Two years and counting...

school constructio...

I went downtown to The Hotel Syracuse to cover the Joint Schools Construction Board meeting. After almost missing it entirely (since the meeting ended early, and I arrived late), I spoke with Christine Fix, the secretary of the board. She explained to me exactly what was discussed at the meeting and what the board's plans are.

For the past two years, the board has been talking about renovating seven Syracuse schools, including middle schools, high schools, and pre-K through 8th grade schools. The project is supposed to cost about $900 million, but construction hasn't even started yet. She said today's and next Thursday's meeting (the meetings are held every Thursday) are extremely important because the board is almost done picking the architect for the project. Once the architect is picked, designs will be made and construction will begin. She hopes construction will be done in three years.

Fix said they received 57 different proposals from 21 different architecture firms, which is why it's taken so long to decide which firms to use. She says they're trying to use as many different firms as possible for the different schools so construction may begin on all seven schools at the same time. The reason the schools are being renovated, she said, is because many of them are simply outdated. They're in desperate need of a change to improve the "environment" for students. She said some of the schools were built in the 1800s and don't even have windows!

The project seems promising, but like Destiny USA and the Connective Corridor, who knows what will happen?