SED Requires Changes to Huntington School Buildings
The State Education Department’s Office of Facilities Planning has yet to approve all of the capital project plans submitted by the Huntington School District following a May 2007 vote at which residents gave a green light to the work. But, SED has told the district it wants hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of changes to district schools that have nothing to do with the planned capital work.
“While the utilization of the buildings has not changed, the state can require changes when plans are submitted to them,” said David H. Grackin, assistant superintendent for finance and management services. “For instance, several years ago when we replaced the interior door locks at the primary schools we had to install a wheel chair lift in the two buildings that have two distinct levels (Flower Hill and Southdown.) This satisfied their concerns about handicapped accessibility.”
SED officials are reviewing plans and specifications submitted by Burton, Behrendt and Smith, the district’s architectural firm. Once approved, the projects will be funded by the district’s Building Improvement Fund or through the state’s EXCEL (Expanding our Children’s Education and Learning) program.
Mr. Grackin said that “BBS estimates that we will need approximately $361,300 to satisfy SED’s capital concerns and an additional $25,000 to purchase a portable wheel chair lift to provide handicapped accessibility to the stages at J. Taylor Finley Middle School and Flower Hill, Southdown and Washington schools. The latter will have to be part of the 2009/10 budget and the former part of the capital reserve proposition at the May 2009 vote.”
The changes SED is requiring Huntington to make include installation of cafeteria exit doors, a chairlift in the gym and handicapped accessibility for faculty bathrooms at Jefferson Primary School, installation of smoke doors in the Huntington High School auditorium and the installation of exterior cafeteria doors at Washington, Flower Hill and Southdown primary schools.
Huntington’s share of the EXCEL program amounted to $1,359,070. The state legislature provided these funds to districts across the state for capital projects in the areas of health and safety, accessibility, physical capacity expansion, energy or education technology.
In May 2007 Huntington School District residents approved using the EXCEL funds for projects in all eight buildings. The district will “front” the monies and be reimbursed by the New York State Dormitory Authority at intervals during the design and construction process.
Huntington’s proposed EXCEL projects include: J. Taylor Finley Middle School: Replacement of fire alarm system, asbestos abatement of boiler room, replacement of stage wiring; Flower Hill Primary School: Replacement of public address system; Jack Abrams Intermediate School: Replacement of fire alarm system; Huntington High School: Replacement of stage wiring, asbestos abatement of boiler room, replacement of hallway student lockers, replacement of gym folding partitions with curtains; Jefferson Primary School: Replacement of public address system, replacement of fire alarm system, replacement of gymnasium HVAC units; Southdown Primary School: Replacement of public address system, replacement of clock system; Washington Primary School: Replacement of clock system; Woodhull Intermediate School: Removal and replacement of asbestos floor tile, replacement of exterior doors, replacement of security system.
Numerous other important projects will be funded by the district’s Building Improvement Fund. The monies contained in the fund represent dollars already provided to the district by taxpayers that, because of tight fiscal management and economizing, weren’t needed to pay for regular school operations. Trustees transferred the monies into the Building Improvement Fund so capital projects could be completed without the need to borrow money and pay subsequent interest.
“We hope the plans for these projects are approved soon,” Superintendent John J. Finello said.
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