Facilities Director John Barlow delivered a presentation on the facilities projects worked on over the summer to the Board of Education (BOE) at its Tuesday, September 1 meeting.

Barlow noted that, besides the superintendent, he thinks he was one of the busiest people in the district this summer.

He highlighted select projects around the district, starting with Newtown High School's (NHS) pool restoration. As of September 1, Barlow said NHS's swimming pool is being swum in for the first time after the restoration.

The project started around June 26, in which facility workers replaced the main drains, tile lane markers, and marcite grout at the bottom of the pool. Barlow said they also restored the pool deck and did painting. It came in "a little bit under budget" of the $640,000 they bid for, according to Barlow.

There were also HVAC upgrades for the high school's C-wing. Barlow said five rooftop units (RTUs) were craned off the roof and replaced, noting the project will not be complete until the high school's chiller gets replaced in March.

"From the time we put the order in, which was on July 1, it was a 30-week build time for the chiller. So that's due in sometime right after the first of the year and then that'll be replaced in March, and hopefully we won't spend $58,000 on repairs anymore," Barlow explained.

His team also worked on the room B150-152 upgrade at NHS, which is about 90% finished. Barlow said this was the professional development space requested in his goals. At this point, they are waiting for the installation of the dividing wall, which was replaced, and the furniture due in at the end of September. There are also five interactive boards going up in the room, according to Barlow.

He said the room itself is completed and has tables and chairs in it, adding that it is already being used by students.

"We did hire a contractor to do some wall work for us — the heating, the sheet rocking, the flooring was done by a contractor, but a lot of the work was done in-house. All of our electrical work was done in house," Barlow said.

Middle Gate Elementary School received a lot of enhancements to its cafeteria. Barlow said they removed the entire ceiling in the room and replaced it with new ceiling tiles. They also improved the meeting space there, another one of Barlow's goals.

Middle Gate also received updates to its bathrooms. Barlow said the building's bathrooms were in "pretty rough shape," noting that the urinals for the boys' bathroom were "down on the floor" and "sort of a brownish tile."

While Barlow said they are just getting all the fixtures back in now, his hope is that, by the end of this week, those bathrooms will be opened back up.

"We're not quite there, but we're pretty close," he said.

Much of the work done on the bathrooms, at least the plumbing and electrical components, was done in-house.

Additional Projects

Barlow said they finished construction for new student pickup sidewalks at Middle Gate, and also cleared poison ivy, vines, weeds, and low-hanging trees by the school's kindergarten playground area.

The idea for sidewalk enhancements came from Middle Gate Principal Jenna Connors, who wanted a better way for people to safely drop off students and return to their cars.

"It came out phenomenal, and they've been using it, and Connors couldn't say anything more about it other than how safe and comfortable she feels that students aren't exiting into the parking lot anymore and [are] exiting onto a sidewalk," Barlow said.

Head O'Meadow Elementary School (HOM) saw improvements to its driveway infrastructure. Barlow said they had graders work to reshape and repave the driveway. As of the meeting, the driveway has been completely repaved and received all new lines.

Barlow noted that the oil tank has been removed and that they are just waiting for the delivery of a new oil tank. Once they receive the new tank, they should be "all set."

NHS had its oil tank removed. Barlow said they actually had to get special permits to pull the tank over the road because it was so big.

Now that the high school's oil tank is gone, they will look at transforming that space to some other use, whether it be for the auto shop or additional parking, over the course of this year, according to Barlow.

He then presented a list of all the other projects they worked on over the summer.

This included: for Hawley Elementary School, painting projects and replaced flooring for Rooms 202, 206, and 207; for Sandy Hook Elementary School, restored main hallway floor, and restored gym floor; for HOM, new swings on the playground; and for Middle Gate, cork boards in classrooms and hallways.

And also: for Reed, new foyer flooring, replaced crumbling sidewalks, repaired drainage/retention pond, and moved the computer lab to a new space; for Newtown Middle School, a new dean's office, new staff kitchen, new flooring in the nurse's office and Room 105, and refinished gym flooring; and for NHS, a new roof on greenhouse shed and new flooring in two rooms.

"So this was all stuff that happened this summer," Barlow reiterated. "[It was a] very, very busy summer."

Uberti said that she wanted to commend Barlow.

"Because when [he] says 'this summer,' it's like a six-week window, really," Uberti said. "But [Barlow] did manage all of this very, very well, and everything on the list was completed in time for the first day of school without any issues."

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.