Brownsville board agrees to borrow $20.4 million
BROWNSVILLE – Directors passed a motion Thursday to borrow $20.4 million to finance the high school/middle school renovation project. According to Joe Muscatello of JP Morgan Trust Company, the district’s trustee, the district’s annual debt service can go as high as $740,000 to $793,000, depending on the amount received in state reimbursement for the $19.3 million renovation project at the high school/middle school that will include a new gymnasium and space for sixth-graders in the middle school.
Muscatello said that dept service, which includes the district’s current annual debt service of $194,000, is based on reimbursement from the state at 60 percent or 55 percent, respectively.
Resident Nena Kaminsky, a former board member, questioned the board on borrowing such a high amount of money and also questioned moving sixth-graders to the middle school.
Kaminsky asked the board how they intend to pay a debt service that has been increased by $600,000 after just getting the district out of a deficit.
“Last year we were broke, distressed … had to close schools. Now you are going to add a $600,000 debt service,” Kaminsky said.
President Rocky Brashear said that the board is already involved in a renovation project and has to borrow the money for that reason. He also said that the board would not make decisions that would put the district in jeopardy.
“We brought this district from the red to the black. We did everything we could. We made some very hard decisions. This district deserves better facilities,” Brashear said. “I will not sit on this board year after year and watch this district deteriorate. You have to take a gamble sometimes and I’m willing to do that and there are other board members here who are also willing. I’m not alone on this,” Brashear said.
In another matter, Kaminsky complained that parents and residents in the district are not aware that the school directors decided to send sixth-graders to the middle school.
“A lot of people did not know that. Parents are opposed to sixth-graders at the high school, and if you tell me they do not mingle with high school students, I’m going to say you are wrong,” Kaminsky said.
Director Stella Broadwater said she was also opposed to sending sixth-graders to the middle school.
“I agree that they do not belong there. I know people are upset about it, but it was voted on,” Broadwater, said, adding that she voted against including sixth-graders in the middle school.
“If we are building a new (elementary) school, why not build it for K through sixth? I prefer K through eighth. The seniors (at the high school) make advances toward the younger seventh- and eighth-graders,” Broadwater said.
In September, the board did approve a $34.1 million districtwide renovation project that included sending sixth-graders to the high school/middle school.
More than 50 people attended that meeting, many voicing opposition to the renovation project for different reasons, including concerns that taxes would be raised in the future, that sixth-graders should not be moved to the middle school, that the board should not consolidate the three elementary schools and that the board had not adequately researched the issues concerning their decisions.
Broadwater voted no on the issue. Brashear and directors Andy Dorsey and Jim Brown, who initially passed on voting, eventually voted yes because they said they did not want to stall the project any longer.
Kaminsky said she did not remember the vote and was under the impression that the board was not concerned with the elementary school project and only passed it as part of the Plan Con requirements to adopt a districtwide renovation project in order to be considered for state reimbursement.
Brashear said that the board is not concentrating on an elementary school project at this time and is primarily concerned with the renovation project at the high school/middle school.
But the board, as part of the districtwide renovation project, did approve the construction of an elementary school complex to consolidate the three existing elementary schools at a cost of $13.9 million.
They had to vote on whether to send sixth-graders to the middle school, because the architect Michael Molnar said the plans for the high school/middle school had to be “concrete” before sending the plans to the state for approval and to receive reimbursement.
The board recently reviewed plans presented by Molnar that placed the elementary school complex where the old Redstone Middle School is now located. The decision to place the complex there came about after bids to demolish the middle school came in much higher than expected and the architects advised the board that the state would reimburse the demolition only if they were to build directly over that site.