NORTH NORWICH – Construction crews are working second shift to put the final touches on the $18 million capital improvement project at BOCES. The project added 46,000 square feet to the existing footprint at the North Norwich facility operated by the Board of Cooperative Educational Services, which serves 16 component districts in Delaware, Chenango, Madison and Otsego counties.
Originally slated to take five years for completion, the building project has come in both under budget and ahead of schedule, according to Steve Perrin, director of Career and Technical Education.
“There are a few little cosmetic things that need to be done,” Perrin reported last week. Those items remaining on the punch list at the DCMO BOCES Chenango Campus include finishing up tile work, installing terrazzo kickboards in some hallways, a little painting and a bit of behind-the-scenes electrical work. These should all be completed within the next two weeks, Perrin said.
For the last three years, the administrator has been meeting weekly with the contractors, which he said has helped keep the project on an aggressive timetable. He also credits the planning process, which took a full two years prior to breaking ground on the project in 2006, and the contractors themselves, particularly general contractor Sarkisian Brothers, for the project’s success.
Despite a few minor change orders over the summer, Perrin said they have been able to keep close to original projections. “We’re coming in just a little bit under budget,” he reported.
Work that was completed this summer included the construction of a new dual purpose kitchen. The space, which Perrin said is 30 percent larger than the former kitchen, houses the building’s school lunch program and serves as the instructional “lab” for the culinary arts CTE program.
The state-of-the-art culinary area features newly tiled walls, a large new walk-in cooler and freezer, a large baking area with an attached point-of-sale bakery counter to facilitate more interaction with customers. Adjoining the kitchen is a store room, a locker and changing area, a dedicated classroom and the cafeteria/dining room, which was added on in an earlier phase of the project.
According to Perrin, construction was completed just days before students returned. “It was really down to the wire,” he said, explaining that instructors had come in on Labor Day to make sure the kitchen equipment was set up on time for opening day.
The human services classroom, the school nurse’s suite and speech therapy offices were also all renovated and expanded as a part of this, the final phase of the building project.
“We’re trying to make it more challenging and appealing to a wider range of kids,” Perrin explained of the human services class, which serves as a transition between special education and CTE. The new and improved space now includes three mini-kitchens along with traditional classroom features, the goal being to teach special education students more of the basic skills they will need to be successful in the career and technical programs.
The nurse’s suite, which serves primarily special education and career academy students, has roughly tripled in size, according to the facility’s Director of Special Education, Patti Gallaher. Where once there was one multi-purpose space, the health care professional on staff now has a private office for consultations with parents and students and a separate examining room in addition to a full bathroom and area for sick students to rest.
The size of the speech therapy area has also been increased, Gallaher explained. The therapists on staff now have two offices in which to provide services to students.
At the same time as the Chenango Campus was being renovated and expanded, the DCMO BOCES district’s second location, the Robert W. Harrold Campus in Sidney Center, was also undergoing a capital improvement project. The roughly $30 million project, which added 60,000 square feet, was completed in January.
According to Perrin, community members will have an opportunity to tour both campuses during a two day open house later this month. The event will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 30 and Thursday, Oct. 1, and will feature guided tours, exhibits and displays of student work and refreshments. For more information, call 335-1233.