BUFFALO SCHOOLS
Buffalo school closings may delay final phase of rebuilding
The fifth and final phase of Buffalo’s $1 billion school reconstruction project may be delayed a year to 2013 while the Board of Education makes some tough choices about what schools to close and where to locate popular classroom programs.
The delay would be the first substantial setback in the construction project’s timetable but may be necessary given the decisions that have to be made before enabling legislation can be filed in the State Legislature, said Gary M. Crosby, the school district’s chief financial and operations officer.
However, it remains unclear what shape the state will be in financially a year from now, when it would be asked to authorize funding for the work. “If New York State’s budget gets worse before it ultimately starts to get better, the state may say: ‘We can’t allow any more building aid to go out the door,’ ” Crosby said.
So far, the school district — with 97 percent state reimbursement — has spent $500 million to update 22 schools in the project’s first two phases.
Nine more schools are currently being reconstructed in the project’s $350 million third phase, and plans are being made to renovate 10 more schools for an estimated $300 million in the fourth phase.
The fifth and final phase — which will update another six to eight schools — initially was scheduled to be completed in 2012 but instead may be rescheduled to 2013 because:
• Seven elementary schools remain candidates for fifth phase reconstruction, but enrollment projections support the reconstruction of only six of them. The school that is left out will likely be closed.
• It is unclear whether the district can justify reconstructing Grover Cleveland and Lafayette high schools, or whether they will remain as is and ultimately be closed.
“It’s going to take some time to consider those issues,” Crosby said at a recent Board of Education committee meeting. “We may be looking at submitting legislation for Phase 5 early next year.”
The elementary school logjam was created earlier this year when the board voted against the recommendation of school officials to close Community School 53. As a result, Crosby said, the board still must decide which of the seven elementary schools will be left out of the project.
School administrators also floated the idea of moving Leonardo da Vinci High School and Middle Early College to Grover Cleveland, and moving the existing programs at Grover to Lafayette High School.
That would allow the district to vacate the expensive, leased facilities now occupied by da Vinci and Middle College in 2013, and to update Grover Cleveland and Lafayette rather than eventually closing them.
That proposal prompted strong opposition from teachers, students and parents at da Vinci, who say that their current location at D’Youville College is essential to the success of the highly regarded program.
Lou Petrucci, the Park District board member, suggested exploring a trade-off in which D’Youville would get what is now Grover Cleveland High, and da Vinci would get a location at D’Youville.
Ralph Hernandez, the West District board member, said the board should move quickly to coordinate construction plans with educational needs. “The bottom line is, we’re going to have to have this conversation sooner or later,” he said.
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