By Hayleigh Gowans
Staff Writer
With a final tally of 352 to 47, residents in the Jamesville-DeWitt School District overwhelmingly voted on Oct. 18 to approve a $12.1 million capital project which will bring updates to all district facilities.
“We are grateful for the community’s support of our students and excited to complete the process to make these improvements in all of our buildings,” said Superintendent Alice Kendrick.
The updates and renovations needed throughout the district, as shown in a 2015 building conditions report, include renovation of building exteriors, refurbishment of mechanical, electrical, plumbing HVAC and emergency systems, grading improvements of the sites and changes that will bring the buildings up to date with ADA compliance regulations.
The main projects that will be occurring in all buildings (excluding the bus garage) are HVAC and emergency system improvements. The bus garage will get a new bus lift, fuel tank and overhead doors. Auditorium improvements include renovations to the seating area, stage, audio-visual system and renovations to the music suite that will add more storage space, a practice room and a multi-purpose room.
The cost breakdown is: $3.1 million for the high school; $3 million for the middle school; $370,000 for Tecumseh Elementary; $370,000 for Jamesville Elementary; $960,000 for Moses DeWitt Elementary; $1.2 million for the bus garage; and $3.1 for the high school auditorium.
About 72 percent of the project cost will be covered by building aid from the New York State Education Department, with the remaining amount to be covered by the school’s tax levy. The district planned the project to coincide with the retirement of an existing debt that equals the amount not covered by state aid, and district officials have said there should not be any change in tax rate as a result of this project.
Since the project has been approved, the district will soon finalize plans to send to the state education department, put the projects out to bid in fall of 2017 with hopes to begin construction in the spring of 2018.
To learn more about the project, go to jamesvilledewitt.org
