A multi-million dollar renovation project greeted students at Southwestern Central Schools in Chautauqua County this school year. Time Warner Cable News reporter Mark Goshgarian takes us through the different phases of the district's extensive overhaul.
WEST ELLICOTT, N.Y. - The Southwestern School District is in the midst of a nearly $16 million capital improvement project. A major part includes creating a new parking area for buses and adding a sidewalk to prevent kids from running out into the lot.
"At the end of the day it was a safety issue. Every kid that comes out of the building now, travels from out of the building, onto the sidewalk, into the bus," said Maureen Donahue, Southwestern Central School District superintendent.
Other improvements to the school's athletic complex, including a new concession stand, restrooms and storage facility.
"Currently our softball field had drainage issues and we did not have any dug outs," said Donahue.
Crews put in new dug outs, switched the field's location and fixed the drainage.
"We're pretty excited about this. We have some more work to do. You can see there's some sitting water. That still has to be graded. We have to do a little more grading in the outfield," said Donahue.
Two other phases are currently in the hands of the state education department in Albany for review.
"We're proud to be able to do this for our community, and its exciting, it really is," said Michael Cipolla, Southwestern High School principal.
Plans call for renovating the auditorium with new lighting, as well as converting the old gym into a wellness center and conference area. That paves the way for a new gym complete with bleachers that'll meet current safety standards.
"We draw very nice crowds to our basketball and volleyball games and wrestling matches and just to have an open safer format for our students is really going to be a plus for our student body and our community," said Cipolla.
A lot of the work was done over the summer, yet some will now have to be done during the school year.
"There's disruption to the process. Safety of our kids will be first," said Donahue.
The district is hoping for state approval on those phases by early next year.