While schools were closed statewide due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fayetteville-Manlius School District took advantage of its buildings being unoccupied to continue and, in some cases, move up scheduled “essential” construction projects.
In preparation for the construction at Wellwood Middle School that is part of the 2017 voter-approved capital project, the district has separated the electrical service that is shared by Fayetteville Elementary and Wellwood Middle schools into two distinct systems.
With separate main power lines installed to both buildings, power outages at one building may no longer impact the other, as was previously the case.
In addition, asbestos abatement was completed at Eagle Hill Middle School and F-M High School that was part of the Energy Performance Contract (EPC) included in the 2017 capital project. Contractors completed asbestos abatement projects at Wellwood that had originally been planned to take place during the next two summers. Minimal abatement remains to be completed next summer.
The work taking place at Wellwood is the final phase of the 2017 voter-approved capital project. Wellwood is the district’s oldest building, with portions dating back to 1933. Construction will include a 15,000-square-foot addition that will include new instructional spaces, such as new art and music classrooms. The additional space will allow the district to relocate the cafeteria, music and band rooms that are currently in the school’s basement, which was not originally constructed for such purposes.
The concrete floor of the new addition is complete, and the exterior walls are in the process of being constructed with the goal of having the addition footprint completely enclosed before winter so construction can continue on the interior.
A new traffic circle large enough to accommodate parked school buses is complete, as is a widened entrance/exit road to the campus. A new staff parking lot has been constructed between Fayetteville Elementary and Wellwood, and grass will be planted where the previous lot was near Route 257.
The eight-room modular suite that will be used for temporary classroom space during the project was installed at the back of Wellwood, close to the Transportation Department Office Building. The classrooms will be ready for students when they return to school in September.
An enclosed corridor connects the modular suite to Wellwood so that students and staff remain indoors as they travel to and from the building to the temporary classroom space. Each classroom in the modular unit is equipped with the instructional technology that both teachers and students use on a daily basis so there will be a seamless transition from their classrooms within the school to the classrooms within the modular unit. It also has heat and air conditioning as well as student restrooms.
The district plans to use the temporary classrooms during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years. The total project is slated to be complete in September 2022.
