SHERBURNE – An $11,695,000 capital investment project is progressing on schedule at the Sherburne-Earlville Central School District, with construction workers and officials hoping to have the project done before the start of the school year.

The scope of the project includes replacing the out-of-warranty roof system on several buildings, replacing or updating existing heating systems, and creating a safer, more effective student pick up loop for parents at no additional tax burden to local residents.

According to Sherburne-Earlville Superintendent Eric Schnabl, there are other things the school needs to do, including work on its stadium and other areas they want to improve.

“A building condition survey showed us what we needed to do,” said Schnabl. “We’re looking forward to improving our school, and are very proud of our school district and our facilities. The maintenance and custodial staff are doing an excellent job.”

He said the school's board of education has been supportive of ensuring that the school remains as up to date and effective for teaching for as long as possible, and this project will help get the school back on track.

Sherburne-Earlville Central School District Public Information Specialist Dean Russin said the 2019 capital project has allowed the school to redesign its student pick up area near the Sherburne-Earlville Elementary School building.

“The new design should help alleviate traffic build up on school hill and will add 16 more parking spaces to the first Sherburne-Earlville Elementary School parking lot,” said Russin. “The Sherburne-Earlville Central School District continues to replace roofing on all district buildings, and the roof of our transportation facility is finished and our middle and high school roof is near completion.”

He said the school is also installing new boilers, removing old fuel tanks and adding safety features to the Sherburne-Earlville Elementary School main office/entrance.

“In some of our spots, particularly in the elementary school, the roof was beginning to fail so taking care of our roof was a priority,” said Schnabl. “We also replaced our old fuel oil boilers with propane boilers, which are much more efficient and will decrease our carbon footprint.”

“The improvements should be mostly done before the start of school,” said Schnabl. “Some of these we started last year, and we’re on target to complete everything on schedule.”

“Our staff, students, and parents have been very accommodating and patient with some of the things we’ve been working on and we appreciate it.”

Russin said Sherburne-Earlville Central School District would like to thank Ben Heintz of Kestrel Construction Services, other construction workers, architects from Tetra Tech, and all of the 12-month employees who are working together to make sure everything is ready to go when school starts back up in September.