Lakeland Residents to Vote on Safety, Security and Health Bond
Residents in the Lakeland School District will be asked on Tuesday, November 19 to support a $14.5 million proposition that would pay for a variety of safety, security and other improvements in all eight school facilities and the administration building.
School officials said they have been reviewing existing safety and security measures in the district since the tragic shooting at a Newtown, CT elementary school last year and have put together a long list of projects that can be completed with passage of the bond.
Officers from the Yorktown and Westchester County police departments maintain a constant presence at all district schools but the Board of Education and district administrators have concluded security and communications enhancements are necessary to make Lakeland’s five elementary, one middle, and two high schools as safe as possible.
The bond would cover increased security at the entrances of all school buildings, including new digital cameras, swipe card access and the construction of a two-door entry with a locked vestibule. The bond would also add new locks on classroom doors allowing teachers to lock them from the inside.
Other improvements proposed are the addition of an access path between Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School and Benjamin Franklin Elementary School for emergencies or evacuations; a walkway leading down to the athletic fields at Walter Panas High School; emergency generators at schools where one doesn’t already exist; new windows at Benjamin Franklin; a connecting corridor at Van Cortlandtville; and air conditioning in the auditorium and library at Lakeland High and the cafetorium at Copper Beech.
With almost 60% of the bond eligible for state aid, the projected cost to taxpayers would be approximately $7 million. Based on home values, the annual cost to residents would range between $40 and $70, starting in the 2015-16 school year.
If approved by voters, district officials hope to begin some of the projects this summer and complete the work by the summer of 2015.
Voting will take place on November 19 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Van Cortlandville Elementary School on Route 6 in Mohegan Lake.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
