Review Overcrowding

The ideas of sending seventh and eighth graders to East Hampton as a way of alleviating overcrowding at the Springs School or of setting up modular classrooms were discussed at the second meeting of the school’s facilities committee last week, as was whether the school’s septic system needed improvement. The committee was established after district voters turned down a multimillion-dollar capital improvement project in May.

Sending seventh and eighth graders to East Hampton, a suggestion made during the committee’s first meeting, was not feasible, Thomas Primiano, the school treasurer and business administrator, said at the June 17 meeting, because of the cost of tuition. He estimated it as $3.5 million and said it would not be possible if the district wanted to comply with the state cap on tax levy increases.

Mr. Primiano said he had come up with “a much lower estimate to keep those students in-house.” Roger Smith of BBS Architects, which has been working with the district, said, “There’s no next step internally to gain another classroom,” and he estimated that four modular classrooms would cost $1 million for three years, a figure that includes rent, building foundations, and the expenses involved in separate utilities and a fire alarm system.

“I’m talking about wood, modular, transportable  classrooms,” Mr. Smith said. “This is not the construction trailer that guys use to build a 7-Eleven.”

 Springs preschool students are being sent to the former Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church school in East Hampton, while kindergarten classes are held in the Springs Youth Association building.

 Susan Harder, a member the committee, brought up the septic system. Improving it had not been included in a list of about $3 million in necessary repairs and maintenance projects compiled by BBS, and Mr. Primiano downplayed its urgency. “The district has not been contacted by any regulatory agency, including state, county, or town, that we have any sort of emergency related to our septic system,” Mr. Primiano said.

According to East Hampton Town, town staff and researchers from Cornell Cooperative Extension are conducting tests this week to determine the source of enterococcus bacteria, which Kim Shaw, the town’s natural resources director, had previously reported were found to be “through the roof” in waters near the school.

“I’m a neighbor of the school, and I’m on a well,” Ms. Harder said on Monday. “I don’t have a problem with the school getting what it needs versus a ‘kitchen sink’ approach to everything they want, but I think first things first.” The more urgent need — additional classrooms or a septic system improvement — should be addressed first, she said.

The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for July 22 at 5 p.m. at the school.