$50 million in upgrades to be completed by fall 2028

The Beacon school district's $50 million capital improvement project, approved by voters last year, will begin this fall and continue through late 2028. One of the major upgrades will be air conditioning.

Building condition surveys in 2023 and 2024 led the district to propose sweeping improvements to its six schools - its largest capital project in at least 15 years - on the May 2024 ballot. Voters approved the measure, 711-244.

The school board on Monday (Aug. 11) awarded PowerGen Electric, an Orange County firm, and ENL Mechanical, of Somerville, New Jersey, contracts of $108,450 and $1.74 million, respectively, to begin the work, which will commence with replacement of the cooling system and water heaters at Beacon High School once air conditioning has been shut down for the year. The boiler will be replaced in the spring or summer, after the winter heating season, the district said.

The baseball and softball fields at the high school will be rebuilt, beginning in the spring of 2026, with artificial-turf infields and grass outfields. The tennis courts will also be resurfaced.

The summer of 2026 will be busy, with security improvements made at five schools. Security vestibules like the one at Glenham Elementary, where a visitor's ID must be confirmed before a person enters, will be installed at Beacon High School, Rombout Middle School and South Avenue, Sargent and J.V. Forrestal elementaries.

Upgrades also will be made that summer to Seeger Theater at the high school, while air conditioning will be installed in the cafeteria and gymnasium at South Avenue to create "cooling centers" for students on especially hot days. Each of the four elementary schools and Rombout Middle School will have their gyms and cafeterias air-conditioned over the course of the project.

Although not initially part of the proposal approved by voters, architects devised ways to stay within budget while adding air conditioning to up to 50 percent of the classrooms in the elementary schools, including at South Avenue in the summer of 2026. Second-floor rooms and those with southern or eastern exposures will be prioritized.

Sargent will get the cooling centers and AC in select classrooms in the spring of 2027. In the summer of 2027, Glenham will get cooling centers plus AC in select classrooms, and the middle school will get cooling centers, bathroom upgrades and a new roof. In 2028, Forrestal will get cooling centers and AC, a new roof and window and bathroom repairs.

The AC installations will make it easier for Beacon to comply with a law enacted by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Dec. 14 that requires school districts to lower the temperature if a classroom or support space reaches 82 degrees. The areas must be evacuated if they hit 88 degrees.

"High heat" days are increasing locally. Ninety-degree days in the Hudson Valley have grown from about 10 a year in the 1970s to 30 or more today, according to data compiled by the New York State Water Resources Institute at Cornell University. By 2050, the number is projected to rise to 50.

Among the other capital improvements, Forrestal will have an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant entrance installed next summer, and Glenham will get a new roof and bathroom upgrades. Beacon High School will receive improvements to its swimming pool.

Beginning in the spring of 2027 and continuing through the fall, district administrative offices on Education Drive will get ADA-compliant bathrooms, an elevator and a new boiler. A 30-year-old underground fuel tank at the transportation garage will be replaced with an above-ground tank.

Roof work will continue at Rombout in 2028, along with a metal deck replacement at the middle school and replacement of the septic system at Glenham, which is not served by the municipal sewer system.

Finally, the district will spread the installation of new fire alarm and public-address systems at its buildings over the three-year project, Per...