Warwick school’s facilities committee announces potential capital project work

The Warwick Valley Central School District Facilities Committee met on Thursday, December 14, to discuss recent capital improvement work identified by the district’s engineer in the current Building Condition Survey, as well as the potential for a capital project community vote in 2024.

Work the committee is considering includes replacement of some roofs on buildings, the “hardening” of internal and external doors and windows in buildings to prevent intrusion, and replacement of the main electrical panel at the high school.

According to the school district, it has been working on replacing older roofs or sections of roofs of its buildings found to be in poor condition, including a partial roof at the high school, a partial roof at Park Avenue Elementary School, the full Pine Island building roof, a partial roof at the Kings building, and the roof over the school district offices.

The district also noted that the high school electric panel is more than 70 years old and is “at its maximum electric load,” meaning it lacks the capacity to add anything requiring electricity at the high school, plus parts of the panel are reportedly difficult to replace due to their age.

“We have not made a decision yet, of course, but placing a capital project before voters is not something the school district administration or the Board of Education takes lightly,” said Superintendent Dr. David Leach. “These are items needed to make our buildings weather-tight, to keep our students and staff safe in this modern day, and to maintain our electrical operations at the high school.”

The committee had also discussed the capital improvement work on October 19 and is planning to meet again in January to discuss them and the potential for a vote on these capital projects further.