Superintendent Update #1

Monday, February 26, 2018

Our construction project at PBE is making good progress.  Since I last wrote to you about two weeks ago, our construction personnel have successfully erected a containment area, moved all classrooms to their new locations, cleared the main entrance and stairwell A for use, and removed most of the contents not needed in the temporary classrooms into pods outside the school.  Both Mrs. Geidel, our Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, and myself have visited all of the classrooms that were moved to new spaces either within PBE or at EJR. We were both impressed that all these classes are functioning well. Folks have pulled together and made the accommodations necessary for this project to be done.

Our construction contractor, ServPro, has organized the work within the containment area into four zones. As of this writing the crew has completed their deconstruction and mitigation within zone #1 (the back or west hall). Next week they will begin putting the rooms in zone #1 back together. That will include applying and finishing drywall, repairing and replacing the ceiling grid and tiles, and reinstalling any plumbing fixtures that had been removed. The crew will also begin to cut away the walls in zone #2 (the 1st grade or north hall) next week.

Last Thursday (2/22/18), I personally toured the construction area with our contractor and our industrial hygienist, who monitors the work and ensures that we follow the New York State protocol for this mitigation work. I gained a much greater appreciation for both the amount and complexity of the work to be done. Although we originally projected that this could take four weeks or more, I have now come to understand that it will more likely take 8 to 12 weeks just to complete the deconstruction, mitigation, and initial reconstruction. One of the issues that I learned about was the damage done to casework that had to be removed from the walls. Nearly all of that casework had to be discarded, so we will now need to have new casework designed and fabricated to be installed in these rooms before we can bring them back online.

I’ve always known that this was a large project, and I now appreciate how much larger and more time consuming it has become. As we expected, we found mold in a variety of places that has been removed and treated. And while we have the ceilings and walls opened up, we also have discovered some work (completely unrelated to mold) that we believe should be addressed as we begin to reconstruct these areas.

I want to assure you that the reports we have received from our IH professional continue to indicate that all areas outside of the work zone have remained safe for both students and staff.  He tests throughout each day, and his presence on site has been a great relief for us.

I’ll prepare another update in about two weeks.