Summer Renovations at Guilford Schools

Summer is traditionally the busiest time of year for a school-from a maintenance perspective, at least. Thanks to the $780,000 bonding question that was approved at the April 2012-'13 town and education budget referendum, several upgrades are slated for the Melissa Jones Elementary and Elisabeth C. Adams Middle schools in the coming months.

Melissa Jones Elementary School

The Jones School will undergo numerous renovations this summer. Nine classrooms will get new flooring as well as electrical and minor carpentry renovations to the cafeteria and classrooms. These renovations are part of the window replacement project, which are under a 2011-'12 bond.

"We're gearing up for our normal summer projects. The first one here is the floor replacement at Melissa Jones School," Board of Education Director of Operations/Facilities Cliff Gurnham said. "It's going along as part of the major renovation up there of the window replacement project, cabinetry work, and some minor electrical and carpentry work."

Gurnham stated that some of the electrical work includes rewiring SMART Boards as well as replacing most of the cabinetry in those nine classrooms. With this portion of the summer projects, those classrooms at Melissa Jones have the potential to be fully renovated.

Scope Construction Company will perform the window replacement project. Red Thread, formally known as BKM, will replace the flooring for just under $41,560 and Pat Munger Construction will complete the electrical and carpentry renovations for about $90,080. Gurnham noted that the town has worked with both BKM and Pat Munger Construction in past projects.

Elisabeth C. Adams Middle School

The Adams Middle School will also see improvements over the warmer months. The school's old oil tank will be removed as part of the gas boiler/solar heating upgrade at the middle school. The tank, which Gurnham said did pass inspection but is past its life cycle, will be removed by Environmental Tank Technology for $36,250.

"It normally would be replaced, however with the cost and savings we can get out of switching to gas, the Board of Education and the Standing Building Committee has given the recommendation that we put gas at that location similar to what we've done at Cox because it saves us a lot of money," Gurnham said.

This project carries additional benefits, according to Gurnham.

"The great news about this project that is kind of secondary is, with the regrading of the Adams back parking lot?it will alleviate some of the water infiltration problems that we've had there because of the way that parking lot's graded-it naturally flows the water into a location that we don't have drainage," he said. "That will alleviate that problem."

Restoration to the iron hand rails at the 1936 entrance at Elisabeth C. Adams Middle School will also begin this summer under the Pat Munger Construction for just under $7,576. This project will be funded through a referendum bond from fiscal year 2008-'09. New lighting will also be installed under this project.

Gurnham is anticipating that all projects will be finished before the first day of classes at the end of the summer.