By JOSEPH KELLARD
Work has begun on the installation of artificial field turf on the central field at OHS, and is expected to be completed by September. Since a newly laid field must be left to settle for several weeks before it can be used, the district expects to hold its football games at the School 6 field, at the corner of Oceanside and Foxhurst roads.
³Of course, it could be done sooner, but we want it done right, so that¹s really the more important thing,² said Assistant Superintendent Lou Frontario, who oversees the district¹s construction projects.
Frontario said that the district would rent bleachers and a scoreboard for the games at School 6, and that homecoming would likely be held there as well.
Along with the new field, a new track will also be installed at OHS. The entire field and track project will cost $1.9 million. The field is used for football, soccer and lacrosse not just by the high school, but also by other community sports organizations.
³The artificial turf at the high school was one project where we found out that we have the extra money to do it instead of replacing new sod every few years,² said Al Lyson, president of the Board of Education.
³While the artificial turf does require some maintenance, it¹s not nearly as much nor as costly than with natural turf,² Frontario said.
OHS will also see renovations in it auditorium, which will sport new seats, freshly painted walls and brand new carpeting this summer.
At Oceanside Middle School, baseball and soccer fields are undergoing reconstruction. Last year the football field was rebuilt and new natural grass was installed. In addition, OMS¹s track will be resurfaced, and upgrades are being made to improve the acoustics in the school¹s auditorium, including seat reconfiguration and wall and ceiling treatments, ³which will change the direction of sound and its absorption,² Frontario said.
The projects are part of a district-wide $32 million bond issue that residents passed in January 2003. The construction and upgrades began that year and are projected to be completed in November.
One of the projects included installation of new burners and boilers. Each school except OHS has new burners, and Schools 2 and 8 got the boilers. With these new heating systems, designed to produce more or the same amount of heat with less energy, the district said it used 43,000 fewer gallons of fuel this school year than in the previous year.
Among the non-bond-issue capital improvement projects taking place this summer is the replacement of the fuel tank leak detection systems in schools 3, 8 and 9. Frontario said that these systems were installed in all Oceanside schools but these three, ³because by the time we got around to bidding for them they were a little more money than what we thought, so we had to wait on three schools to budget additional money for 2006-07.² Each system costs $23,000.
Meanwhile, the gym floor at School 8 will be replaced, along with the cafeteria floor and gym bleachers at OMS and the gym bleachers and boys¹ gym lockers at OHS. ³We¹re very pleased that the bond issue projects are drawing to a close and brought in or at budget and at the time schedule that was allotted,² Frontario said.
³The general renovations we¹ve done have really put the schools in good shape,² Lyson said. ³It¹s something a lot of other districts have never done. The goal of this board has been to maintain our buildings so that we don¹t have huge expenses in the long run.²
At Island Park schools, Superintendent Dr. Ed Price said that there would be no major construction projects in the district this summer, ³although,² he added, ³we¹re reviewing a couple of things at this point, but nothing has been decided.²
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
