September 13, 2024

Dear Pleasantville Families,

Welcome back to all of our students, staff, faculty, and families! I hope that everyone enjoyed the summer break and are excited to be back for the 2024-25 school year. I had the pleasure of delivering the Opening Day presentation to the Board of Education on Tuesday night where we heard from principals and administrators about the first few days of the new school year.

This year, we’re welcoming 22 new staff members who had an opportunity to get acquainted with our schools and community at our two-day new teacher orientation in August. They enjoyed a tour of the town with Assistant Principal Gregg Fonde and attended training on necessary topics to start the 2024-25 school year successfully.

The new teachers also heard directly from current Pleasantville students who told the new staff members about our mission and how we strive to realize it every day. I’m looking forward to seeing our new staff do their part to help Pleasantville students grow into lifelong learners, dynamic thinkers, and compassionate contributing citizens.

We welcomed back our returning members of the Pleasantville Schools family on the first of our three Superintendent’s Conference Days. I was excited to reconnect with our returning staff members and to introduce them to their new colleagues.

On the second Superintendent’s Conference Day, teachers at Pleasantville Middle and High School met the students of our fifth and ninth grade classes who are beginning a new phase of their academic journeys this year. Thanks to the help of parent volunteers who assisted in the transition, the students quickly made themselves at home in their new schools, finding their way to their classrooms, meeting their teachers, and decorating their lockers.

Pleasantville UFSD values excellence and professionalism, which is why our staff spent time honing our skills in training sessions and team meetings throughout the three Superintendent’s Conference Days.

Our students have hit the ground running these past two weeks with the tools and support to have a successful school year!

For the youth,

Dr. Tina DeSa

Superintendent of Schools

We're excited to announce our proposal for an upcoming capital project, a community-driven initiative shaped by the voices of the Board Athletic Facilities Committee, staff, administrators, families, and community members. During Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting, we discussed the input from stakeholders along with the findings from the Building Condition Survey conducted by the District’s architect, as well as cost estimates and financial modeling for the proposal. The collective input we have received has yielded a plan that we believe reflects the needs and aspirations of the entire community. 

This project focuses on enhancing safety, upgrading infrastructure, and improving athletic and other outdoor spaces across our schools. The goal will be to make significant improvements to our infrastructure and facilities alongside needed repairs and replacements in a proactive manner, including: 

• Upgrading security infrastructure, including lockdown technology and PA systems in all three schools 
• Replacing the playground turf, equipment, and rubber surfaces at BRS 
• Replacing original air conditioning equipment (chillers, water pumps, evaporators) that are nearing the end of their useful lives at BRS 
• Replacing water pumps at the High School 
• Upgrading the auditorium lighting at the High School 
• Turfing the High School back field  
• Re-turfing the High School main field, resurfacing the track and adding lighting  
• Re-turfing the lower High School practice field 
• Turfing the upper practice field between the High School main field and the tennis courts 
• Adding outdoor bathroom facilities 
• Adding fencing for the fields between the High School and Middle School 
• Rebuilding the retaining wall at the Middle School fields 

Every option has been explored to minimize the impact on the taxpayers by using funds projected in the District's capital reserve fund and fund balance, the state contribution to the project, and our current bond structure. With our current debt service structure, this project is expected to be tax neutral for 13 of the 15 years of the life of the proposed bond.  For the first two years of this proposed bond, we anticipate an estimated annual school tax increase of approximately $167 per average household. Additional tax information will be presented as details are finalized.  

In the coming months, we’ll be sharing more details through the Pville Press and Bond Newsletter. We will also invite you to participate in a public forum to learn more and share your thoughts. A community vote is currently expected in December 2024 and we look forward to continuing this important conversation with you as we shape the future of our schools together.

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