If residents are looking to find Wappingers Central School District Superintendent Richard Powell or another high-ranking district official at his or her office in the Hollowbrook building, good luck.
That’s because, from July 11-15, the district relocated its central administrative offices from the Hollowbrook building at 29 Marshall Road in the Town of Wappinger to Suite 200 of the Laerdal Building at 167 Myers Corners Road.
The Laerdal Building is almost directly across the street from Myers Corners Elementary School.
Thomas Stella, the district’s director of administration, said via e-mail that regular district business was not interrupted because of the move. According to Stella, the phone number for the Hollowbrook office building, (845) 298-5000, will remain the same at the new location.
The district is leasing a 27,000-square-foot space in the Laerdal building’s eastern portion of its second floor. The site offers the district more than 100 parking spaces.
“Need a different response”
Along with the central administrative offices, the building will also house the district’s technical support staff services and the Orchard View School, its alternative high school.
The Orchard View School is expected to be ready to open for the beginning of the 2005-06 academic school year.
Ray Healey, assistant superintendent for special education and student services, has said that the district established the Orchard View School in September of 2003 to offer programs for students who “need a different response from the school.” At the start of the 2004-05 school year, according to Healey, the Orchard View School had 31 students and had more than 50 by the end of the year.
“If this (school) didn’t exist, the youngsters could drop out of school,” Healey said.
In May, school business manager Michele Moloney said the school would lease the Laerdal Building for five years and then have options when the lease is up. She said it will cost the district $415,000 per year to lease the Laerdal Building, and it cost the district roughly $250,000 per year to lease the Hollowbrook office space for the administrative offices.
The $415,000 leasing cost is listed in the 2005-06 school budget that was approved by district voters on May 17.