School board members sharpened their pencils

As Bath Central School Board President, and one of two official spokespersons for the district, I rarely respond to letters to the editor on matters of the district as I believe that everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. A letter recently submitted by one of your Board Members does however require some clarification.

Like many of us, I read with great interest Rosalie Niemczyk's letter to the editor expressing concerns on the School District's upcoming Maintenance Project. Her letter echoed the concerns of all of the Board of Education members as we worked very hard to get the best value from monies that are being made available from our taxes paid to the state.

By law every school district is required to have a Buildings Condition Survey. The Board of Education contracted with Hunt Engineers for this work. Once the report was submitted to the Board of Education, the buildings and grounds committee worked to pare down the suggested work for a maintenance project. We (the BOE) are doing our best to do exactly what she suggests fiscal conservatives should… "Spend wisely." Such concern led to decisions to do things such as recommended in the letter, including using in-house staff to deal with many of the maintenance issues. Accordingly, the $153,000 painting of classrooms and hallway, as mentioned in that letter, is not included in the Project. Our Board tirelessly and tediously reviewed virtually every item in the project to see if there is a better, cheaper way to get it done. This review process represented fourteen months of biweekly meetings both in committee and as a whole board.

The Project being brought to the voters of the Bath Central School District is the result of many good, tough, common sense questions that have been asked and answered; too many however, to even begin to cover here. I ask the district residents to become familiar with the project, come to the informational meetings, ask questions and make an informed decision based on the facts. There will be two informational meetings regarding the Building Project on December 4 and December 12, 2007 at 7:00 P.M. in the school auditorium. Please come and hear about the project. There will be a question and answer period each evening. Please come to hear the facts first hand so you can make your decisions based on accurate information,

We, as a board, are allowed to present the project information; by law we are not allowed to try to persuade the public.

Thank you. William von Hagn Bath Board President