Can’t wait til September

Capital project to be completed in time for new school year

By Mark Reynolds
Posted 3/3/21

Since May 2020 the nearly $20 million Vision 2020 Capital Project has been underway at all three Marlboro school campuses. Last week the School Board gave an overview of the progress of the work that …

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Can’t wait til September

Capital project to be completed in time for new school year

Posted

Since May 2020 the nearly $20 million Vision 2020 Capital Project has been underway at all three Marlboro school campuses. Last week the School Board gave an overview of the progress of the work that has been done, with the expectation that the majority of the project will be finished by the start of the 2021-22 school year.

Architect Matthew Zyrkowski, of CS Arch, spoke first about the scope of work that is being done at the Middle School. He said they are reorganizing the traffic in the parking lot and separating bus and car entrances while making it safer for students and pedestrians.

Inside the school, the main and student support services offices are being renovated and a secured entry vestibule is being constructed. The innovation, technology and graphic studios are also being built.

This summer numerous toilets will be either updated or replaced, new lockers will be installed along with stairwell handrails and hardware upgrades. In addition, an enlarged nurses suite will be added and the cafeteria and servery will be updated. Work on the new 4,500 sq/ft auditorium/multi-purpose addition is currently in progress and is scheduled for completion in October, however, this will not impact the other new spaces from being utilized in September.

Similarly at the High School, Zyrkowski said renovations are being done to the main office, the nurses suite, the student support services area and the creation of a full fitness center while bringing the Athletic Director’s office nearer to this area. He said this work is slated to be finished when school lets out this year, “at which time a fair amount of work will be taking place in the art suite. We are creating STEAM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math] Labs and a computer technology lab right across the hallway.” He said some work will also be done in the cafeteria.

A new synthetic turf athletic field has been installed and the track was re-surfaced. When it is warmer the track will be re-striped, which will take about 4 days for the paint to properly adhere to the surface. The track and field equipment, which was part of the contract, was delivered and handed over to the district.

Zyrkowski said work at the elementary school will be done this summer and finished by September. A new secured vestibule will be installed and some rearranging in the main office will provide additional space. He said there will be a new exterior sidewalk, “from the front door, around the octagon and over to the side parking lot, along with the associated grading.”

Larry Cavazza, Director of Facilities, said he and his crew have helped out where needed and at times has advised the construction manager of the project.

“We do a fair amount. We just moved some electrical components in the high school that would have been an additional $12,500 had we not stepped in. We also removed some of the HVAC,” he said. Superintendent Brooks said, “when everybody is gone and done [for the day], this gentleman takes control of everything. He wants to make sure its up to Marlboro standards.”

Zyrkowski said the project, “for all intents and purposes, is on-schedule and is on-budget.” He said contractors, “have been made well aware of the importance of the start of the school year. We are doing all we can to accelerate all of these September and October dates.”

School Board President Frank Milazzo said, “nobody anticipated that the [Middle School] auditorium would be done on time, but the rest of it is so much operational space that they need to actually function. We all have the hope that September will be the most normal we’ve had in a year and a half by then.” To that end Zyrkowski is anticipating an expanded work force this summer that will be able to finish nearly all of the capital project.

Zyrkowski summarized the project’s timeline; verification of the district’s existing conditions and design work took place in July/August of 2019 followed by an energy performance contract, a schematic design, awarding of contracts, compiling budget estimates and a review/approval by the NYS Education Department.

Construction got underway in May 2020 and is slated to be finished by August 2021.

Zyrkowski said the closeout in October will entail, “a lot of paperwork and we’re crossing our T’s and dotting the I’s, [in] a sort of behind the scenes effort.”

Brooks said the impetus to do the project was because the district was retiring some debt off their books, they have about $3 million in the bank and 72% of the project will be paid for by New York State.

“It was basically unaided debt and [now] we’re going to keep that same payment. Between the aid ratio and the payment was basically a wash to do $19.5 million amount of work,” he said. “It just makes a lot of good economic sense to keep that aid flowing for the same payment that we were already making. So that debt dropped off and we start a new debt at the same payment and you update your facilities with no impact to taxpayers because you already made that payment.”

Brooks had the last word, “I can’t wait to see it in September.”