Carle Place School District residents approved a $10 million bond proposal to improve the middle and high school complex, but rejected a $6 million proposal to expand Cherry Lane Elementary School.
Prop. 1, which passed on a 637-439 vote Thursday, would provide funding to upgrade aging air conditioning systems at middle and high schools, Superintendent Ted Canone said. Proposition 2, which district residents rejected by a vote of 406-666, would have provided $6 million in funding for an expansion of the Cherry Lane Elementary School building to increase capacity in the district’s preschool program.
Officials noted that any pre-K expansion plans were contingent on community approval of the initial proposal.
This is the first year Carle Place has offered a preschool program, which is currently held within the high school. Proposition 2 would have built five classrooms at the elementary school to accommodate the kindergarten education program, increasing seating capacity from 18 to approximately 90. Construction was scheduled to begin in 2026.
According to a presentation of previous bond proposals led by the district’s Assistant Superintendent of Business Joanna DeMartino, passing just the $10 million HVAC proposal would cost the average family a $12.82 annual school tax increase. is expected. If both proposals had passed, households would have experienced an average increase of $77.77.
The HVAC upgrade will cost about $13 million, and the district will pay $3 million from a reserve account to partially cover the cost, school officials said. Work on the HVAC system is expected to begin in July.
“Thank you to everyone who voted in today’s bond referendum,” Cannone said in a statement late Thursday night after the results were tallied. “We look forward to sharing updates on the progress of the projects included in the initial proposal and once again thank the community for their continued participation in the district.”
Written by Nicolas Grasso and Darwin Jenes
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