Summer construction projects planned for Old Saybrook Middle School and Kathleen Goodwin Elementary School will put the buildings and some of the schools’ grounds off-limits to the public as a safety precaution.

The middle school project is to replace the aging roof with a new one. Allied Restoration Corporation was awarded the contract for the work. Construction should begin after school ends for the summer, or around Thursday, June 18.

“The building will remain closed to the general public for much of the summer, and we will be letting parents and students know when they can access the building if needed,” noted the district administration in a public release.

There will be one exception. Each summer, the middle school schedules a one-week science camp on site. This year, the camp has been scheduled from June 29 to July 3. According to the school district administration, students will be allowed to enter the building during that one week. The contractor is aware of this program and will accommodate it within the work plans.

Storage of project materials and equipment means that the contractor will need to close off parts of the grounds to the public. Large deliveries of materials will be deposited in the parking areas in front of the middle school. Some of these areas will be closed off all summer to use as a project-staging area.

A few parking areas will remain open.

“We will leave parking areas open for staff and visitors if needed. We will also leave available parking in the lot closest to the marina for the boat owners that leave their cars here over the weekend,” wrote the district administrators.

Participants in the adult softball league will be able to park near the school’s auditorium and then walk to the field from there.

Goodwin Work

This summer at Goodwin Elementary School, contractors will replace the school’s old windows with new, energy-efficient ones; replace aging heating units; and install new, upgraded doors.

Also planned is the installation of some additional masonry.

All of the tasks when completed will make the building more energy-efficient and improve heating and cooling system function within the building.

Wrote school district administrators in a memo to staff, “The office personnel will be working in the office area; however, the building will be closed to all staff for most of the summer. The building will be secured at the close of each business day while custodians will be working hard to clean areas as construction is completed.”

Funding

The construction work at both the middle school and the elementary school received funding authorization with the passage of the bonding authorization referendum in October 2013.

At that time, the middle school roof’s cost was estimated at $1.95 million with a $550,000 state reimbursement, and the elementary school window and door work at $1.4 million with a $50,000 state reimbursement.

Both projects’ plans had to be submitted in advance to the State of Connecticut’s school facilities group for approval since state funding would support both projects.

In April 2015, 11 contractors submitted bids to replace the middle school roof. The lowest technically-qualified bidder was Allied Restoration Corp. with a bid of $1,218,776 for the base bid plus alternative one. Very close but a little higher was the second-lowest bid of Silktown Roofing at $1,236,000 for the base bid and alternative one.

The School Building Committee recommended to the Board of Education that it award the contract for the middle school roof work to the low bidder, Allied Restoration.

The building committee received seven bids in April 2015 for the Goodwin window and door project. After reviewing the bids, the Building Committee recommended the Board of Education award the contracts to the low bidder, Rudolph Netsch Construction for $1,556,619.

The town’s original budget for the window replacement project was about $1.4 million, a little higher than the lowest bid. But the lower-than-expected roof bids mean the building committee has a cushion within which to accommodate the higher cost of the window portion of the capital projects.