Plans for high school on the fast track

The Rockville Centre school district is hoping that residents will pass a bond issue — tentatively scheduled for a mid-December vote — so that proposed renovations to South Side High School can begin as soon as school ends in June 2010.

Details of preliminary plans and a proposed project timeline were presented by Roger Smith of BBS Archictects at the Board of Education meeting Tuesday night, and Assistant Superintendent for Business Robert Bartels followed with ideas on how the district might finance the project.

The plans call for phased construction over three school years and four summers, at an estimated cost of between $33 and $35 million, and would renovate science classrooms and labs, replace portable classrooms, the school library, and add a new music room (the only new addition in the proposed project).

"The renovations that we are proposing are essential to correct deficiencies within the high school,” said school board president Mark Masin. “We have security issues trying to safeguard our students due to the many exits and entrances, as well as the portable classrooms in use through the campus. These temporary portable classrooms, which were only meant to be used for a few years, have been in existence for over 40 years.

“We have science labs that are woefully inadequate for the science curriculum of the 21st century,” he added. “The science classrooms were built in the mid-1950s and the methodology has changed drastically. We have requirements for our special needs students that this renovation will address and we are providing our community with a high school that will be current for 25 + years, anticipating curriculum and enrollment changes during that time.”

Most of the interior work would take place during the summer breaks; exterior work would largely occur during the school years, behind sound barriers and with project managers meeting weekly with school administrators to schedule construction around events in the school.