This week the Garden City Union Free School District has issued a public notice calling for sealed bids to be sent to the Board of Education for asbestos abatement, masonry, parapet work, and roof renovation at the Garden City Middle School, where the damaged roof over the gymnasium allowed leaks to occur and subsequent damage to the gymnasium floor, rendering the gymnasium unsuitable for use by the middle school students. Hopeful that work on the school's roof would begin sooner, Jim Carney of the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee had stated at the June 16 EPOA briefing that "In the case of the middle school, the district needs to get repairs done over the summer, so that section of the building (the boys gym) can be put back in service in September." With the call for bids going out this week, and the last time for receipt of these bids set for 2 p.m. on Tuesday, August 11, the work will not begin in time for the gym to open on opening day of school this September. According to John P. Sullivan, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, the work will be done on weekends and should be completed sometime in mid to late September.

As was reported in the June 11 issue of Garden City Life, the architect hired by the district, Peter Gisolfi, began analyzing the studies of the roof at the middle school and developing drawings back in early June. Sullivan reports that he has completed the designs and specs and now the district is ready to enter the competitive bidding process, in accordance with New York State law. As per the contract between the architectural firm and the district, Gisolfi will visit the site at least three times a week, but has agreed to attempt to be there even more often than contractually required whenever possible. Jim Carney told the EPOA that he has been "up in those roofs probably a dozen times" with the new firm specializing in roof work that the architectural firm has brought in on the project and they have been "working out the details so that when the district goes out to, we will be doing work that we have all reviewed and all agree is the right way." Sullivan agreed and said that the Ad Hoc members have personally visited the roof site and all agree that the work must be done before the floors are refinished in the gym, rather than allow the possibility of the roof leaking again onto a new floor.

Sullivan explained that the roof will have to be torn off in that area, and asbestos abatement, masonry, and parapet work must be done at that time. Then the roof will be laid out, and then and only then, when the new roof is on the building, can they redo the floor within the gym. Sullivan said that from August 11, the last day for bids to be submitted, the awarding of a contract will take place shortly thereafter, and "in a perfect world, the work could begin around Labor Day." The work will be done on weekends, rather than when children will be in the building, and Sullivan says the entire area will be "roped off" and that "safety is of paramount importance" to the committee. He also added that, "this is not demolition work" and that since the work will be done on the weekends and only over the gym, roof fumes from tar, for example, will not impact the students when they return to school on Mondays after the weekend work.

Some of the roof at the middle school has already been repaired in the last few years, and still other areas have been placed on a list of future repairs to either be part of future capital improvement budgets or the new bond issue to be put before the voters this December. The areas of the roof were analyzed by the committee and the architectural firm and work was prioritized based on what had to be done now and what could wait. The gymnasium roof couldn't wait any longer, as the children cannot use the gym for physical education because of the damaged floor.

The district will be holding pre-bid meetings on Monday, August 3 beginning at 10 a.m. in the middle school's lobby. The middle school is located on the corner of Cherry Valley Avenue and Stewart Avenue and educates the Village's children in the sixth through eighth grades. Bids will be received by Tim Almeida, the director of Facilties and Operations for the district. The complete public notice appears on our legal pages in this issue.