When Mineola students return to school in the fall, they will be greeted by a number of completed renovations to their school buildings, almost all of which are ahead of schedule.
During the May 24 meeting of the at the , an around the district.
At the new window frames are in, but they at the time of the meeting they were waiting on glass. The last big project at the school is the installation of radiant heat in the library floor. Once the floor goes down, floor, carpet, tile and furniture will be installed. District crews will also been doing work at Hampton, adjusting toilets, sinks and water fountains and the computer team will be in the building during the summer wiring it for computers and electricity. Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler believed that the project would end earlier than expected.
“We expect to be out of that building by the end of June,” he said.
Crews would begin work at on July 1, redoing the current library, putting in an ADA bathroom, gutting room 106 to create three instructional spaces and an ADA bathroom for special needs classes. All the work would be done in-house. They are also replacing small windows at the back of the stage, putting egress windows in and wiring the entire building for computers. The district would be contracting the demolition out, but doing the majority of work in-house for the entire summer. The district is targeting December 1 for the opening of the .
The addition of skylights would be included as an alternate to the Meadow Drive library project. The skylights would be able to open to provide ventilation for the space. The district is considering skylights because there is not enough space for a bank of windows where the new library roof would meet the gym according to Dr. Nagler.
“We do plan to put some kind of alternate in the project and if we get good numbers, the board can decide whether or not they want to take them,” he said.
Regarding the district became “lucky” as it secured a spot in the production line for the new science room, which is now set to open September 1, as another school dropped out. The lead time for the new room is 8 weeks as the furniture is high quality and demolition is associated with the project, specifically the second floor in the middle, taking out a wall and making the space into one-and-a-half rooms.
Work on the art room at will begin after Regents week, with crews beginning on the demolition and the floor. The cabinet casework is reportedly ready to go.
“We’ll have a lot of grand openings on September 1 in multiple buildings,” Dr. Nagler said. “It’s exciting, it’s a lot of things going on.”
It was also noted that Solomon Schechter has decided to hold off on redoing the ’s gym. Dr. Nagler said that he had not heard back if they plan to pursue the project want to change the scope of the job.
The superintendent also reported that “everything’s on track” with the move out of Willis Avenue.
