February 25, 2015
Homer board balks at study of Hartnett sale
HOMER — The Board of Education could not agree Tuesday on either using a think tank or an advisory committee to fulfill the district’s legal obligation to thoroughly study all ramifications of closing and selling Hartnett Elementary School in Truxton.
The board was looking at ways it could fulfill state Education Law402-a, which lays out procedures that must be followed in permanentlyclosing a school building. The law requires a thorough study of all aspectsof closing a school building and its potential use. It also recommends a committee be established to prepare an educational impact statement of theendeavor.
The Homer board was specifically considering this law in light of a potential sale of the building, which will close at the end of the school year following a failed vote in December to renovate it for conversion to a BOCES technology high school.
The board Tuesday was considering the best entity to use to conduct the study and perform the educational impact statement. It considered three options: an independent third party that would likely be paid, a think tank or an advisory committee. The board dismissed the idea of paying a third party to conduct the study.
Two separate votes, one to go with the think tank and another the advisory committee, both failed narrowly, and the board will reconsider the motions at its next meeting March 10. Board member Kim Sharpe was absent.
Opposing the think tank option were Martin Sweeney, Sonia Apker, Katharine Dwyer and Mary Beth Mathey.Opposed to the advisory committee were Bill Pedrick, Randy Weatherby, Luke Morenus, Dave Quinlan and Sweeney.
Board members were undecided on the best way to keep the committee as independent and unbiased as possible, a recommendation of Superintendent of Schools Nancy Ruscio and something the board members agreed wasimportant.
The independent nature of the board, as well as another provision that it meet secretly and that its membership be kept confidential until the final report is issued, were both objected to by members of the public Tuesday. Ruscio said the provision for secrecy does not violate state Open Meetings Law since it would be a committee set up merely to advise and make recommendations to the board, not one with any power to take action.
Homer resident Victor Siegle and Truxton resident Lloyd Sutton both questioned where the board wouldfind any community member who is neutral on the topic of what to do with Hartnett Elementary School. They said it has been such a divisive topic in the community that everyone has formed an opinion on it by now. They also objected to the private nature of the committee, with Sutton saying such secrecy “flies in the face of Open Meetings Law.”
Board member Sweeney also questioned where the board could find unbiased community members to sit on the panel.
Sweeney said after the meeting he thought perhaps the dismissed idea of hiring of a third-party consultant would be the only way to ensure neutrality. He voted against both the think tank and the advisory committee.
The difference between the two options is their time frame for preparing the educational impact statement for the board’s review. The advisory committee must take a minimum of six months to do the study, while the think tank is under no time restrictions, according to the law.
Ruscio said after the meeting that confidentiality and neutrality are important, given the way board members have been treated by angry members of the public over the issue.
“What I’m asking the board to do is do this in the most neutral way possible,” she said.
But Siegle and Sutton took offense to the desire to keep the committee neutral, saying such an effort discounts all the hard work done by people on both sides of the issue thus far. They said reasonable people could be found on both sides of the debate who would be willing to sit on the committee and study the issue.
Ruscio urged the board members to think about the best way to proceed prior to the March 10 meeting.
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