobs and are now faced with paying annual federal and state income, Town, fire AND school taxes. Thankfully they are not dealing with the huge tax increase that would have resulted from passing the bond!

Budget and Tax Increase

It’s becoming apparent that trying to sustain the $73 million expense to educate fewer than 1,600 K-12 students is becoming more and more unrealistic. The budget that was presented on February 27th called for a budget increase of 3.96% ($2,801,301). Funding this amount calls for a 4.25% tax increase. So, while Mr Feiner is bragging about having no tax increase this year for the Town residents, that success will be eliminated by the School budget if this proposed budget should pass. During these fiscally uncertain times, it’s imperative that the School Board reduce this year’s budget (through attrition and perhaps a hiring freeze), repair our buildings and make sure there is NO tax increase for residents. After all, with students scoring 35% in both English and Math skills, something is beyond amiss in the GCSD. 

The Sky Is Falling

After a 3-month summer hiatus and literally days before school was scheduled to start in September, Dr Chase ambushed us with the news that the Mansion was uninhabitable. She called for the immediate evacuation of the facility which houses the administration, maintenance, three Early Childhood Programs and a Special Needs classroom. The ECP and special needs classes were relocated to the Jackson School. A month later the administration employees were moved out. Not moved out were the maintenance people. Why would they be allowed to continue to work there if the building was unsafe? 

The School Board appeared to sit on their hands until January, finally bringing in a company to do an evaluation of the building (another expense). While we were told the damage was caused by roof leakage, no provisions were made to seal those areas with tarps or anything else. The Board finally hired BBS Architects, Landscape Architects and Engineers (BBS) to evaluate the Mansion and the groundskeeper’s residence. At the last Board meeting we learned the building was not in danger of collapse and with $869,000 of repairs, it would be safe to return. It turns out while moving the kids in order to be safe could be appropriate, moving everyone else for the cost of $300,000 was not. That money, which could have been used for maintenance and repairs, is gone. After wasting all that money, time and effort building a new suite for Superintendent Chase in the Woodlands High School can she and her staff actually be going back to the Mansion to work?

Where We Are Now

The Mansion will require $869,000 for repairs not including the roof. The roof will cost about $1.5 million. However, $1.3 million dollars had been set aside and already authorized to be expended for those repairs. We’d like to know what is causing the holdup? By the way, $1.3 million plus $300,000 dollars equals $1.6 million dollars. The $300,000 spent to move out of the mansion would have made up the necessary shortfall to repair the roof.

Currently there’s talk that after spending close to $300k to move everyone from the Mansion to the other schools on the Warburg Campus they didn’t actually all need to move. There’s also talk that the Administrative staff and Superintendent will move back into the Mansion as there was no risk of collapse as we had been told by Superintendent Chase. These are the kinds of actions and frankly lies that make the public distrust the Superintendent, the Administration and the Board. The kids in the classrooms will remain where they are currently located and Principle Matt Smith will get his office back from Dr Chase. Where was the Board during this knee-jerk reaction and why weren’t they controlling the narrative instead of the Superintendent? She works for them!

The Board is also required by law to hold public hearings for the budget. How and what will transpire with the budget approval process? Will hearing dates be allowed to change to accommodate its public hearing requirement and vote?

Another issue were the online accusations made against Superintendent Chase and Principal Smith. Several months ago, unidentified persons writing under the email monikers of Watchdog For Greenburgh, Greenburgh Free Press, and several others wrote to a group of residents and ABG alleging questionable or illegal activity by the Superintendent and Principal, (referencing several topics that we will not post as we could not verify or corroborate them). Our understanding is that an investigation took place by the School Board utilizing an outside agency that will not be shared because they are a “personnel matters”. Convenient.

With Coronavirus blanketing our neighborhoods, schools everywhere are closed. Budgets may not be voted upon or passed for various reasons and contingency budgets may need to be adopted. Our guess is that schools may not reopen this year. If they do, it will not be for the entire in-school season. Should this prediction come to fruition, repair work for the mansion should begin as soon as possible as it could take several months and the repairs can be done through the summer. If that’s not possible, repair what can be repaired and get these buildings back in good operational shape.

We’ll see you at the budget hearings – eventually.

Greenburgh School District Budget Meeting Announced For Monday Night

Please note that there will be a special BOE meeting on Monday, March 9, 2020 at 6:30PM at Woodlands HS to address the 2020/21 school budget. Come to listen, speak and share your ideas. Invite your friends and neighbors to participate as this affects us all. Please keep in mind…

A little over a year ago the Greenburgh School District began a campaign to push a bond of $114 million, whose final cost would have exceeded $200,000,000 to consolidate two schools in the district onto the Warburg campus. There were several factors that contributed to the bond not passing.

Over the years, the Greenburgh School District has neglected the buildings that house the staff and the students. The residents found their tax dollars disappearing without an explanation. Please keep in mind most people usually vote to support the education of our children as the primary goal. Education is the best investment in our future – when it’s actually used for the children. Sadly, when the 2019 school year began, the week before the GSD staff was to report to work, the Warburg mansion was deemed unsafe for staff to occupy by Superintendent Chase. The district had the entire summer to deal with building maintenance, but again neglected to do so, hence, "the sky is falling" and maybe the roof.

The slate roof on the Mansion has been left in disrepair, neither covered, nor protected, nor any effort made to preserve it. We’re told now the leaking roof has contributed to “structural damages” throughout. Paint and plaster has fallen onto the floors and we’re told again that the mansion is no longer usable. No future plans to repair the Mansion have been put forth as of the February 28th date. The Superintendent announced on March 3 that the engineering report gave an estimate of $829,000 to repair the mansion EXCLUDING roof repair. 

The slate roof sits uncovered, exposed to rain, ice, wind and further deterioration. To anyone who owns a car, you know that if you do not change the oil, the life of the car is usually shorter. The result of voting NO on the bond seems to indicate that little or no action to preserve or maintain the Mansion will be offered. The district didn’t have money for maintenance, but they suddenly had the money to move the administration into the Woodlands High School and build an office suite for the superintendent and the administrative staff. 

What is supposed to be a temporary move, had generated a price tag so far of $267,346.79. Is it any wonder the district can’t find the money needed to repair the roof? The locksmith costs are $34,577.40. for electronic locks to accommodate the new offices. Other expenses the public should be aware of: wiring for phones and computer system $26,300, shades for the superintendent’s office $8,652. The list is long and may ultimately exceed $300,000, As tax payers eager to support the education of our children, our future leaders, we find the lack of maintaining the district office and surrounding schools one of the primary reasons we have wasteful spending and a distrust of the current Administration and Board of Education.

Join in by coming to the meeting Monday night and let them know what you think.

→Guest Editorial←

A year ago the Greenburgh School District began a campaign to push a bond whose total cost would have exceeded $200,000,000. There were several factors in addition to the excessive costs that contributed to the bond not passing. Please keep in mind we usually vote with the education of our children as the primary goal in mind. Education is the best investment a parent and a community can make.

If you are one of the residents who found their tax dollars disappearing without an adequate explanation, the information we’ve ascertained and included in this article should provide clarification.

Over the years, the Greenburgh school district has neglected the buildings that house the staff and the students. Sadly, on the first day the GSD staff was to report to work for the 2019-2020 school year, the Warburg mansion was declared unsafe for staff and children to occupy. The district had the entire summer to deal with building maintenance, but neglected to do so, hence, the week before school begins we found the sky is falling and so is the roof.

The slate roof which was known to be left in disrepair, was not covered, or protected, nor was there any effort to preserve it. The leaky roof now has contributed to “structural damages” yielding the building uninhabitable. Paint and plaster has fallen onto the floors and the mansion is no longer usable. Although the district is aware of the need to repair the building, as of this time plans to repair the mansion are not yet in the works. The slate roof sits uncovered, exposed to rain, ice, wind and further deterioration. To anyone who owns a car, if you do not change the oil, the life of the car is always shorter. Is this punishment for voting “NO” on the bond: no action to preserve, nor maintain? 

We were told repeatedly that the district didn’t have money for maintenance, but they suddenly have a quarter million dollars to fund a move into the high school. The locksmith costs are $34,577.40. for high tech security locks for the new offices. Other expenses the public should be aware of includes wiring for phones and computer system ($26,300) and shades for the director’s office ($8,652). The list is long and may eventually exceed $300,000!

In the interim, the administrative staff has moved to Woodlands High School. This is supposed to be a temporary move, but a price tag so far of $267,346.79 makes us question the fiscal responsibility of making this a temporary move. How can the district find money to repair the roof? Has the school district been spending money in this reckless manner all along, instead of maintaining the buildings?

As a taxpayer eager to support the education of our children, I find the lack of maintaining the district office and surrounding schools appalling. Let’s stop the wasteful spending.

School Board Questioned On Spending, Denies Tenure

At a previous Greenburgh School Board (GSD) meeting, there was a discussion of temporary construction fixes that would be needed at the Woodlands High School for those staff members who moved there from the Mansion. The operative word is “temporary.” In fact, GSD Board members asked the administration and Michael Falcone, the Director of Facilities, for a tour of the Woodlands High School. They wanted to see for themselves how $247,000 was being spent on “temporary” fixes.

Two School Board meetings ago, the public had been inquisitive. By asking the right questions, we learned that there was quite a bit of unused funds available for repairs that could be moved and used for repairs. Once the discovery of funds was broached, the Board decided to go to Executive Session.  

With a walk-through finally scheduled on December 13, 2019, about a dozen or so Board members and members of the public were escorted through the high school and were shown various spaces that were to be used for “temporary” occupation by the staff that relocated from the Mansion and mostly to the high school. 

During this temporary move tour, Assistant Superintendent Mary O’Neil repeatedly stated that as a temporary location, they couldn't know how long preparation could take. Each instance that was mentioned about the temporary move, prompted Ms O'Neil to seemingly add more time to the length of time the administration would stay in the high school, stating it could take up to two years before the Mansion, vacated under Superintendent Chase's say-so, could be remediated and returned to use. Most of us got the impression that they were not discussing anything as temporary.

At the most recent School Board meeting, one taxpayer/resident stated that since there were adequate funds within this years budget to fund the move out of the mansion, the budget should be frozen at the current level and that same amount of money should be devoted to capital repairs in next years budget. It’s interesting that there was enough money to fund the move but during the entire Consolidation Bond push by Dr Chase, Terry Williams and David Warner we were constantly told there was no money to do repairs. Then we learned that there was money! Why the subterfuge?

Another resident questioned how they could have spent $247,000 dollars moving the Administration staff out of the mansion? The same resident asked why it cost $7000 to paint the Principals office. Finally, Mr Falcone was asked if the Mansion has been adequately winterized so the pipes don’t freeze? Mr Falcone responded that the cost to paint the principals office included eight rooms and was done by a contractor who is paid by the hour. It seems contractors are used for almost everything that is done at the schools – probably the most expensive way to go for repairs. Mr Falcone did say the Mansion has heat and is okay in that regard. Are we are fully heating an unoccupied building and for how long?

In fact, in questioning Mr Falcone about a maintenance staff, we learned that there is only one person in that position and he could use more people. He also stated that he is teaching this person the various systems. Consequently, he can only get so much done during the course of a day. If Mr Falcone, and more importantly the District schools, need maintenance people, why is the School District not hiring them? 

Also at this same meeting, another resident brought to light that during the Consolidation Bond initiative the public was told of the horrible conditions of our school buildings. After the bond was defeated, the public is still waiting to learn of the plan to proceed with repairs to those buildings. Rather than be forthcoming and address that, Dr Chase sought to dramatize the need to move out of the mansion because of a leaking roof, stating it was unsafe and uninhabitable. Yet after jettisoning the Early Childhood Classes to the Jackson School, the staff continued to work in the Mansion for another month! So what is the real condition of the Mansion, how badly does it need repair and why is nothing – once again – being done to retard further deterioration and repair the building? 

One resident asked for several clarifications. The first was of a rumor that Dr Chase was under investigation and if so, for what? The second was why are there signs in RJ Bailey School instructing students not to drink the water? Third, how many meetings has Dr Valenti missed as he was presented for tenure that night was not present? We’d think that for such an important milestone he would have been present! Fourth, when were the roof repairs going to be done? Finally, and most importantly, what is the plan for improving the low scores of our students based on the middle school assessments?

A PTA President asked why has the PTA been asked to help fund school field trips? The resident asked because there appears to be grant monies available that only the district can access. Is there a budget for school field trips? And why is there junk behind one of the schools? The common theme here is that so many questions are being asked over and over again by residents without concrete answers being provided by either the Superintendent or those elected to represent us. While the Superintendent and some on this Board still mistakenly believe that they Bond failed because they failed to adequately present their consolidation case to the public, that’s definitely not the case. The residents spoke very clearly but they still aren’t listening. It’s important to understand what the Boards actions, not words, are showing us.

The Government Relations Committee reported that they will draft a letter to Paul Feiner regarding the need to avoid removing any taxable parcels of land from the tax rolls when the Police Headquarters and Town Court are moved. Removing a large parcel from the tax roles would have a negative impact upon taxes received by the school district. What they are really saying is that the proposed bond that Mr Feiner will be pushing soon to replace the Police Station and Courthouse for $49 million dollars will have a negative impact on the community. But they didn’t have any qualms about proposing the $114 million dollar Consolidation Bond, did they?

There were other items discussed at this latest meeting. But between the High School walk-through and the the Board meetings, we see more duplicity than honesty. For instance, a large band rehearsal room is to be converted into a new office for the principal so he can meet with students and families privately. Mr Falcone said they would be building several walls to divide the space. A resident asked why folding walls would not be used since this was a temporary solution? We were told the Principal needs soundproof walls for privacy. During our walk-through, we saw many rooms that could be set up and used for meetings, temporarily, if privacy was truly the goal. Or, he could ask another employee to adjust their schedule to permit their office to be used for a meeting. Again, this is temporary fix, isn't it? When asked to see plans for this temporary office, Ms O'Neil said the process is that it goes out to bid, plans are drawn up and then the process continues. It was suggested that they have it backwards. Draw up plans (non-architectural would be fine), present it to the public, and then proceed. Perhaps there‘s a resident who is an architect and willing to donate plans at no cost to the district?

What we were being shown was not a temporary fix. No timeline or proposals for repairs have been offered. There was some good news at the last School Board meeting. In one very significant and positive move, the Board voted three to two against granting tenure to Dr Valenti. This Board and the Administration that works for them may be starting to listen to the residents and taxpayers. This vote against tenure for Dr Valenti is promising, a sign that necessary changes are starting to occur. This Board has to change or be changed. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh School District.

Using Deceit To Advance A Vision

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.

Timing, Like Location, Is Everything

Take a few minutes to read our two previous posts to get an inkling of what is transpiring on the Warburg campus. Specifically, Greenburgh Schools Superintendent Chase sent out a letter via email (so not everyone has received it), that highlights “several areas of concern” about the building referred to as the “Mansion” and its structural integrity. The Mansion houses the Board of Education administration and several early childhood program classrooms. The Superintendent claims that their architectural firm CSARCH, confirmed the Mansion is unsafe for students and staff to be in. Here’s a link to the letter and the CSARCH memo she sent out:

https://www.greenburghcsd.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=536&ModuleInstanceID=321&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=9745&PageID=3250

There are accompanying pictures with the brief report that appear to have been faxed using equipment from the early 1980s. In one picture there is an arrow pointing to an exterior window that says “deteriorated plaster ceiling”. In another, an arrow points to another window that says Suspended ACT ceiling. What are they really showing in these pictures? See below.

In total, this memo from CSARCH includes four points of concern covering the condition of the building. Our initial reaction regarding this newfound concern was why this was ignored until two business days before school reopens? The School Board, already suffering from a poor reputation with the community after they misled the taxpayers through omission regarding the School District Bond Vote in March, should have been all over this. But they weren’t. Why not?

In fact, we visited the Mansion the day after the school board meeting and found Dr Chase in her car outside where scene-tape prohibited entry. There was a brief exchange. When asked why she waited to expose this issue until now, she said it was known and in the original bond. It wasn’t in the $114 million-dollar bond, nor the previous bond for $166 million-dollars. We pointed out that they removed the Woodlands HS $47 million-dollars repairs from the $166 to get to the $114 million. She stated it was in the original $198 million bond. However, we know that the initial bond proposition was never offered to the public. It was shot down internally because of the prohibitive price tag. When asked if anyone was still in the building (it was about 5PM), she stated she was the last one out. A few more words were exchanged before she drove off.

Walking around the building and unable to gain entry (not that we would enter an unsafe structure), we could see through the windows that there were lights and computers still turned on throughout the building. Here’s two pictures of an office that had all of the lights on and it’s difficult to see but the clock on the wall says it’s about eight or nine minutes after five PM. We found several other rooms similarly lit up. Likewise, there was another room with a computer still on. Dangerous? Uninhabitable? C’mon.

Returning the following day, around noon on Friday, we found two gentlemen working inside one of the classrooms! After identifying ourselves, we asked why they were in there if the building was unsafe to be occupied as stated by Dr Chase to the School Board and the letter she subsequently sent out? They said they didn’t know about that, but they were just following orders from their boss to remove equipment. When asked if they believed their boss had their safety in mind when according to Dr Chase the building is unsafe for children and staff, they reiterated they were following orders. Perhaps a visit by PESH* is in order?

The information provided to Dr Chase and Mary O’Neill from CSARCH only addressed four supposed hazardous conditions. After the way taxpayers were treated by Dr Chase and the Board with the $114 million Bond initiative they were pushing, we believe they may be sensationalizing the gravity of the structural issues. There is nothing in the CSARCH report indicating that the entire building is unsafe for habitation. Their recommendation regarding the classrooms was to remove part of the acoustic ceiling tile ceiling so that the plaster ceiling on the other side could be inspected. The exterior issues could be quickly addressed by closing off the stairs to the playground to allow for repairs and entering from a different place. Was there a verbal communication that differs from the memorandum as written? Is this information “different” from the original 2015 Building Condition Survey?

We believe the reason the issues in the Mansion were brought up now is as a strategic move by Dr Chase and a select group of the School Board members in order to to revive the never-dead-never-ending consolidation bond once again. They’ve been setting all of their ducks in a row to get to this point.

Dr Chase mentioned the company Thought Exchange (.com) during the last School Board 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 the company even held a webinar with the Board.

Bringing up Thought Exchange and making an announcement about an unfit building both coincide with the renewal of the contract for a Public Relations company, making us incredibly suspect about ulterior motives. Watch your mailboxes for a letter that should arrive on Tuesday or so from the Superintendent reiterating all of this. If our suspicion proves out to be true, shame on all of them. If we allow this bond referendum to happen again, shame on us. The taxpayers must clean house and get this school district back on track! We have to do it for the kids and it’ll make for A Better Greenburgh School District.

* PESH (Public Employee Safety & Health) is the public sector equivalent of OSHA.