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North Colonie schools' leader says the district has clear guidance on developing a second building referendum after the defeat of a $196.4 million proposal in December.

The district compiled results from an exit survey and from comments at a Jan. 30 forum that drew more than 200 residents.

"The scope of $196.4 million was too big and it needs to be reduced," Superintendent D. Joseph Corr said Tuesday. The district plans a new referendum at the same time as the budget vote in May.

Of the 4,031 people who voted, 506 completed the exit survey. Of those who did, 35 percent voted against the proposal while 63 percent supported it. The others did not indicate how they voted.

The most popular pieces of the proposal were strengthening security at school entrances, moving sixth graders to the junior high school, and increasing classroom space at schools like Boght Elementary where enrollment is growing.

The least popular element was a plan to cover two athletic fields with artificial turf.

Corr isn't ready to dismiss any element from being resubmitted, but he said the district learned it could have done a better job explaining the reasons for the proposed renovations to every school.

Educate the educators

Results of an exit survey are being used to guide North Colonie officials in determining how to handle a second building construction vote. Here are some of the results.

Total voters: 4,031

Percentage who voted yes on proposal: 46

Total who completed survey: 506, or about 13 percent

Of those, 319 voted yes, 178 voted no

Reasons for voting yes:

Improve the quality of education, 84 percent

The scope of the project is reasonable, 52 percent

The proposed tax increase is reasonable, 47 percent

Reasons for voting no:

The proposed tax increase is unreasonable, 52 percent

The scope of the project is unreasonable, 52 percent

It will not improve the quality of education, 22 percent

The current athletic field is used only 18 times a year for football games. With artificial turf, he said, the field could be divided into three sections and used eight periods a day for gym classes, as well as for multiple sports, after-school and weekend events.

A proposal to create "idea labs" at the schools was not understood, he said. The district will now describe those spaces as being used for science, technology, engineering and math education. The district wants to create spaces to help prepare students for those kinds of jobs, he said.

Despite mailing every household a 12-page summary of the project, the district learned it needs to communicate better with people who don't have children in the schools, Corr said.

Rather than send one lengthy document, he said, "maybe it's better if we start earlier and divide it into chunks."

By law, the Board of Education has to decide on a new resolution by the end of March.

Immediately before the vote, there was consternation about their being a single polling place. The district explained it would need a referendum in March to allow multiple polling places. The public response largely was not to confuse voters by having votes in March and May.

In the lead-up to a new vote on renovations, Corr said he is willing to meet with any group that wants to hear about the proposal.

"It's not motivated out of a desire to build fancy spaces just to build fancy spaces," he said. "We want what every generation has wanted, to provide students with the skills and the habits of mind they need."

tobrien@timesunion.com • 518-454-5092 • @timobrientu

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