Shortly before school opened this week, school officials invited the public to see what had been accomplished over the summer in three capital improvement projects at the Bromfield School. While a few aspects of the projects remain uncompleted, visitors could still see some dramatic changes.
A safer, drier, brighter parking lot
Bromfield’s upper parking lot is no longer a rutted, unlighted field that becomes a muddy mess in the rain. The newly paved lot has 95 numbered spaces, five handicapped-accessible parking spaces, and one space designated for anyone at the school—student or adult—who is on call as an EMT. Along the lot’s front edge are four visitor parking spaces.
The Bromfield parking lot, repaved, reconfigured, and soon with lights! (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Bromfield seniors will be assigned spaces in the back row of the lot, Superintendent Linda Dwight said at the Friday morning open house. More spaces may be allocated for student parking later, depending on faculty and staff usage, she said.
At the west end of the parking lot, the land slopes down to a water treatment area that will hold runoff from the lot and filter it through the soil before it reaches Bare Hill Pond, reducing pollution in the pond.
The parking lot’s safety features include well-marked crosswalks and raised sidewalks all around the periphery, so that pedestrians do not need to walk behind parked cars and wonder which one might suddenly back up. The new lot will have four tall streetlights, but only the posts are now in place. The LED fixtures are expected in a few weeks, Dwight told the School Committee Monday night.
But change orders raised cost
Dwight and Chairwoman SusanMary Redinger also told the committee about two change orders for the parking lot that led to a $12,400 cost overrun on the $330,000 project. The contractor, Sunshine Paving of North Chelmsford, requested the change orders. One resulted from the need to excavate more ledge than expected, and the other was for more underground electrical work for the lights.
DPW Director Rich Nota, who oversaw the project, reviewed both change orders and approved them Aug. 11, according to forms he submitted to Dwight along with a letter explaining them. However, Sunshine had already done the work in question by that time, with Nota’s approval.
At Monday’s meeting, Redinger expressed concern about the process by which the overrun was approved. “You were available,” she said, addressing Dwight, “and I was available, and Rich Nota does not control the funding. I have an issue with the fact that he didn’t at least run it by you sooner, and we’re now getting this after the fact.”
Both Redinger and Dwight agreed that they probably would have approved the change orders, but Redinger noted that it was important to get the process right because of the elementary school construction project that is coming up. “We need to improve the process and make sure we are informed of overages,” she said.
The committee voted unanimously to pay the overage from the money MassDevelopment pays the Harvard schools for educating students who live in Devens. That income was the source of the money for the project as a whole.
Improved science rooms, bathrooms
Inside the school, both the chemistry room and the physics room have new furnishings and new ventilation systems. In both cases, a few pieces of equipment had not arrived as of Monday but are expected soon.
The chemistry lab features new work stations that are adjustable in height so they can be used either as desks during lectures or as lab tables when students are doing experiments. Four students can work at each of the six tables. Around the room, new storage cabinets hold supplies and equipment. However, the ventilation hood was not yet installed because some of the required parts had not arrived in the shipment.
Likewise, the physics lab has new tables and new storage cabinets that hold an array of equipment. The new chairs had not yet arrived, though, Dwight said.
All the interior classroom work for the new ventilation system has been done, Dwight told the School Committee, but the new roof units are not expected until late September. They can be installed without interrupting class work, she said. In the meantime, the old units are still in operation.
Bromfield’s student bathrooms are lighter, brighter, and easier to keep clean as a result of the renovations.
All in all, Dwight said, “We’re ready for the students, and we’re excited to have them back.”
