Schools

More Work Added To High School Project

And A Brief Debate About The Dance Team; And Construction On Schedule

Another building committee meeting, another $300,000-plus added to the high school renovation. Still, despite an estimated $3 million worth of work added, the project remains on time and under its original budget, and Superintendent Jerome Belair remains confident.

“We are definitely moving in the right direction, which is wonderful,” he said.

On Tuesday, the board approved approximately $348,000 of extra work as part of the “revised scope,” highlighted by an $85,509 allocation to install ladder trays instead of J-hooks throughout the building and a $81,950 bid to replace all lockers and benches in the fieldhouse.

Find out what's happening in Waterfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

, the group discovered several items not in the plans that went out to bid that the town expected in there. , the group agreed to add $3 million to the project to have it match what the town expected.

“This is the time to do it,” Belair said. “The cost of doing it now, you are avoiding going back to take everything apart, additional costs and labor and material, and those only continue to escalate over time.”

Find out what's happening in Waterfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The construction team made changes in its schedule, and the building should still open by the same time frame as expected, the winter of 2012-13, Project Manager Gus Kotait of O & G Industries said.

Belair, meanwhile, was not as sure, saying the project started almost two months late because of terrible winter weather.  The school will “monitor” the date, he said.

“They are working hard and are trying to pick up some time along the way to meet the original schedule,” Belair said. “So we will monitor it.”

Dance Debate

At the meeting, the group asked Paula McDougal, the instructor for the Waterford High School dance program, if she is happy with the rubber floor being installed in the temporary dance room. McDougal said the rubber floor is not good for dance, and asked for a semi-permanent Marley floor, which is made for dance and would only costs a few thousand dollars, she said.

During the discussion, it was revealed that no new dance room will be in the new building. Board member Jody Nazarchyk was upset, saying there should be a dance room for the price the town is spending on the project.

“We are spending over $60 million on the high school and we are offering less than we did before,” she said. “We have 65 kids, boys and girls, in the dance program. What do you tell those kids?”

High School Principal Don Macrino said McDougal would be retiring soon, and there was a strong chance no one would step up to take over the program. Macrino said he could not support building a dance room if there is a chance the dance room will not exist.

After the meeting, Macrino said the dance problem “was not a big issue. If there is a real desire to have a dance team, we will find a way for that to occur.”

Macrino said there are other sites, perhaps even not at the high school, where the dance team could practice. Discussions of removing the dance team are “premature," he said.

Construction Update

The entrance to the access road on Miner Lane, the retention basin and the first 15 geothermal wells are complete, Kotait said. Additionally, all abatement on the building is complete (it was expected to take two  summers), so the facility will be open to the public next summer, he said.

Drainage work has started on the football field and the concrete base for the bleachers is poured, Kotait said. Installation of the field turf is expected to start on Oct. 10, meaning the field should hopefully be done in early November, he said.

Also, most of the work on the student parking lot is complete, and may take at most one week into the school year to be done, he said. Sprinklers have been installed in some areas where that work was not expected to be completed until next summer, he said.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here