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“The way that we calculated the $70 per year, for the first three years of the project, it costs $95 per year,” Defendini explained. “Next decade, two different factors, we have new debt coming on, but we also have old debt that’s coming off, and we have state aid that’s paying for 55 percent of the project. It zeroes out for next 10 years.”

However, with the vision the district has for offering community services under Proposition Two, Defendini said passing the bond could save residents money in the long run, as well as bolster community pride in Farmingdale High School.

“We didn’t want it to just be about the kids,” Defendini told Patch. “We wanted it to have a bigger reach. Yes, there are savings to be had. I don’t doubt that. There are benefits to be had for how people feel about their schools. We know full well that we are the center of the community. We just are. The crown jewel of your community is the high school; we want to be that for our community. We want to have that purpose that they see us as the value system that’s in our schools is the same we have in our community. They’re one with us. They’re part of us. That’s a big portion of the vision behind this.”

Farmingdale residents approved the $36 million bond in 2016. The sports complex and Aquatic Center at Howitt Middle School opened years later. Defendini said residents who get use of water aerobics and scuba programs at the Howitt pool have saved money. And the sports complex has been used by PAL groups and adult ed programs, he said.

Developing the Career and Technical Education Center and Fine and Performing Arts facilities would work in a “similar vein,” allowing community use and interaction, Defendini said. The vision includes residents saving money on car inspections; hair care; and childcare; as well as provide an adult theater program.

If the bond passes, the Farmingdale High School Career and Technical Education Center would include six components: a two-story building construction program that would educate students on how to build a home; automative maintenance and repair; welding and metal fabrication; a first responders training center; an early childhood learning center; and business education.

The building construction program would be the only component where construction would be necessary — a two-story area would be built out of the back of the high school on its existing footprint. Defendini projected that 80 percent of the work that would be done would be renovating existing areas.

All six programs would be offered as electives for high school students.

As part of the second proposition, three musical education rooms — the band, orchestra and chorus spaces — are set for complete renovations. The footprints of each room will be expanded without adding onto the high school’s footprint, as each room will be pushed into the classrooms across the hallway. The current classrooms will be relocated to another wing. Space is needed for the school’s expanding performing arts programs.

“We have the second largest marching band on Long Island behind Northport,” Defendini said. “We have a tremendous amount of kids in these programs.”

The rooms, originally built in the late 1960s, were not built to house the number of musical students the district has now, the superintendent said. The current room sizes lack space for equipment and instruments, as well, he said.

The district also plans to renovate its drawing, painting and fashion design classrooms.

Should Proposition Two pass, Defendini said he hopes residents of the community will get use out of the rejuvenated spaces.

“The vision behind that is that part of the project is the cosmetology and barbering component. Our residents will actually be able to get haircuts,” Defendini said. “Once our kids are trained to be able to do their craft at almost no cost — maybe a small donation, a couple of dollars to pay for whatever the materials might be — they can come in and get a haircut. A woman can come in and get her hair done for a special event.”

The district is also considering building a program that would support an adult theater program; possibly in the renovated band room.

The Early Childhood Learning Center is for aspiring teachers, Defendini said. Students would learn about teaching components before caretaking for young children ages 3 and 4.

The center would have a childcare component to it, Defendini said. Residents would be able to drop their 3 or 4-year-old children off for a few hours so they could run errands or do whatever they need to get done, he said.

Within the automotive maintenance repair room, the district has talked about doing inspections and saving community taxpayers “some money,” Defendini said.

“We’ll have a teacher who runs the program, but the kids are doing the work,” he said. “It will be overseen by somebody who has the certification to do a Department of Transportation-type inspection, but our kids are the ones who will actually be able to use the equipment to provide the actual certification for the resident. We’d be a state-certified DOT shop.”

The district also aims to graduate state-certified EMTs under its first responder training center, Defendini said.

“I think the cost of a certificate for an EMT would be between $4K and $6K,” he said. “Nope. We would have the ability to provide that credentialing ourselves.”

Students, in the last year of their building construction curriculum, would be able to build a house inside the school’s second story addition, Defendini said. Students would learn electrical wiring, plumbing and HVAC before bringing it all together in their senior year.

“If we’re going to push kids out who understand the construction trade, how better to prove you’re capable of it then if you were a part of a team that built a house from beginning to end?” Defendini said. “Foundation, rough electric, rough plumbing.”

The district plans to offer a new welding and metal fabrication program, which Defendini said is a “hot” trade, according to the Department of Labor.

“The need for certified welders is one of the highest demanded careers right now for need within our region,” he said. “Very high-paying jobs. This would give [students] the credential to be able to step right into that world and pick up an internship or apprenticeship to start a welding career.”

For the First Responders Training Center, the district has been working with local fire departments, according to Defendini. First responders are in “very high demand,” the superintendent said. Local departments have seen a “significant drop off” in volunteer firefighters, EMS workers, and paramedics, Defendini said. The district’s proposed center would support volunteer departments and provide students a path to get credentialed as an EMT or paramedic.

“Having that credential makes you employable,” Defendini said. “So even if you’re not going to be a volunteer, there’s an employability associated with having that credential.”

Residents could likely save money if the bond passes and they use some of the district’s planned services. Defendini said women could pay $5 instead of $60 or $80 for a haircut.

“If you’re talking about childcare, if you’re getting several days per week, three to four hours worth of childcare, that’s going to add up to a lot more than $70 a year,” he said. “There’s some significant savings for the people who would benefit from using our facilities.”

He also touted the existing swim programs at the Howitt Aquatic Center.

“There are savings to be had for those people who would connect with us and utilize the services that would come with the facilities,” Defendini said. “That would be the vision behind it.”

Proposition Two would also provide funding for a new and repositioned high school health office to enhance building security; and a new and expanded security vestibule and front entrance.

Proposition One focuses on roof repairs and replacements at all six school buildings in the district. Roofs at each building have “significantly” exceeded the expected 20-year lifespan of the roofing materials. They are also out of warranty, making continued maintenance “more expensive and difficult,” according to the district.

Some roofs are between 20 and 25 years old, while Northside Elementary School has roofs that are approximately 30 years old.

The first proposition also calls for the upgrading of the district’s electric infrastructure, which the district states would ensure future capacity for additional core curricular activities and the support of ongoing technology upgrades and power requirements.

Defendini said he tries not to think about whether both propositions will pass and instead focuses on what is in his control.

“I’ve gotten a chance to know how things work well enough to know that in this place, the best thing you can do is just to put together as thoughtful a plan as possible,” he said. “Consider all the different vantage points and all the people who are going to be impacted by it, put together a good plan, batten down the hatches and know for the next three months, all I’m going to be doing is communicating with as many people in as many different ways as humanely possible to get as much information to them as possible so I can feel good that when they do step foot in the polls to make a decision, they know what they’re voting on. That’s all I’m shooting for. How do you make sure they know what they’re voting on? They know how it impacts them, how it won’t impact them, what the cost is to them. They go in there as an informed electorate.”

The vote is scheduled for 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Jan. 7 at the west gymnasium of Howitt Middle School.

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