The autopsy of why the Montauk School’s $38 million capital renovation plan failed last month continued Tuesday night at a special workshop at the school, as board members, community members, and the district’s architects gathered to speak about communication issues as well as potential design changes.
While communications was once again brought up as a big reason for the failure of the bond vote, there was also talk of paring back the plan to bring a less costly project to voters.
The district had hoped to repurpose the existing gym into a performing arts space, build a new gym with a greenhouse and bathrooms, redo its library, and address a range of other maintenance and repair issues if voters approved the $38.4 million bond.
Some at the meeting said they didn’t know about the bond vote until the week before it happened and that they didn’t fully understand the scope of the project. A woman who declined to be named told the board that the only information about the vote she received was a flier in the mail about three days before the vote.
“We tried to get the word out. Obviously, we failed, we didn’t do it the right way,” said Diane Hausman, the outgoing board president. Members of the board did point out that Joshua Odom, the principal and superintendent, had held several meetings in the community including at the library and with the hamlet’s citizens advisory committee in the lead-up to the vote. Information on the project is available on the school’s website as well.
The board discussed different ways it could communicate better with the community in the future, including more direct mailers, setting up an email list, and even encouraging people to reach out to the school and Mr. Odom directly.
When it comes to providing more details about the specifics of the project on the schematic level, Mr. Odom stressed that the district cannot post schematics or designs of the building online because of safety concerns for the school.
Also discussed was whether the school could ask for federal funding for part of the project if the school could be used as an emergency activation site. The board indicated interest in the idea and Mr. Odom said that he was meeting with New York State Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni in July and would talk about those options with him.
Also in the crowd was Kevin Walsh of BBS Architects, who had attended several previous board meetings and presented the original design to the board. Mr. Walsh brought several new iterations with him. “So, as we came from May 20, and thought, well, is there an alternate approach?” Mr. Walsh said. “What if you didn’t have a new gym?”
He and Mr. Odom have been discussing possible changes and each iteration he presented Tuesday had no new gym building.
These new designs were focused entirely on the removal of the modular classrooms near the current gym, and replacing them with a new building giving the school a variety of options. There were several variations but most included two support rooms, bathrooms, one or two classrooms, and/or a science room.
Additionally, a new hallway could be added connecting this new section to the rest of the building, eliminating the need for crossing through the gym to reach the new section. The new corridor is important because people crossing the gym while there are classes in session there can impact instructional time.
This point was made by Nancy Liubenov, the assistant principal. “So if I’m doing it,” she said, “and then two other people are doing it or somebody has forgotten their lunch, all of a sudden 34 minutes of P.E. that’s required by law is now 22 minutes.”
This new build was originally conceptualized as a full middle school by Mr. Walsh. But also discussed was making the area an art and music area, as the noise from the gym can be a distraction. This would open up a larger classroom for science instruction, a priority for Mr. Odom.
The big question, however, on the minds of the board members and attendees alike was how do these new plans stack up against the original in terms of cost? According to Mr. Walsh, a modified construction like that would save the school close to $5 million.
In one slide of his presentation there was an itemized list, which included many of the same needed improvements from the original project, totaling just over $33.4 million. Mr. Walsh referred to this number as a “reference point” and said it is not set in stone. That total does not include any improvements to the current gym.
Leigh-Ann Hess, who was recently elected to the school board but has not taken a seat on it yet, pointed out that the new gym was a key part of the original proposal that allowed the district to make several changes within the building.
“I know people were kind of trying to maybe talk around this gym,” she said, “because maybe that’s what made some people uncomfortable in the community. But the truth is if people spend any time in this building, they know that that’s actually the kind of space that you need.”
“So I just feel like . . . you’re kind of going in circles to solve problems that don’t necessarily exist,” Ms. Hess said, “just to save some money and you’re maybe not saving enough for it to make sense.”
Nick Finazzo, a board member, said that he too had some concerns over altering the project in this way. “My major concern,” Mr. Finazzo said, “is that we change it in some capacity and we get all the things that we need and the number doesn’t really move.”
Adding to the pressure was the assurance by Mr. Walsh that prices will rise by at least 5 percent in 2026. Meaning the original $38 million plan would now look closer to $40 million and a potential new $33 million plan would become $35 million.
With this in mind the board is leaning toward making a decision before the end of the summer. If the board moves forward with another vote this year, it wants it to be in October or November. “That gives us some time to communicate, give time to pull people in and get a variety of opinions,” Mr. Odom said.
If a vote in the fall were to fail, the board would not have enough time to put another vote forward before 2026, as it would need to wait at least 45 days to go back to the public.
There will be another workshop on this issue in August but a date has not yet been set. Additionally, the board indicated that they will hold a similar workshop for the other failed proposition concerning a renovation to the Fisher House, meant for a staff member.