Although the Ballston Spa Central School District’s architects weren’t in attendance at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting, construction was still a popular topic. Both Superintendent Raymond Colucciello and board president Kathy Jarvis spoke of building toward the district’s future.

Back on June 13, the board voted in favor of reconfiguring the three elementary schools into a kindergarten through fifth grade format. The secondary grade levels will remain unchanged as a middle school with grades six through eight and a high school with grades nine through 12.

Colucciello said the board started seriously looking at the idea about a year ago. He believes the reconfiguration will allow for the district’s potential growth, eliminate the current transition students face going from grade two to three and lead to full day kindergarten.

Additionally, the Malta Avenue school will no longer be an educational facility. What the building will be used for has yet to be determined, but Colucciello said it’s very old and can’t support the programs they need to deliver anymore.

“There are a lot of possibilities for its use,” Jarvis said. “We haven’t gotten that far yet. We won’t sell it in the near future though.”

The configuration chosen by the board is the result of a lot of research and discussion. Instead of planning for only five or 10 years, Jarvis said the board is looking 30 to 50 years down the road for the district. Jarvis said the board utilized input from Colucciello, an educational planner, the district’s staff and the public to slowly weed out options and find the best fit.

“The board analyzed every single possible configuration imaginable,” Jarvis said. “It was a lengthy, but complete process.”

The current configuration has been used for the past decade, and Jarvis said it’s worked extremely well for the time it’s been in place. Prior to that, the configuration had been fashioned in the kindergarten to grade five format it will soon return to.

“Overall people seem very happy with the decision,” Colucciello said. “We got a great deal of input from the community. Teachers and parents seem to overwhelmingly want the new configuration.”

Jarvis estimated the best case scenario for implementation would be at least four years away. The reconfigurations can’t be put into action until suitable facilities are created.

Currently, the district’s architects are brainstorming ideas for how to best utilize the present land and facilities. Jarvis said the board is looking into additional land now as well because besides renovations and additions to previous buildings, there will be new ones built.

The tremendous impact Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will have on the community is another reason Jarvis cited for scouting property. At the rate land is being scooped up, she believes a parcel of the size they’d need, a minimum of 30 acres, would be gone in 10 years.

Renovating all the present facilities and providing equal programs at each of the buildings are fine ideas, but they do have a cost. Jarvis said now is the time to move forward with such projects because the district will receive 80 percent aid.

“There is a lot before us. We’re at the beginning of a very time consuming process,” Jarvis said. “We have one shot at this and we’re shooting high. We’re going to be careful yet creative in looking toward the future, and do the best we can for all the buildings.”