Summertime Means Renovations Throughout The District

By Jeff White

For Dominick Posca, the Buildings and Grounds Supervisor for the school district, summertime is no time for a vacation. He’s just too busy.

While students and teachers get a chance to recuperate in preparation for another school year, Mr Posca oversees dozens of projects, both big and small, around town that need to be completed in order for doors to be ready to open come August 30.

Two large district projects are scheduled for completion in the next few weeks. Sandy Hook School’s modular classrooms, which have been installed, should be ready for furniture by the middle of the month, Mr Posca said. Before the expansion, which will house four classrooms, can get a certificate of occupancy, the power company needs to come and tie into the addition, Mr Posca said.

Over at Hawley School, work continues in the basement renovation that will yield three additional classrooms by the start of school this year. This renovation too will be finished by the start of school, Mr Posca said, as the new rooms undergo wiring and a sprinkler upgrade nears completion. Work on the school’s cupola will take place some time during the school year.

As for Middle Gate and Head O’ Meadow schools, Mr Posca did not report any major projects underway, aside from the usual summer “housecleaning” that remain “important to getting school opened.” Head O’ Meadow fourth graders will arrive at the school this year to see some of their classrooms enclosed where they had been open in previous years.

Mr Posca said that he was opting to wait to begin paving the parking lots of Head O’ Meadow and the middle school until springtime.

At the middle school, a project to revamp the auditorium’s lighting is scheduled to begin shortly, and Mr Posca indicated that it should be finished by the end of August.

Over at the high school, no major projects were taken up this summer. A boiler fire box needed to be rebuilt, along with some valves that were in need of replacement in the boiler room. Mr Posca said that there was a good possibility that the school’s gymnasium would be painted before school starts.