The school district’s Communications Committee is hosting a series of forums this year. The first will focus on facilities.
The informal meeting will be held at Storm King Engine Company (233 Hudson St., Cornwall-on-Hudson), on Sunday, Dec. 15, beginning at 2 and ending at 3:30 p.m. or whenever the discussion has concluded.
Committee member Brendan Carty said he had hoped to schedule the forum earlier, but venue availability made that difficult. Waiting until the end of the holidays would have created a tighter schedule for other forums.
The forum will begin with an introductory presentation and informational fliers. Carty said he would be pulling information presented by Walter Moran, director of buildings and grounds, during a meeting in October. The highlights will serve as a conversation starter.
The purpose of the forum is not to present a plan of action, but to gather information from parents with kids in the buildings or whose kids use the playing fields, as well as anyone else who may have concerns.
“We want to allow as much input from the community as possible,” Carty said. “We want to hear the experiences that people have had with the facilities. We’ve had presentations given to us from our architectural firm, from different administration officials and they’ve all been very helpful to understand where we are in our facilities district wide, [but] there’s something invaluable about getting stories and insights from people who are involved in the schools.”
Carty said the forum is not related to any previous bond efforts to improve the district’s facilities, but rather a response to the continuing needs of the school buildings.
Talking about solutions to the district’s facilities issues is premature, Carty said, but the goal of the forum is to identify the most urgent needs and the most efficient way to deal with them.
Following the forum, all the information will be gathered and those insights will be shared with the Board of Education the following evening.
The Communications Committee is still finalizing dates and topics for the remaining forums, but there will be two on the annual budget, as well as one on school safety.
