MONTICELLO — The Monticello Central School District is finalizing details that will go into a Capital Improvement Plan that's up for a referendum vote this December regarding a $100 million project that will dramatically impact the long term future of the district.

The plans call for upgrading the Robert J. Kaiser Middle School and Monticello High School first (Phase I), followed by repairs/renovations/upgrades to the elementary schools (Phase II). The first phase is expected to take three to five years and the second four to seven years.

Passage of the referendum, which requires a simple majority vote, would trigger the process of getting a bond retained in June 2018, according to school board member Lori Orestano James.

As part of the planning process, the School Board is considering whether to include the reopening of the Cornelius Duggan School as part of the referendum. The school, located behind Town Hall in Bethel, closed in June 2010 after a school board vote on the issue in March of that year. Since then, part of the school has been leased by the town for a wide variety of community uses, including town government meetings.

The School Board and the Vision and Build Committee (formed in September 2016) held a community forum at the middle school last Wednesday facilitated by Orestano James, to give residents an opportunity to weigh in on what they want to see in the referendum. About 40 people showed up and were given the opportunity to submit written suggestions on issues like use of existing school space, safety issues, community usage of facilities, grade structure and programming choices.

School Superintendent Tammy Mangus, who has been in the job since the 2014-15 school year, wouldn't reveal if Duggan will be reopened, but did empathize with those who want to live near their kids' school. “I'm not sure what we feel yet (on Duggan)," she said. "We are going to take what people (the community) are saying here. We are going to do trend enrollments and we're gonna look at what happens at the three elementary schools if a decision is made to reopen Duggan.”

Bethel Supervisor Daniel Sturm said in 2016 that to “really bring the town back, make it a whole town again, and help the town grow, we need the Duggan school open.

“The Town of Bethel Board and residents are united in our efforts to persuade the school board to reopen the Duggan School at some point as an Elementary school.

“We do not want to see any money spent to expand the other schools while they have an unused school sitting empty,” continued Sturm. The Town of Bethel is growing and expanding with new homes being built, and the school district is going to grow as well. Opening the Duggan School will once again make the district whole, will not be any more of a financial burden on our taxpayers, and is the right thing to do for all students in the district.”

Mangus, who created a “Facilities Committee” when she took over the position, noted that the district was in the middle of a building conditions survey at that time. New York school districts are required to conduct regular building condition surveys and to develop multi-year facilities plans, which can help identify aging, outdated or energy inefficient school infrastructure and facilities issues related to health and wellness.

The school board also has retained the architectural/engineering firm Clark Patterson Lee, which has 12 offices, including Albany and Newburgh. So far, the firm has identified some of the critical infrastructure issues that need attention across the district, including plumbing, boilers, sewage odors, quality of drinking water and more.

“It has been a fierce and swift three years, and now we are looking to go full steam ahead in December with the referendum vote,” Mangus said. “We have been working hard to figure out what that referendum will include, but the steps we take today don't get realized for a couple of years. That timeline,” she said, “has much to do with New York State Department of Education rules for capital improvement projects that's tied to school aid and debt.

Mangus explained that upgrades, renovations and modifications can be done at the same time as making repairs. “And so the Board made the decision to take a look at it and then we had to remind ourselves, and everybody else that our timeline was quick and swift so that we would have very little impact on the tax levy.”

The Monticello School Board next meets on September 27 for a working session about the plans. More updated information can be found at http://www.monticelloschools.net/BOE/index.cfm