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Seniors ask board to delay FDR auditorium work; students raise vaping and electric‑bus concerns
Summary
Several FDR High School seniors told the board the planned FDR auditorium renovation should be postponed until after graduation to avoid disrupting spring concerts and graduation. Students also urged a more open student‑board representative nomination process. In a separate public comment, a student described pervasive vaping in school bathrooms
Seniors from FDR High School asked the Hyde Park Central School District board on Jan. 9 to reconsider the timing of a planned capital renovation to the FDR auditorium, arguing construction this spring would unduly disrupt graduation and other senior‑year events.
“...we believe that the reconstruction project planned for the auditorium should be postponed until after high school graduation,” said Giuseppe Doran, a senior and member of student government. Doran told the board seniors have already experienced multiple years of construction and have lost rites‑of‑passage events in past years; he and other students asked that the district consider delaying heavy work until summer or the following fall to limit event and instructional disruption.
Catherine Farrell, a senior and student government officer, echoed the request in a separate comment: “Respectfully, we ask that the district and the board to reconsider the start date of the capital project in the FDR Auditorium due to its interference with the graduation and other major school events that happen in the spring.”
Students also raised concerns about the selection process for the student representative to the board of education. Doran noted Board Policy 2245 outlines the nominating committee and said students who do not know the specified staff or advisors can be at a disadvantage; he asked the board to work with the student government representative, Liz, to propose a more open nomination process.
In a second public‑participation segment a student raised two non‑related issues: pervasive vaping and suspected marijuana odors in school bathrooms and hallways, and requests for transparency on an electric school bus pilot. The speaker asked whether the district would publish operational data (range, temperatures, charging/discharging times, time spent charging, and route performance) from the bus pilot to inform routing and reliability decisions.
Superintendent Dr. Roman said district staff met with student representatives last week and
