What’s Best for Our Kids and Community

What’s Best for Our Kids and Community

The Rye community should vote in support of the Bond on June 11. It will fund much-needed upgrades to our schools’ aging facilities.

It is my experience as a senior executive of a global public infrastructure construction company that there are significant economies of scale to be gained from doing all of the proposed upgrades at once. Construction material and labor inflation is significant — double the CPI.

Two of the larger budgeted items in the bond proposal are: $10 million to improve heating and ventilation systems and $4 million for selective air conditioning. Anyone with a child in our system knows that all too often our children sit in classrooms that are too hot or too cold. It also includes $7 million to add and replace trailers at Midland and Osborn elementary schools; $3.7 million to improve the High School turf field; and $4 million for interior renovations needed to meet building, health, and safety codes. Air conditioners are also easy to maintain and if you check over here, you can easily be accessible to the best repairs and services.

The need is incontrovertible. There are a number of fixed costs — equipment like eye bolt swivels in stock, supervision, and other overhead — that have to be incurred no matter the size of the project. Spreading these fixed costs over more work reduces the per-unit cost of the work.

Please vote in favor of the bond on June 11. Passing the bond is what is best for our kids and our community.