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With budget passed, East Ramapo outlines air-conditioning upgrades and transportation reforms
Summary
After voters approved the budget, district officials described immediate and long-term air-conditioning steps and transportation procurement changes including per-pupil bids for many non-public routes, an affidavit-processing update and plans to integrate GPS data into routing.
District officials used the June 2 meeting to report on facilities and transportation work funded in part by the recently passed budget.
Facilities: Eric Stark and interim facilities director Carl Thernau said the district has installed window and portable air conditioners in priority classrooms, rented 60 portable units for heat mitigation and will reallocate units to ensure Regents exam rooms have cooling. They said insulated panels installed during a window replacement project simplified window AC installs and that the district is planning a feasibility study and long-term work funded through capital and ARPA dollars to install permanent air conditioning in elementary schools and replace or repair aged chillers and rooftop units.
Water: The board discussed student access to chilled water and bottle fillers; staff said the district spent about $1,000,000 on chilled water fountains to reduce bottled-water costs and that test results posted on the website show the water to be lead-free, but that bottle-filler placement varies by school and additional local arrangements may be needed for June heat.
Transportation: Eric Stark and consultant Tim Hammond (AM Consulting) described reforms to reduce complexity, separate public and non-public routing data for clearer reporting, expand use of Traversa routing software, and award new contracts on a per-pupil basis for many non-public schools (schools with 50 or fewer students may remain routed). The district reported processing 4,530 application forms and logging 28,97 affidavits through the new affidavit system for a grand total of 33,437 non-public applications for 2026–27. Officials said they expect modest savings from the new procurement approach, plan GPS/telematics integration for better operational monitoring, and will create a bus-safety committee to address behavioral incidents.
Why it matters: The budget includes capital funds earmarked for air-conditioning and other infrastructure; transportation changes affect who pays and how many seats are available for non-public students. Trustees raised concerns that moving to strict per-pupil contracts could leave students without bus seats if parents did not file affidavits by deadlines; administrators said the district will try to accommodate students if space allows but stressed that parents must complete required paperwork.
What’s next: Facilities will present a detailed feasibility study to the facilities and transportation committee and the full board (planned for June 16). Transportation contract awards were expected to be presented to the board for approval June 16 and implementation work will continue through summer routing and fall rollout.
