Aug. 22, 2002

Prep work begins at Elm, Boyden

By Brian Burns
Staff writer

Contractors working on the Elm Street and Boyden school expansion and renovation projects have been using the last few weeks of summer to do as much prep work as possible before classes resume.

While students enjoy the dwindling days of their summer vacations, workers have been setting up fences, marking out safety routes, testing fire alarms and working on several small projects that need to be completed before the start of school.

Both schools will operate as normal during the 18-24 month construction period, though town officials are expecting there to be some disruptions.

At Elm Street, almost half of the parking lot has been fenced off to serve as a staging area for construction vehicles, and a new covered walkway is being built for what will serve as the temporary entrance to the gym during renovations.

Parking at Elm Street could be a problem during construction, as the school’s driveway is often congested even without the disruption.

Elm Street Principal Mary Grinavic appeared before the Permanent Building Committee last week to express her concerns about the possibility for traffic tie-ups once school begins.

As a result of that meeting, Grinavic was able to secure the return of 53 spaces that had previously been fenced off.

Workers are also planning to repaint the lines in the parking lot and add new signs to the driveway, which should help to smooth the flow of traffic.

At Boyden, improvements are being made to the ramp at the back entrance of the school, which students will be using while the front entrance is being renovated.

The work at both schools is being done by Bay State Contracting of North Pembroke, which has a $12.6 million contract with the town to complete the projects.

The work includes the construction of a new two-story wing at each location that will be used to house classrooms, offices, a computer lab and a media center.

Both of the existing school buildings will be renovated as well.

The new wing at Elm Street will contain 10 regular classrooms, a special education classroom, several rooms for smaller learning groups, a computer room, a media center and a new administrative suite.

The existing portion of Elm Street will also require a significant amount of renovations, as the facility was originally built as a religious center, not a school.

The new wing at Boyden will include 10 new classrooms, a new computer lab, a new media center, and two rooms for smaller learning groups.

Superintendent Kathleen Smith told the members of the school department last week that ensuring the safety of students during construction will be a top priority. Smith said that the school department is planning to require all workers (both the contractors and the subcontractors) to submit to Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) checks before starting work on the site.

The checks will test workers for any past convictions that would prohibit them from working closely with students.

"The CORI check is the least we can do," she said.

Smith said that Bay State Contracting had already agreed to perform CORI checks for all of its workers at the site.

She has found strong evidence that the school department is within its rights to require CORI checks of subcontractors as well, she said.

Once the projects are completed, Elm Street will become the schools fourth full-fledged elementary school. The school now houses the system’s kindergarten, preschool and extended day program.

Both school and town officials are optimistic that work on Elm Street and Boyden will progress at a much faster rate than it has on the high school project, which is now almost nine months past its original completion date.