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Hen Hud $30 Million Bond Divides Community

MONTROSE, N.Y. – A bond proposal by the Hendrick Hudson School District, worth $30 million, has divided the public's concerns for financial responsibility and educational facilties improvements. The proposal would raise taxes on a median sized household in the Town of Cortlandt by around $400 for the next 20 years.

"If you don't dream, you don't vision, you don't realize," said Daniel McCann, superintendent of the Hendrick Hudson School District, before he began presenting the proposed changes the district-wide bond would produce. He added that "This is what our neighbors have, and in some cases will exceed them."

The biggest change the proposal calls for is the addition of a performing arts center between Hendrick Hudson High School and Frank G. Lindsey Elementary. Most of the plans are in a conceptual phase, and so it is yet to be determined if the PAC will house 850 seats or 1,000. The PAC is estimated to cost just over $18.1 million.

Other improvements to the district would include revamping science facilities in the high school and Blue Mountain Middle School, at a cost of $4.1 million. There would also be improvements to the high school's athletic fields, the addition of a tee ball field next to the existing baseball field, and a comfort station to include bathrooms and storage for athletic equipment. The total preliminary bond estimate adds up to $30,136,852.

Residents such as Terry Pierce, a Cortlandt resident who said he made a successful living as a musician because of the district, said, "It's with a heavy heart that I'm even here, the district has meant so much to me and my children."

Debra Santucci, who was credited as one of the creative forces behind Hendrick Hudson's now award-winning choral program, said that although she has a "deep seated love for the district" that it's a "very hard time to spend that kind of money, and I feel that the district is acting irresponsibly."

Opinions were divided among the approximately 100 people present, some remarked it was the most attended school board meeting ever.

Janis Hayes, of the Parents Committee on Music said "We totally support this bond, it's our duty as a community to provide the best." She added that a "thriving and cutting edge school district will increase our property values."

Jazz guitarist Lee Meadvin, who was recently selected as an alternate during the prestigious all-state music conference, and was on assignment from the school paper, said, "I feel like all of this is ultimately inevitable. It would be good to get it all out of the way."

The board said that no discussion had yet taken place about what would happen if the current bond proposal is not approved. Laurie Ryan, Board of Education member, said, "it's going to be difficult simply because of the economic times. Simply because times are hard, you still have to do capital improvements. You can't let your building fall down." Ryan made the point of adding that interest rates are extremely low right now.

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