Dear CBSD Families and Community Members,

I am writing to share information that we discussed with members of the Board at the Business/Operations Committee meeting last evening, September 25.

Last winter, an architectural analysis of our elementary schools was completed. The findings confirmed that significant renovations are needed at eight of our elementary schools: Barclay, Buckingham, Doyle, Gayman, Kutz, Linden, Titus and Warwick. The work needed at these eight elementary schools is separate and apart from our grade realignment and full-day kindergarten initiative. Among the findings is the idea of replacing at least two of our schools – Doyle and Linden.
 
It is imperative that our District develop and maintain a comprehensive, multi-year capital plan to ensure that our schools remain not only operable but conducive to a high-quality education for all students. As such, our Leadership Team has been tasked with developing a multi-year capital plan, including options for addressing the needs of these eight elementary schools.
 
Last evening, four potential options were presented to the Business/Operations Committee:

• Option 1 - Build a new school that will welcome students from Doyle, Kutz, and Linden. Renovate the remaining five schools.
• Option 2 - Renovate all eight schools.
• Option 3 - Build a new school that will welcome students from Doyle, Kutz, and Linden. Build a new Warwick. Renovate the remaining four schools.
• Option 4 - Build a new school that welcomes students from Doyle and Linden. Renovate the remaining six schools.

(Watch the video of the meeting here.)

The Business/Operations Committee members also heard a presentation about options for financing for these projects. As was the case with the four options to address the eight schools, the conversation about options for financing these projects was an initial introduction of the process to develop an understanding of the process for members of the Board.

Our Board and Leadership Team will always remain transparent with the community; therefore, I want to be clear that absolutely no decisions have been made about which option to choose.  Last night’s conversation was the first step in determining the future direction of CBSD; there will be more conversations at upcoming Business/Operations Committee meetings.
 
While decisions will be made in the somewhat near future, construction – if the direction is to build new schools – will not begin until 2028, and the school(s) would not open until the fall of 2031. As such, none of our current students would be affected by decisions to combine schools, for example, as outlined in options 1, 3, and 4 above. Further, we do not anticipate that any of these options will reduce staff; we would not engage in a series of potential construction projects with the intent to reduce staff.

In the coming weeks and months, we plan to share updates as future plans take shape. Thank you for your ongoing support of CBSD. We appreciate you!

Sincerely, 

Steven M. Yanni, Ed.D.
Superintendent 

This message was originally emailed to all CBSD families on Sept. 26, 2024