Pre-K at old elementary school: opponents push back

By NEAL RENTZ

A $24.5 million proposal to renovate and reopen the former Lewisboro Elementary School for pre-K program and community use was met with opposition from several people and a councilman at the April 13 Town Board meeting.

The proposal by the Katonah-Lewisboro School District, to allow borrowing from the capital reserve for capital budgets will be Proposition 3 on the ballot May 19, along with the proposed 2026-27 education budget.

For the past several years the former elementary school campus has been rented to the town. It houses some town government offices and the Lewisboro Police Department. 

According to the school district, Katonah-Lewisboro does not have enough space in its existing school buildings to provide pre-K to all eligible students.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing in next year’s budget a requirement that all school districts provide pre-K programs by 2028, Katonah-Lewisboro Superintendent of Schools Ray Blanch told the town board at its meeting this week.

The governor is seeking to increase per-student funding for pre-K from the current $5,400 to $10,000, which district officials say would pay for universal pre-K. 

KLSD officials said that the proposed increase in state funding for the pre-K program would save district families with pre-K level pupils between $12,000 and $15,000 annually. 

The cost to maintain and weatherize the former school without renovations would be $7.5 million, according to the school district.

If the proposition is approved by school district voters next month, and the project is approved by the state, construction would begin in December 2026, according to the school district.

The renovation project’s monthly cost to taxpayers living in the average home would be $20.92 for Bedford residents of the school district, $17.96 for Lewisboro residents, $10.42 for North Salem residents and $27.73 for Pound Ridge residents. 

If the former school is renovated, space would be provided for the community for organizations and the town’s Parks and Recreation Department, Blanch told the Town Board. 

He said a school district committee was formed in 2020 to recommend what to do with the former elementary school. The committee recommended that the school district maintain ownership of the property.

In 2024, some members of the previous committee came back together to identify what could be done with the former school, Blanch said. The current plan is to reopen the school, which would have 10 classrooms after the renovation is complete, he said. The building would have a separate entrance for the community to use on the left, with space for the town’s seniors, clubs and scouting groups. The current gym is used by the town’s Parks and Recreation Department and would be maintained, he said.

“About half the building comes down,” Blanch said. The hot water loop system “is living on borrowed time,” he said. 

Councilman Richard Sklarin said he attended the Board of Education meetings last year and earlier this year and opposes the project.

“Nobody has said the $25 million would be the most cost-effective option to implement universal pre-K,” Sklarin said. “The fact that nobody has even said it means to me that it is not.”

If voters turn down the proposition, “that would mean we would have to go back to the drawing board,” he said. “Good. In this financially distressed time that would be a good exercise where we look at cost-effective education.”

Sklarin said education is important, “but quality education does not mean you don’t look at costs.”

Councilwoman Julia Hadlock, who served on the Board of Education for nine years including as board president, said she would not express her opinion on the school district’s proposal.

“My opinion is not relevant,” she said. “It’s a community vote, and people can certainly vote however they feel.” Hadlock said.

Several people criticized the school district’s proposal during the public comment periods. 

Glenn DeFaber, who has had children and now grandchildren in Katonah-Lewisboro schools, offered an alternative to the district’s plan that would repurpose space in the existing buildings. 

“The middle school is the most empty,” he said. “It’s got a capacity of 1,294 and there’s presently 671 students.”  

Middle schools typically house students in grades five through eight, DeFaber said. The fifth grade should be moved there, he said. Pre-K could be located at the current elementary school and that would eliminate the need to renovate the former school, he said. Mandated pre-K might still be rejected by the state Legislature, he noted. 

“So, let’s get wise and spend money right,” DeFaber said.

Another resident, Evelyn Johnson, said there is a projection that over the next decade only 4.8% of the households in the Katonah-Lewisboro district will have children of pre-K age. 

“I question the $25 million,” she said. “Find a resolution, but I don’t think it’s $25 million.” 

Under the meeting’s ground rules, the public was not permitted to ask the superintendent questions.  Joanne Ennis said she took issue with that restriction. She also said that moving the fifth grade to the middle school “seems like a more feasible financial option.”

Later in the meeting, Sklarin made a motion to give people the chance to ask Blanch questions following his presentation, but the motion was not seconded.

“We don’t do that in a Town Board meeting. That’s not our protocol,” Supervisor Tony Gonçalves said. “That will be a town hall meeting.”

Senior van grant

Also at this week’s meeting, the Town Board voted unanimously to approve an agreement with Westchester County for a federal Community Development Block Grant of $110,288 for a senior van.

“I’m very excited,” Councilwoman Mary Shah said. 

The 11-passenger, handicapped-accessible van with a wheelchair lift that will be purchased through the grant, will replace the town’s existing vehicle and provide transportation for low and moderate-income seniors.