Sharon Springs School Board Approves $83K Project

By Chris English

SHARON SPRINGS — The Sharon Springs School Board at its Monday, April 28 meeting unanimously voted to award an $83,781 bid to Smith Construction Co. for the 2025 Capital Outlay Project.

In an email to this newspaper after the meeting, School District Superintendent Thomas Yorke explained that the Capital Outlay Project was approved by taxpayers last year. Work includes four interior door replacements and some site work between the new gym and the creek on the way to the athletic fields.

"There is a drainage pipe in the middle of the field that was abandoned during the last project, but not closed," Yorke wrote in the email. "In bad rain, the drain spouts water. We are closing that up."

In other actions from the April 28 meeting, the board also voted to accept an RFP (Request for Proposals) for the Energy Performance Contract from JW Danforth Company.

Doing an energy performance contract at a maximum cost of $1 million and also a capital project at a maximum cost of $2.73 million are in a proposition Sharon Springs voters will consider on May 20.. Yorke explained after the April 28 meeting that the acceptance of the JW Danforth RFP does not necessarily mean that company will be selected to do the EPC if it's approved by voters. However, Danforth is a leader in that industry and will certainly be considered, the superintendent noted.

The full EPC and capital project proposition — a copy of which Yorke provided to this newspaper — reads as follows:

"Shall the Board of Education of the Sharon Springs Central School District be authorized to (1)(i) construct, reconstruct, renovate and improve various School District Buildings, facilities and sites, acquire original furnishings, equipment, machinery or apparatus required for the purpose for which such buildings, facilities and sites are to be used and pay incidental costs related thereto at a maximum cost of $2,725,550 and (ii) to qualify for an additional ten per centum (10 percent) of enhanced building aid from the State of New York, undertake certain energy performance improvements to be made at various School District buildings, facilities and sites, including improvements to increase energy efficiency (the 'Energy Improvements'), at a maximum cost of $1,000,000;

"(2) Expend such sum for such purposes; (3) levy the necessary tax therefore, to be levied and collected in annual installments in such years and in such amounts as may be determined by the Board of Education taking into account state aid; and (4) in anticipation of the collection of such tax, issue bonds and notes of the District at one time or from time to time in the principal amount not to exceed $3,725,550 and levy a tax to pay the interest on said obligations when due and/or with respect to the Energy Improvements, enter into an Energy Performance Contract as defined in Article 9 of the State Energy Law?"

In other news from the April 28 meeting, the school board heard a report from grades 4-12 Instrumental Music Teacher Max Horning on the success of the Spring All-County Music Festival held at Sharon Springs Central School April 25-26.

Horning said the event featured high school chorus and elementary band performances from students at Sharon Springs, Cobleskill-Richmondville, Middleburgh, Schoharie, Duanesburg and Berne Knox-Westerlo. He, Yorke and school board members expressed pride that Sharon Springs, the smallest of those six school districts, was able to host this year. Horning said he believed this was the first time SS had hosted the event since 2017.

He added that the event drew a crowd of 454 and he thanked fellow teachers, custodians and others at Sharon Springs CSD for their help and cooperation in putting the event together. "Everything went really well," Horning said.

The board voted to accept six more out-of-district students for attendance at Sharon Springs CS for 2025-26. There are two students who will be in grade 12, and one each in grades 5, 3, 2 and Kindergarten. Yorke has explained that it's the Sharon Springs CSD policy to accept students who don't live within the district to attend without tuition payment so long as they meet certain conditions.

The board also voted to approve Jayna Manko as a non-certified substitute teacher. Before the vote, Manko spoke to the board about how she believed she would be an asset at the school if approved. She was Valedictorian of the Sharon Springs CS Class of 2024 and now attends SUNY Oneonta with the goal of becoming a full-time English teacher.