LEBANON — School officials appear willing to cut millions of dollars from plans to renovate the city’s school buildings as part of an effort to placate voters worried about the effect on taxes.
Members of the School Board last week were enthused by nearly $4 million in possible cuts to the district’s modernization plan identified by Superintendent Joanne Roberts and architects over the summer.
The cuts map out a path to compromise between students, teachers, parents and taxpayers. A majority of residents seems to support updating aging schools, but many are concerned about the price, board members said.
At this point, it’s unclear whether the cuts will be adopted in full. Officials remain divided over whether they go too far or not far enough.
“I like the idea of reducing the amount of (the plans) and it still seems to satisfy the bulk of what we’re hoping to do,” board member Tom Harkins told colleagues during a meeting last week.
For instance, possible cuts would reduce the amount of new office space at the Mount Lebanon School while leaving intact plans to improve its multipurpose room and cafeteria, he said.
“I come from the Mount Leb neighborhood. … A complete kitchen has always been a priority of the Mount Leb community,” Harkins said in a CATV video of the meeting.
“Would it be nice to have a nice administrative office space and all that stuff? Yes,” he added, before going on to say that students’ needs should take precedence as officials look to prioritize renovations in the coming months.
Meanwhile, board member Richard Milius implored his coalleagues to look first and foremost at security improvements, saying the impulse to budget more “wants” likely doomed past proposals at the polls.
City residents voted, 893-713, in March for a plan to spend $20 million on renovations at Lebanon’s two elementary schools and the high school. While a majority supported the plans, it fell short of the 60% approval needed to authorize borrowing, called for more secure entryways, additional classrooms and improved multipurpose and performing arts spaces.
Voters also turned down a similar $29 million proposal in 2018.
“We haven’t been particularly good at separating our needs from our wants,” Milius said. “Seems to me like we have a ways to go.”
The cuts presented by the superintendent would keep the shared cafeteria serving Hanover Street School and Lebanon High School instead of building a new space for elementary school students. Under the proposal, schedules would be moved around and a divider could separate students, Roberts said.
Her plans also would create a smaller band room for students at Lebanon High School, which would go without a new lobby and parking lot improvements.
School Board members said they were overall supportive of the proposal, but some worried about forgoing the parking lot project.
“That may be one section where we shouldn’t be saving money,” board member Martha DiDomenico said while suggesting funds to improve drainage and reroute pickup and drop-off spots could come from elsewhere.
Absent from last week’s discussion was talk of a 775-seat auditorium previously pitched as an expansion to Lebanon High School.
Plans to spend $9.4 million on the auditorium were defeated by voters, 960-648, at the polls in March, with a warrant article garnering only 40.2% support.
A similar structure was also part of the renovation package rejected by residents in 2018.
School Board Chairwoman Wendy Hall said last month that the auditorium is “not our main focus” in this round of planning, but she didn’t rule out bringing it back.
The School Board will continue discussing the renovation project when it meets at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at Lebanon Middle School.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.