Bedford BOE: Capital Plan Talk, Tax Cap & Security

The Bedford Central School District's Board of Education has a busy agenda when it meets tonight. The meeting is at 7 p.m., at Fox Lane Middle School.

Notable will be a discussion about the proposed capital plan, which is a large bundle of construction fixes. The district's administration is proposing that the board comes to a "consensus" for what it wants included in the project, and tonight's meeting is the goal for reaching it.

The meeting comes just a week after administrators announced a scaled-down package, coming in at around $31 million, versus a roughly $75 million price tag offered for an earlier iteration that just explored possible items for inclusion. The package involves a comprehensive renovation for West Patent Elementary School so keep about leakage and reconfiguration of learning space; a larger cafeteria and revamped science labs for Fox Lane Middle School; a new water system for the Fox Lane Campus; a new track and turf field for the Fox Lane campus; and new roofs for Fox Lane High School, and Bedford Village, Bedford Hills and Pound Ridge elementary schools. 

Most of the capital plan, more than $29 million, would be funded through bonding, while the track and turf replacement, along with solar panels for West Patent, would be paid for through private donations.

School Monitor Hirings

The board is also expected to vote on whether to approve hiring four new monitors for the middle school. If approved, the addition of the group would be the latest boost in security head count for the district. Last week, the school board voted to retain a security company to provide personnel for patrolling the schools.

Tax Cap Talk

Because the state comptroller's office has a March 1 deadline for school districts to report information needed for the annual tax levy cap for their budgets, the board is expected to give its "guidance" for how to move forward.