Capital improvement referendum OK’d

by Kathy Duff
Grand Island Dispatch, December 15, 2006

Major school repairs are on their way to becoming reality with the approval Tuesday by Grand Island voters of a proposal to accept $3.9 million in building aid from New York state.

A steady stream of residents came to the Grand Island High School foyer throughout the day to register their decisions. “It has been good turnout, I thought,” remarked District Clerk Janet Schuster, “better than I expected.”

With a total of 714 votes cast, chairman Ruth Baker announced at 9:15 p.m. that the referendum passed with 659 “yes” votes and only 55 “no.” A small group of “observers,” which included Interim Superintendent Dr. Larry Zacher, Board of Education members Richard Little, Myrna Blair and Neal Seaman, Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Loraine Ingrasci and Huth Road School principal Mary Haggerty, gave a polite “yay” when the results were given.

Ingrasci had previously remarked that passage of the funding referendum would be “a clear investment in the future.”

She, along with Zacher and the board of education, had put much effort into communicating with the public what health and safety repair work needed to be done in all buildings throughout the district. It was also stressed through the media and through the district’s Web site, in-house literature and a series of public forums that the cost of the projects would be covered virtually in its entirety by New York state building aid and by Excel monies. Taxpayers will not bear the cost.

Among the most pressing improvements to be made with the funding are repairs to the middle school and high school roofs, purchase of emergency generators, and installation of new phone systems.