School Board Presented With 2012-13 Construction Update

Doug Chu, an architect from KSQ Architects P.C., presented to the Nanuet Board of Education with an ongoing construction update for each school.

“(The contractor) plans on installing doors for Miller Elementary School between March and April and then heading on to the high school between May and June,” said Chu. He plans on punch-listing in July and that will go through the summer.”

This scope of work was bid out last year in June.

“Our strategy is to move forward this year, in the summer of 2012, with Highview and Barr Middle School. In our discussions with the contractor, he confirmed that these numbers are still good,” said Chu. “(We’ll) start Highview in July and Barr in August. The punch list will be through September, but that … (would be in the evening and) would not interrupt classes.”

The cost or this summer’s door installation project has been accounted for and is included in the current school’s budget, said Phil Sions, assistant superintendent for business

Chu moved on to outline high priority potential projects for the summer of 2013

“This is the list that the board can consider that would be associated with funding that would be in the 2012-13 budget,” said Superintendent Mark McNeill.

Here’s a glimpse at what Chu recommends for the school district:

Exterior

Church Street Campus (Includes NHS, Barr and Miller):

• Roadway and parking pavement upgrades at Barr
• Upgrade sidewalks
• Restore roadway fencing along Church Street
• Canopy restoration

Highview

• Front loop sidewalk upgrades

Interior

Miller

• Boys and girls toilet room upgrades
• Upgrade to the electrical service of the building

Highview

• Replace corridor carpentry
• Replace original gym-a-torium seating
• Boys and girls toilet room upgrades

Barr Middle School

• Boys and girls toilet room upgrades
• Upgrade to the electrical service of the building
• Locker Renovations

Highview Elementary

• Boys and girls toilet room upgrades
• Upgrade to the electrical service of the building and panel board
• Broiler and associated controls upgrade
• Cafeteria interior finish upgrades
• Auditorium finish upgrades

Electrical Service

“A lot of these main (electrical) services are original to the building,” said Chu. “The high school, for example, it’s from 1956. The usual lifespan for electrical service is 30-40 years. As it gets older, the parts to replace are getting more scarce, harder and harder to find.”

McNeill mentioned that the high school received an ‘’ rating in a Journal News article back in November because the electrical system surpassed its useful life span. However, he added that the school still used it since it was still in fine working condition and Sions said that the district received a letter that the rating has since been changed back to ‘satisfactory.’ Chu noted that upgrading the electrical services would address that issue and bring the electrical system up to date.

“If something is characterized as past its useful life, it doesn’t mean it’s breaking down,” said Chu, adding that there would be a building study done first to determine if it was the switches, amperage or other item that needed upgrading. “For instance, the (building’s) lighting is more efficient so there is less draw from the switch gear itself. So when we do the study on the switch gear, we’ll go around and see what the building is using. We’ll study your energy bills and (possible) expansion (of amperage) for the future.”

The topic of possibly bringing in solar energy was also discussed.

“We’re in the process of looking into talking to a company called Nautilus Solar,” said Rudy Villanyi the Facilities Director, “Just waiting to hear back from them on when they can come and meet with Phil and myself to discuss these things.

Barr Media Center

“Can we do something to upgrade the (Barr) media center, because it has low ceilings and is very dark,” said Board President Anne Byrne. “I know we talked about it at one point, but it was too costly. Is there ever going to be a time we can look at the media center?”

She added that she remembered in previous discussions that there wasn’t a lot of space the media room could grow height-wise other than about eight inches because of existing trusses.

“We do have a few schemes we’ve worked on,” said Chu. “(The cost) was a little over $1 million and that was two years ago.”

McNeill asked if it was possible to upgrade the media center in chunks to break up the cost.

“We had talked about doing it in stages,” said Chu.