Floral Park school officials modify Smart Schools spending plan

Originally appeared in the New Hyde Park Herald Courier - Floral Park-Bellerose school officials announced adjustments to how it hopes to spend nearly $433,000 received from the state on Monday night, with new plans to use another grant to pay for pre-K classroom upgrades.

The Smart Schools Bond Act, approved by voters statewide in 2014, issued about $2 billion of general obligation bonds to improve educational technology and infrastructure. The Floral Park-Bellerose school district was allocated $432,512 of that, according to the Smart Schools program website.

Michael Fabiano, the assistant superintendent for business, said school district initially had plans to spend about $200,000 of this for renovations to pre-K classrooms and $233,000 on technology equipment.

Now though, with the receipt of a $150,000 facilities grant from state Sen. Anna Kaplan (D-Great Neck), Fabiano said this frees up some money and recommended using the bond funds just for the new technology.

“Originally we were going to allocate the $200,000 toward the pre-K classroom renovation,” Fabiano said. “Now we’re going to allocate the full amount to technology equipment.”

Asked about this being a net loss of $50,000, or the difference between $200,000 and $150,000, school board president Laura Ferone said the district is not sacrificing any of the planned projects.

“Nothing’s changed,” Ferone said. “We did not take anything out of pre-K.”

The preliminary plan was first approved on May 21 this year. It was then revised and re-posted to the district website on Dec. 2, following a July 1 public hearing. The Dec. 9 meeting marked the second public hearing for the plan, with the final plan not yet approved.

The plan currently calls for continuing a one-to-one program by purchasing iPads to refresh the technology as it ages, arguing that it would enhance educational opportunities for students and teachers.

John Lewis Childs School would get $154,288 for technology equipment, Floral Park Bellerose School would receive $217,774, and Our Lady of Victory Elementary School, a private parochial school within the district, would get $60,451, according to the plan.