With the projects at Stewart and Stratford Elementary Schools nearly completed, hard construction on the middle school about to begin, and bids out on the high school, Jim Carney, from the ad hoc advisory committee on the district's capital improvement plan, presented an overview of where the projects currently stand at each of the schools at the most recent board of education meeting.

Carney stated that at Stewart School, the cafeteria has been completed, the in-fill addition has been completed and is occupied, and the upper portion of the north addition has been completed and occupied. Carney explained that they have moved the art room into the upper floor of the north addition and have occupied those classrooms. He added that they expected to finish the lobby in the lower level of the north addition by early this week. The gym floor has been painted and at the time of last week's meeting the contractor was in the process of putting the finish and sealer on the floor and they were expecting to be able to put the padding on the walls at the end of last week. Carney said it was expected that students would be able to use the gym in the last half of this week. Minor items, such as things discovered while doing the punch list are also being done in the library and with the ventilation fans and electrical work. They had expected to be able to begin work on the parking lot on Tuesday, after the winter lull, but everything had to be dried out because of the wet weather prior to laying the blacktop. "Basically that school is in pretty good shape," said Carney.

The Stratford School project is mainly completed, with the cafeteria and library now occupied. All the window work is also almost completed. The portion on Weyford Terrace where the buses were and the temporary classrooms were, said Carney, had the blacktop removed in anticipation of regrading the entrance on that part of the building. The parking lot will have the final grading with blacktop at the time they do the Weyford Terrace section.

According to Carney, the work has begun in the wrestling room at the middle school, which will serve as swing space and a temporary library in anticipation of the major work which will be done in the existing library. Carney said that the general contractor has submitted foundation drawings and all his preliminary drawings to the architect to be reviewed before the actual groundbreaking on the library and the foundation work for the four new classrooms, which is expected to begin in early April.

The district is currently waiting to receive bids on the high school project. Carney said that he was told that 70 contractors picked up bids. He described this as, "a good sign," because it seems as though the rush to do construction projects has slowed down. "So I do have some faith that we should be getting some favorable pricing and for that last major project, the high school, which most people know is the bulk of the work, we should get favorable pricing and be able to do that work in a timely manner and on budget," said Carney. The bid opening for the high school is scheduled to take place on April 12.

Board of Education Trustee Ken Monaghan questioned when the new playground equipment at Stewart School would be in place. Tim Almeida, district director of building and grounds said that it had been planned for the middle of March after the weather changed and that he would call the contractor to see when that installation could take place. A parent asked the district to keep in mind that Stratford has not had a playground in four years and that he would like to see the current fourth-and fifth-graders finally get to enjoy a playground while they are still in elementary school.

When questioned about what the plan is for the tennis courts at the high school, Board of Education President Linda Leone said that they are planning on a full replacement of the courts rather than repair.

Maureen Cornacchia, a PTA Executive Board officer asked about a problem she had heard about with regard to the windows at Stratford. Carney stated that there had been a recall on window balances across the country but said that the windows at Stewart and Stratford had all been replaced.