Sep. 3, 2014: Bronxville Middle School students will have newly refurbished science classrooms and laboratories to begin the 2014-2015 school year. Part of a $10 million capital improvement plan that includes a complete renovation of the school auditorium, the science classrooms were due to be completed and turned over to the district by September 1.

"When we originally planned the project," said Dan Carlin, assistant superintendent for business, "the schedule had us out of those classrooms for the first two months of the new school year." He attributed completion of the science facilities to the efforts of Park East Construction, project construction managers, and KenStar Construction, general contractor, for creating an aggressive schedule and effective allocation of resources.

Although extensive asbestos abatement was completed during the summer of 2013 in anticipation of remodeling work this summer, in July construction crews encountered asbestos floor tiles buried beneath several layers of flooring in the science classrooms.

"The thing to remember about this is asbestos discovery stops everything else," stated Jim Wojcik of Park East Construction. He added that removing the asbestos flooring revealed a compromised subflooring system, some of which had rotted and required replacement. "These are conditions you can't see until you remove those first layers of flooring."

Wojcik noted that, despite the July interruption of the tight eight-week science classroom construction schedule, pulling manpower from the auditorium renovation and scheduling crews to work 24-hour shifts over the past few weeks put the science classroom project back on schedule. He said that, once school opens, work crews would return to the auditorium project.

Dan Carlin noted that both the science classroom and auditorium projects are on budget despite change orders that might still be needed. With demolition of the auditorium complete, both he and Wojcik feel that there will be very few discovery conditions that will give rise to change orders. Carlin said that most change orders will be generated by the school and involve slight design and materials changes.

Carlin explained that, even after change orders of $250,000 to the projects approved by the board of education at its August 26 meeting, "well over $500,000" remains in the budget for contingencies that might arise from future change orders.

"The amount of progress has been fantastic," said David Brashear, board of education vice president. "It's looking like an exciting place. I think the community will be very interested to see it when it's opened."

Pictured here:  The Bronxville Board of Education meeting at the August 26, 2014, meeting.

Photo by Carol P. Bartold