North Shore Central School District seeks approval of $11.8M bond
North Shore High School in Glen Head. Voters in the district are being asked whether to fund renovations at the high school and four other district schools. Credit: Howard Schnapp
The North Shore Central School District will ask voters on Tuesday to approve a nearly $11.8 million bond proposal and the spending of more than $2 million in reserve funds for a myriad of upgrades to athletic facilities and others.
Proposition 1 calls on voters to green light an expenditure of $2,480,500 from the district’s existing capital reserves to replace the track and install stadium lighting at the North Shore High School in Glen Head, according to an FAQ document detailing the ballot measures. Proposition 2 asks voters to allow the district to borrow an $11,756,000 bond to cover additional athletics, air conditioning and other renovations.
Voting will take place in the North Shore High School gymnasium, 450 Glen Cove Ave. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 10 p.m.
“Our track is coming to the end of its useful life,” assistant superintendent for business James Pappas told Newsday in a Thursday telephone interview. “There has been a large community push for the lights for a number of years. … We’ve had people send us pictures and videos of games going on at dusk where you can barely see the ball.”
The bond proposal will be a “tax-neutral” proposition, according to the district.
Instead of raising taxes to cover the debt incurred by the bond, which will be paid over 15 years, the district is “reallocating a portion of our budget,” Pappas said. Last year, the district cleared its debts from a previous bond proposal. The budget funds earmarked for that debt were then used to cover “smaller capital projects throughout the district, including venting at the high school, some HVAC upgrades and a number of other smaller projects,” Pappas added. Those same funds will fund the newly proposed projects should voters approve the bond.
The proposed bond will fund the installation of air conditioning units for large spaces throughout the district's elementary schools and middle school, which will help the district comply with new state legislation regarding classroom temperatures, Pappas said. Artificial turf will replace the grass infields of the high school’s baseball and softball fields. Both athletic spaces will also get new backstops and dugouts.
Regrading and drainage improvements are slated for the middle and high school grass fields, on which varsity, junior varsity and middle school teams practice.
“They’re well overdue for an upgrade and for a leveling,” Pappas said.
Borrowed money will also cover a new elevator and upgrades to the gathering room at Glen Head Elementary School, the rejuvenation of elementary school music classrooms and the replacements of outdoor bleachers and of the auditorium ceiling at the high school, Pappas said.
If approved, work could begin on the new track, stadium lighting and various projects funded by the bond in June, according to the district. Construction on all the projects would take place over the next two or three summers.
