The high school Board of Education is holding its meetings without electricity or air conditioning as construction continues.
By: Linda Seida
WEST AMWELL The South Hunterdon Regional High School Board of Education continues to hold its meetings this summer without electricity or the comfort of air conditioning.
But it has moved its meeting Aug. 6 on the construction of its new auditorium to the West Amwell municipal building at 150 Rocktown-Lambertville Road.
The temporary inconvenience stems from the ongoing reconstruction and renovation of the 48-year-old school. Work crews are on schedule, but the situation isn’t pretty.
"We’re in this demo situation now," Business Administrator Fran Tolley said.
She said the meeting about the auditorium was moved because "We still don’t have lights, and the fans were so loud at our last meeting that no one could hear."
All systems should be go by the time students return for the start of classes Sept. 5.
The board met July 19 for about two and a half hours by the light of a heavy-duty portable work light that was brought in for the occasion, but it generated heat as well as light, Ms. Tolley said.
Jeff Standing, project manager for Cambridge Construction Management, presented a checklist of items in the works.
The renovations to the school’s gymnasium have been completed, including the repainting of the floor. An earlier coating of paint with a newer type of product did not hold up well.
For the new middle school gymnasium, the steel framework has been erected.
The footings, which are stone underground supports, are in place for a new media center.
Fifty percent of the underground footings are in place for the new auditorium.
Scheduled to be inspected this week is the new office area for the Child Study Team and the guidance staff.
The ceiling grids, which hold the ceiling tiles in place, are up in the A wing. Duct work has begun in the kitchen and commons area. New electric service is being installed.
Underground plumbing in the science room has been inspected and approved.
Piping for 70 percent of the HVAC units has been "roughed in," Ms. Tolley said.
Voters in 2005 approved spending $20.8 million for the school’s redesign, renovation and new construction.
When completed, the school will have infrastructure upgrades to electrical and plumbing systems, new windows, ceilings, lighting, handicapped accessibility and new bleachers. There will be a new library and media center, additional middle school classrooms for science, music and art, and computer and resource rooms.
Improvements to the high school include science lab upgrades and the cafeteria, the boys and girls locker rooms, and music and world language rooms.