Published: August 26, 2008 10:10 am         

LYNDONVILLE SCHOOLS: ‘Good’ beginnings, endings

Lyndonville sends off school principal, plans renovations

LYNDONVILLE — After more than 30 years of service, Nancy Good, elementary principal and director of special education and Title I, is leaving Lyndonville Central School District.

The superintendent and board of education members, alike, offered praise for Good at Monday night’s board meeting, although the woman of the hour was not able to make the meeting herself. Board Vice President Edward Urbanik said she had done “a very good job” in her years working for the district.

Patrick Whipple — who will be replacing her — said he is eager to begin his new position.

Good’s departure is not the only change that will be seen around the district in the next year, as Lyndonville prepares to move forward with its state Education Department capital project. For close to two years, the district has been working on the project, which according to board member William Jurinich, will refurbish both the schools and bring them up to code.

“We will be redoing the heating system, replacing the lights with more efficient fixtures and making the buildings handicapped accessible by adding elevators,” he said.

Victor Tomaselli of SEI Design presented to the board an update on where the project was heading. Originally, new design plans were scheduled to be submitted to the state for review by Aug. 18, and Tomaselli reported they were close to their goal, sending them in just three days later than anticipated.

“We’ve been meeting every other week with the (project) committee — we’ve gone through the process of schematic design, and along with each of these steps we’ve done scope and budget review,” he explained.

A question was raised about whether the project would still be financially feasible, with increasing costs. Construction manager Tim Jones of Ciminelli LP, of Buffalo said he had been working with Tomaselli, SEI Design and the district to check in on cost estimates. He said each time they met, there was always a good sense of where they were, and despite cost increases, he felt the project would be within the original budget.

“There are sets of drawings here for the district — we’re very comfortable where we are with the budget right now,” Tomaselli said. “There have been a few bumps along the way, and we had to do some readjusting, but we are on budget.”

SEI Design is hoping to have approval from the state around January, which will follow with a three- to four-week bidding period for interested contractors. Then, SEI and Ciminelli will make recommendations to the district, after which the board will need to formally act to get the construction wheels in motion. Jurinich estimated with this timeline, actual construction would begin next summer.

Jones also said that because construction would be taking place on the school, there would be ways to incorporate the students into the process. He said in previous projects he worked on, there were ways to meet with administrators to add information to the curriculum surrounding the construction.

“The kids will be affected — they will see stuff going on around Lyndonville, and they’re curious, and this is a way to engage them,” he said. “Math, science, even history — this project touches pretty much every (subject).”

The next audit committee meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 8, followed by a regular school board meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Additional action items taken:

• Approval of the sale of a 1994 Ford F150 truck for $1,800.

• Approval of the American Red Cross agreement to use the school in case of disaster relief emergency.

• Approval of School Food Services a la carte price list.

• Approval of a request by the PTA to use on-site facilities.

• Approval of the recommendations from the committee on special education.

• Approval of district Academic Intervention Services plan.

• Approval of the code of conduct, to be distributed to parents prior to the beginning of school.

• Approval of a special board meeting to be held Sept. 11 to discuss a vacancy on the BOCES board, following the departure of one member from the district.

Contact editor Jessica Wasmund

at 798-1400, ext. 8225