Students toting backpacks have been replaced by contractors hefting hammers at Old Saybrook’s middle and elementary schools this summer. Old Saybrook Middle School is slated to get a new roof and the Kathleen Goodwin Elementary School new, energy-efficient windows.

In the fall of 2013, Old Saybrook town voters approved bonding authority to complete two major school capital maintenance projects. The cost estimates for each were $1.95 million for the middle school roof and $1.4 million to replace windows and doors at the Kathleen Goodwin Elementary School. Of the total cost, the school district also estimated that the State of Connecticut would reimburse the town $550,000 for the roof and $50,000 for the window project.

Both projects, long discussed, addressed long-standing issues at each school.

In 2013, the middle school roof, rated for a 15-year life, at 22 years of age was already beyond its useful life and had developed regular leaks.

The Goodwin School windows were originally installed more than 50 years ago in 1962, long before energy-efficiency became a design standard. Those windows in the newer wing of the school date from 1985, but still were more than 25 years old and installed before energy-efficiency designs were common.