District enrollment is burgeoning, and with it, facilities across Syosset schools will be updated and expanded accordingly. The District’s architects and engineers recently conducted an in-depth survey of school facilities and concluded that they require a number of improvements. The Facilities Improvement Bond put forth by district administration and the Board of Education was approved by the Syosset community. This Bond includes two propositions, the first addressing the “most immediate needs and space constraints that we’re currently experiencing,” and the second giving us “a jump start on the space constraints that we anticipate in our future,” said Superintendent Dr. Thomas Rogers.
In the high school, our facilities were evaluated by “talking to administrators, high school principals, and high school leaders about what they see as future needs,” said Ms. Philomena Hefferon, the district’s Public Information Officer. The improvements in the high school include renovations and additions to our athletic spaces, expansion of the library, guidance suite, robotics space, and science research lab. Each of these facilities improvements were intentionally planned based on specific usage trends. For example, our Robotics Lab needs expansion because we “see a lot more kids signing up for robotics currently, which means we expect that trend to continue. There’s a bunch of athletic teams that are being bussed off-site to practice, so it would help everyone if we had more athletic space,” said Ms. Hefferon.
The library is also set to be expanded and relocated to just south of the cafeterias. “I think being adjacent to the cafeteria will add to the collaboration that we want because it will be an easy flow from the cafeteria right into our space,” said Ms. Trish Sergi. The library faculty have had extensive input on the modeling of the new building with the purpose of supporting students. Dr. Sarah Wasser said, “Some students do conferences or college interviews here and they have a hard time finding a quiet area—so, we want to make sure that we have places where students can do individual work.” This past June, the library was awarded the prestigious National School Library of the Year Award from the American Associ- ation of School Librarians (AASL). The new library space will allow faculty to continue this success and support students’ ever changing needs.
The district’s overall goals for the facilities improvements directly align with its mission: “to prepare students to thrive in both the future we imagine and one which may evolve in ways yet to be envisioned.” “These updated spaces will allow us to improve our programs to meet the needs of the future and maintain that mission,” said Ms. Hefferon.
Keeping students and staff safe is always our number one priority — we will never compromise that.
The district recognizes that this process will be an arduous task. It will likely take years until both propositions have been realized, and will require tremendous work from faculty and community members. “It can be challenging to now take the vision that we have and make sure that all the paperwork is done, all the right contractors are hired, and that the schools are safe,” said Ms. Hefferon. However, with the support of the community and the dedication of our staff, the future of this project appears promising.
