First Piece of Capital Bond Work to be Completed at P’ville HS

Pleasantville school officials reported progress this week on the first items from the district’s $17.5 million capital bond that was approved last spring in what will be a two-year process to complete. Superintendent Dr. Eric Lutinski said that new lights inside the Pleasantville High School auditorium will be finished within the month. Meanwhile, installation of the new public address system and security upgrades are expected to begin shortly, he said. Lutinski said that the district is undertaking the pieces of the project that can be done indoors with minimal disruption to the schools. “We are taking advantage of the time we have,” Lutinski said. “Auditorium lights, security, P.A. system, we don’t have to wait to spring or summer. Then the big, heavy lifts will take place during the summer.” On Tuesday evening, the Board of Education approved a more than $1.4 million bid to S&O Construction Services Inc. in Pleasant Valley that will replace the high school hot water pumps and the Bedford Road School’s HVAC system. While the district is beginning the Phase I projects, its architectural firm, CPL, has been working on the design of the Phase II portion of the project, Lutinksi said. CPL has been sorting out proposals from vendors for the STEAM spaces that will be created. The architects have shown staff and the district’s Community Facilities Committee the designs for storage, furniture, utilities and layout of those spaces and have met with members of the high school and middle school science department and high school art department, he said. School officials have visited several elementary schools to evaluate their playground equipment. New equipment will be installed at Bedford Road School. Lutinski said they are weighing cost, durability, versatility of the equipment for different grade levels as well as the types of surfaces that it will be placed on. In other bond-related activity, there have been two presentations regarding the new artificial turf that will be laid down at the high school’s main athletic field. Major consideration will be given to playability, health and cost, Lutinski said. Finally, the architects are developing two options for placement of the new restrooms at the athletic fields. Both options are located near the back of the middle school not far from the basketball courts and picnic tables, Lutinski said. Board President John Vamossy said completion of all the work is projected for the fall of 2028. He was pleased with the progress, particularly with accomplishing some aspects of the work during the school year. “It’s great to hear that some of these capital project items that we can get in now, like the lights in the auditorium, are already in progress, and I assume for the spring musical we’ll have a new lighting system that will be easier to use and enhance the production,” Vamossy said. A key project that is part of the bond are lights for the main athletic field that will be installed. Voters comfortably approved the two-proposition referendum last May, which will see the district borrow an additional $13.5 million and use another $3.7 million that is being transferred to capital reserves and $300,000 left over from a previous middle school HVAC project. Martin Wilbur Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/