Batavia school district seeks feedback on facility plans

Batavia Public School District is looking for feedback from the community as it plans for the future of the district’s facilities.

According to a news release, the district will host Building Our Future Together community engagement sessions over the next few months to hear directly from residents. The first session is Tuesday, Feb. 1 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Batavia High School, 1201 Main St.

“We are starting with a great foundation of information that has been gathered over the past several years. The experts have already compiled reports on the current state of the buildings and how our facilities stack up compared to national standards. The community engagement sessions will help gather feedback from the community so that we can place priority on their wants and needs,” said Brian Schwab, co-chair of the Building Our Future Together team.

Kelly Bleakley and Ginny Gaspar area also co-chairs of the team, the release stated.

At the first session, participants will learn more about the district’s facilities from Architect Keri VanSant of DLR Group, before submitting feedback.

“Even though students and staff are in our schools almost every day, community members don’t often see the inner workings of our buildings and the impact they have on the success of students. The community engagement sessions will give us the chance to learn more about this and provide the Board of Education with the community’s vision for the future of our schools,” Bleakley said.

Later this spring, after all of the Building Our Future Together Community Engagement sessions, the community chairs will present their findings and proposed long-range facilities plan to the Board of Education.

“By being a part of the Building Our Future Together community engagement sessions, asking questions, and providing feedback, community members will have more of an understanding of what our students need for future success. We can then ask how they think we can take our school facilities to the next level,” Gaspar said.

For information on Building Our Future Together, and to find out about future sessions, visit www.bps101.net/boft.