While the students were on recess, the construction crews made progress.
There was a flurry of activity at several district buildings last week, namely Poughkeepsie Middle School, where two major renovation projects are underway.
Work on remaking and updating the auditorium continued both inside the space and outside of it, where an enormous crane was used to haul away debris, including parts of the ventilation system, as crews install new equipment to increase clean air flow. Inside the auditorium, new drywall covers most of the wall space and painting has transformed the look of the stage, already. Crews were also continuing work smoothing out the floor, removing hazards.
Also at the middle school, there were also crews in the basement shower areas connected to the pool locker rooms, which are both being renovated. That’s part of a larger renovation project to work on the tiling, walls and floors of the pool room area, with most of the space, except for the pool itself, scheduled for updating.
And at Krieger Elementary Monday, crews were replacing aging stairway handrails with updated versions.
It’s all part of the district’s ongoing Strong Schools Equal Strong Communities capital improvement project, a roughly $150 million investment in our buildings and facilities, which has already made a sizable impact on the student experience. Late last week, district and construction company leaders also met to review planned work on the Fifth Phase of the massive capital improvement, which includes parking lot resurfacing at the high and middle schools, ceiling and floor repairs at Warring and Clinton elementary schools and the high and middle schools, constructing a second retaining wall next to Clinton.