At the most recent school board meeting, a presentation was shown to the board that would detail the year-by-year breakdown for the construction projects that the school has been planning for quite some time now. With a layout now set in stone, the project is now ready to begin to progress into the beginning stages later this year.

The presentation was given by Emily Melski, from the school architectural group, with Annette Rhebergen, Southwestern school business official, detailing the projected tax impacts of each project. The presentation saw a breakdown of the projects that would be divided amongst the next three years. Superintendent Molly Moore noted that the three-year breakdown is done in a way to maximize the state aid for the projects and reduce the total burden on taxpayers.

The presentation began by discussing the plans for the installation of building-wide cooling systems in the middle school, and some remaining areas in the high school. This was initially prompted by a bill signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December, 2024. According to the NYS School Board Association’s Chief Advocacy Officer Brian Fessler, the law sets a limit of 88 degrees as the maximum temperature for any classroom occupied by students. With the law having gone into effect in September 2025, Fessler noted that evacuations can take place mid-day if the temperature of a classroom should go above the limit. Additionally, the state law mandates that school boards must have a policy requiring staff to attempt to “relive heat-related discomfort” once the temperature of a classroom reaches 82 degrees. Moore stated that, with these air conditioning units installed, the district will be able to ensure that there are no disturbances throughout the day to the students’ education because of the heat.

The second portion of the presentation largely pertained to the various updates that are planned to be made to the elementary school. A large portion of these elementary school upgrades will be house room programmatic refinements. The refinements will see various rooms throughout the elementary school completely transformed and upgraded. On top of this, the presentation showed circulation space refinement. This process would include the additions of walls of foliage within the school that could allow for more fresh air within the buildings. Lastly was the addition of the press box, an elevated space with a set of stairs and an open, and enclosed, area.

“Our elementary school opened up in 2002, so it’s 24 years old now,” said Moore. “So there’s some wear and tear, maintenance that needs to happen. We want to modify some of the storage areas for our teachers, that they have really expressed the need for, and doing things like some roof repair.”

Moore noted that the board anticipated that a vote on this construction project for this year will occur in May.