By JOSEPH KELLARD
"With proper protocol, we're doing a complete removal of asbestos," said Lou Frontario, the district's assistant superintendent, who directs all buildings and grounds work. "They've got shafts and barriers set up, and the labor department has come and told us what a great job we're doing in terms of the asbestos abatement, in terms of the roofing material that we're taking off."
Besides renovating the roof, workers are repairing the parapet, the low wall running along the edge of the roof, and will do extensive masonry work that mainly involves replacing cracked, weather-beaten bricks. "There are sections that need to come down and need to be reinstalled," Frontario said. "It's likely to involve scaffolding. We've done masonry work before, but it requires more work."
While the roof work is scheduled to be completed before school begins, and has forced the district to relocate kids' programs to Schools 6 and 9, the masonry work is slated to continue into the school year. Frontario gave no estimate of when the work would be completed other than to say, "It's expected to take a good part of the year."
The district-wide renovations and upgrades are part of a $31 million, 20-year bond for capital improvements that the community voted on and approved in January 2003. The masonry work at School 6 alone will eat up approximately $1 million, and comprises the bulk of such work going on throughout the district. Other projects include installation of new boilers, electrical wiring and a football field.
"It's a pretty aggressive summer," Frontario said. "And for the most part it's going pretty darn well."
The football field reconstruction is at the middle school. While the new field and irrigation currently being installed will be completed by October, the turf won't take hold and be ready for play until next May. This means the football team will play this season's home games at School 6, near where new blacktop was put down on the track. Irrigation work will also be performed at schools 2, 4 and 5.
Meanwhile, the basketball teams at Oceanside High School will dribble the ball on a real wood floor next season, as the decades-old rubberized floor in the school's main gym is in the midst of being ripped up. "In our estimation, it's the best kind of floor you can have in a gym," Frontario said.
While new boilers are being installed at schools 2 and 8, the district will install universal burners in virtually every school. "This will make for good maintenance," Frontario explained, "because when you have the same burner everywhere, then your staff is trained and can handle that one particular type of burner."
Workers are putting in new ceilings, electrical wiring and lighting at schools 5, 6, 7 and 9. "These are being done together because so much of the electrical runs above the ceilings, and most of the work is being done in the hallways - not so much the classrooms," Frontario said. Also this summer, windows are being replaced at schools 2, 4 and 7, and fire alarms at schools 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9.
Among upcoming larger-scale projects is a third-floor addition to the middle school classrooms built in recent years along Mahlon-Brower Driver. "That work will also be done during the school year, for which we are making accommodations," Frontario said.
The assistant superintendent said all the capital improvement projects that are part of the 2003 bond issue are expected to be completed by November 2006. "That's our target," Frontario said, "and we seem to be in good shape for that."
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