Aug. 27, 2024
Construction at Perry Junior High School will continue as students return to the building this September. Work will include:
- Establishing a staging area and field office for construction crews
- Upgrading classrooms: replacing ceilings, replacing floors, painting, replacing exterior walls, placing mechanical and electrical lines
- Placing mechanical and electrical lines in boiler room
- Laying sod and seed at the upper softball field
- Re-roofing gym, pool, technology wing and main office areas
To minimize disruption to students, staff and daily building operations, some work will be conducted outside of normal school hours. Administrators and project architects plan to temporarily close four to five classrooms at a time for renovations to be completed. Alternate learning spaces within the building will be used to accommodate displaced classrooms. All hallways are expected to remain open to students and staff.
Construction at Perry began in early July as part of a $39.8 million capital project, which was approved by voters in December 2021. While the majority of the project focuses on upgrades at Perry, work will also be performed at each of the other school buildings in the district, including athletic complex improvements at the Senior High School and lighting upgrades at Bradley Elementary School.
Construction crews wrap-up summer work
This summer, re-roofing work at Hughes and Myles elementary schools was completed as part of the project.
Work that was completed at Perry over the summer includes:
- Boiler room asbestos abatement
- Floor tile asbestos abatement
- Removal of hallway ceilings in preparation for replacement
- Removal of mechanical mains in hallways leading from the boiler room to the science wing and installation of new piping
- Grading and paving of connecting road between Perry and Hughes (application of final top coat will take place next year)
- Preparation of new softball field near Hughes
- Stripping the existing upper softball field
- Installation of new storm drain at the maintenance building and grading of the surrounding area
- Re-roofing 70% of the building
![construction equipment on the Hughes roof](https://www.newhartfordschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Re-roofing-Hughe-1024x680.jpg)
![Hallway in Perry with all of the ceiling tiles removed, exposing wires and pipes](https://www.newhartfordschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Perry-Hallway-1024x683.jpg)
Most of the construction at Perry is expected to be completed by the end of August 2025. The district anticipates most of the remaining capital project construction to be completed by winter 2025.
Design work underway for next capital project
In December 2023, district residents approved a $44.7 million capital improvement project proposal, which includes renovations and upgrades at Bradley, Hughes, and Myles elementary schools, the Senior High School, the bus storage garage on Graham Avenue, and minor improvements at Perry, including the food service storage building.
The project is currently in the architectural design phase and the district expects plans to be submitted to the New York State Education Department (SED) for approval this fall. Pending SED approval, construction would begin in summer 2025 and take approximately two years to complete.