K-L BOE Meeting: Field Updates, Long Range Plans Discussed

The new school year starts in less than two weeks, and on Thursday night, the Katonah-Lewisboro Board of Education held their regular meeting where they discussed updates on the farm and athletic fields, talked about the possibility of creating a long-range physical plan for the district and approved their consent agenda. Here’s a look at what happened.

Field Updates

The AP farm and athletic fields is progressing well, according to Michael Jumper, assistant superintendent for business.

Jumper said the majority of the baseball field has been soded and the bulk of the fencing is now finished. He estimated that the rest of the construction should be done over the next couple of weeks and teams will be able to play on the fields come spring.  

The synthetic turf for the AP farm fields has begun to be put in and should be finished by Sept. 9, while the softball field will be completed this fall and should be ready for the season.

Four changes to the project were approved by the board, one of which included taking out the berm that would have appeared on the northern part of the project, according to the resolution. Jumper told the board that it was determined the berm didn’t fit into the overall appearance, as it crowded the multipurpose field and bathrooms and the “void” behind it could have been a risk to safety and security.

The change won’t add costs and with the additional changes approved by the board, the project is still under budget, according to Jumper. 

The board also discussed putting up signs and letting the community know that staying off the fields until they are completed will allow them to be at their best.

Consent Agenda Approved 

The Board approved the meeting’s consent agenda, which included staff appointments, the retirement of a monitor at the high school level and approving more work to be done to recoat the roof at Lewisboro elementary school at a cost of $20,121.42, according to the resolution. The full consent agenda can be seen here.

Long Range Plans

During the board discussion period of the meeting, board members and Superintendent of Schools Paul Kreutzer discussed the possibility of putting together a long-range plan that would look at the physical aspects of the district buildings and campus.

“The property doesn’t have a 5, 10 year plan,” said Kreutzer.

After the meeting, Kreutzer noted that without a plan or vision the district could wind up jumping from one project to another.

While now the focus would be on data gathering and either appointing a committee or using an existing committee to help, Kreutzer said he would be pleased to see a long-range plan adopted over the next 12 to 18 months.

The next meeting of Katonah-Lewisboro Board of Education is scheduled for Sept. 8.