PINE BUSH – Pine Bush schools open September 6 with universal pre-kindergarten restored to all four of the district's elementary schools, and Pine Bush Elementary will offer morning and afternoon sessions for 4-year-olds for the first time in at least six years, according to administrator Ryan Reed at the Pine Bush school board meeting Tuesday night, August 15.

Reed, executive director of human resources and data for the school district, said the program at all four schools is paid for through a state grant. Superintendent Tim O. Mains added that the program had more than 100 pre-K slots at Circleville, E.J. Russell and Pakanasink elementary schools, but consistently saw 30-40 children on waiting lists for openings. The extra slots at Pine Bush Elementary should shorten that waiting list dramatically, the superintendent added.

It's important to get as many children as possible into pre-K, Mains said, referencing experts in early childhood education who have concluded that the debate on the value of pre-K should end. It works, they said; children who attend such programs are better prepared than those who don't. Reed also updated the board on staffing levels tied to falling enrollments for the new year. The board had previously OK'd the elimination of five instructional positions and the creation of five full-time and one half-time positions; three of the eliminated jobs were left open by retirements and two through resignations.

Of the new positions, one will be devoted to the expanded pre-K program. In total, the district will have about 70 new employees, hired to fill jobs left open through resignations and retirements, for an estimated total district enrollment of 5,200 students this year.

Keeping a roof over all those people is a prime goal of Superintendent Mains, who said one of the first things he did when he arrived in the district was tour all of its buildings. Too much maintenance has been deferred, he added, and the district is at work reconciling the recommendations of two recent studies addressing the buildings.

Assistant superintendent Michael Pacella took the board through some of the recent studies' findings. For example, an energy saving assessment proposes the district replace all lamps with LED lamps, leaving fixtures in place. The survey, which was used to put together a capital construction plan for the district, meanwhile prefers a total replacement of lighting, including automatic sensors to switch off lights when not needed. The lesser of these recommendations would cost $1.03 million, the other $4.3 million. Yet another recommendation would put solar panels atop most of the district buildings, helping cut the district's electricity bill for $3.76 million.

Pacella pointed out some conflicts among the studies' suggestions. Installing solar panels, for example, would make planned roof repairs more expensive. It's now the job of a superintendent's committee assembled to take pieces of each study and present a workable plan to the board before November so that some work could begin next year.

Some recommendation will have to go, Mains said. If everything in the Building Condition Survey were undertaken the bill would approach $54 million, including electric-car charging stations at all schools, but not any work on some of the district's athletic facilities. The district can do without the charging stations, Mains said, noting a need for district priorities.

Then there is the matter of paying for the work. The state would cover 69 percent of the cost of capital projects, which would have to be approved by district voters, but only 59 percent if the work were done under an energy saving contract, which would not have to go before the voters.

If the challenge and the expense seemed daunting, suggested administrator Seth Siegel following his own report on PBSD's successful summer program for middle-schoolers, let the kids do some of the work. As everyone laughed, he noted what a great job students did these recent months on projects involving engineering; handling their schools' building improvements should be no problem.