New Rochelle Schools OKs $13.6M For Building Improvements

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The New Rochelle Board of Education last week approved contracts that will advance the district's four-phase, four-year plan to restore aging school buildings. The board awarded 10 contracts totaling $13,585,151 that call for installing new asphalt and concrete, upgrading plumbing and electrical wiring and adding new oil tanks and site work at several schools. It also includes masonry reconstruction at Isaac E. Young Middle School and Jefferson Elementary School.

The work is part of Phase II of the project and is funded by the $106.5 million bond voters approved in May 2016. The work will ensure that students and staff enjoy safe, comfortable and healthy classrooms, hallways and athletic fields for years to come, a district spokesman said.

The latest contracts follow the approval in May of $2.6 million to install new playground equipment at five of the elementary schools: Barnard, Webster, Trinity, Columbus and Jefferson. That work, expected to be completed in the fall, also includes improved grounds and concrete and asphalt replacement.

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Funding for the playgrounds comes from the operating budget in addition to the bond.

Phase II of the bond upgrade plan focuses on work at New Rochelle High School, Isaac E. Young Middle School and Jefferson Elementary. It also includes improvements to athletic spaces at the high school, with two new tennis courts and upgrades for McKenna Field.

The contractors hired in the latest round are Tony Casale of Yonkers; Marfi Contracting Corp. of Brooklyn; S&L Plumbing and Heating Corp. of White Plains; Pearl River Plumbing, Heating and Electric, Inc. of Pearl River; ACS Systems Associates of Mount Vernon; and Naber Electric Corp. of Yonkers.

Design work has begun on Phase III scheduled for the summer of 2018, officials said. It involves interior and exterior work at Albert Leonard Middle School, Columbus Elementary and Trinity Elementary as well as the interiors of Isaac E. Young Middle School and Jefferson Elementary.

Photo credit: NRED.org.