Kimberly Moritz BlogPosts

Our Randolph taxpayers recently voted “no” twice on a proposition to purchase property and build a new bus garage, sending a strong message. As loud and clear as the message was, it leaves me wondering about our next step to remedy a problem with our current bus garage.

Our bus mechanics’ bays are not what they should be. They are too small and we need a better lift system within the bays. I have been working with the architect to reevaluate plans from phases two and four of our long term renovations at Randolph which included additions to the current bus garage.

It makes sense to me to add on to our current garage and/or renovate the current bus mechanics’ bays to better service our buses and to give our hard working mechanics the space they need. Buses are quite a bit bigger than they were when this garage was built so the space and a better lift system are definitely needed. The Department of Transportation won’t even inspect our buses here any longer.

Here’s the question for me. While I’m confident that the addition/renovation is the right thing to do, I’m unclear what the public sentiment is on this project. I wasn’t here for the last vote, so I’m not sure why the public opposed the project. I don’t know if it was the land purchase, the idea of building a whole new garage when people think the one we have should suffice, or the idea of more projects in general. With the Technology Center going up now, maybe voters are just thinking “enough already.”

Believe me, as a new superintendent in the midst of a capital project and a number of other big issues to tackle,  the last thing I want to take on is a new building project. However, I can’t in good conscience delay this construction, it’s necessary to maintain our assets and to help our employees work more effectively.

I’d love to hear public opinion, here, on Randolph Writes. In addition, here’s a survey asking our Randolph taxpayers for some feedback/opinion/ideas so that we can consider Randolph viewpoints in our decision making process. Please take the survey and let me know what you’re thinking so that I can consider multiple viewpoints while making decisions in this job of leading our district.

If this works well, I’ll use the survey tool on our website to gain insight into your thinking in the future. Thank you!

I don’t know for sure who develops the Regents exams. I think it’s a team of teachers. And I am sure it’s not easy. But straw bale construction? That’s what the reading section of yesterday’s Comprehensive English Regents exam was about–straw bale construction. Eleventh grade students are interested in a variety of topics, but I doubt this is one of them. Maybe that’s the point. No tangents here for students to wander off on in the response. . . except if they start thinking about those “three little pigs”. Geez.

With a capital project well underway, we have some revisions to our renovations precipitated by our decision to keep our sixth grade team at the elementary school. While the scope of our project remains the same with our technology and agriculture programs moving to our new Technology Center, this leaves me thinking about the current tech/ag space renovations.

As far as the overall project goes, our changes are relatively insignificant. We don’t need the four standard classrooms planned and so have gained approval from the State Education Department to renovate this space in a way that better serves the needs of the district.

We will move the high school main offices into the first of these spaces. This allows us to place the office in a more central location, right inside of the main entry doors and closer to the 7th/8th grade wing and the newly built Technology Center.

Adjoining this space will be a standard classroom that can be used for a variety of purposes, primarily an in-school/out of school suspension/after school detention room. I have always wondered at the ‘wisdom’ of  out of school suspension for 90% of the offenses, considering that it gives the student a vacation of sorts, unless the parents impose consequences at home. With the number of working parents we have today (me included), making our OSS students report to a separate location within the school to continue instruction and supervision just makes more sense to me. To distinguish the difference between ISS and OSS, we can have the OSS students stay for detention too. This seems a better consequence/deterrent to bad choices than three to five days at home.

We can also use this room for meetings, small group testing, after school meetings and possibly BOE meetings, allowing quicker and easier access to the public. Following the High School Main Office and adjoining classroom will be an adaptive physical education room that can also be used as a wrestling room after school. Currently, our wrestling team practices in the multi-purpose room in the elementary school. If we eliminate the need for wrestling in the elementary building, we can more effectively use that space for OT/PT, vacating a space for a classroom. With sixth grade staying put in the elementary school, they can definitely benefit from the additional space.

I’m excited about our revised plan and hopeful that with the quick work of our architect and construction manager to get the new drawings to our contractors, we can stay right on target for an August completion date.