FORESTVILLE — The Forestville Central School District has a lot of work to be done, and Jeff Hazel from Young and Wright Architects detailed to the public and school board all of that work that needs to be done.

One area of both the middle/high school and the elementary school that Hazel focused on was areas of the roofing on both buildings. While it’s more of a problem at the elementary school, there are segments of the high school as well where the roof is pooling water and some areas are growing vegetation.

“We want to keep all occupants safe, warm, and dry… Areas of the roof have deteriorated,” he said. “They’ve exceeded their useful life expectancy and are out of warranty.”

While some areas of the roof at the high school have been replaced, almost the entirety of the elementary school roof is in need of similar repairs.

One area within the school Hazel focused on was the bathrooms in the middle/high school, which are in need of major repair work. “We are looking to renovate the toilet rooms throughout the building,” said Hazel. “For us being the architects, this is the most fun part of the project, because this is the most design work. People will actually get to see something. Everything else is buried in walls, but we can pick out tiles, and put in new partitions and fixtures.”

High School Principal Dan Grande said the state of the bathrooms in the school draw frequent complaints from the student body, and they’re at the top of the priority list.

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“This isn’t a representation of one of the restrooms in the building, you can go through from the first floor all the way to the third, and this is the condition of all of our restrooms,” he said. “We’ve had toilets that have been non-functional for three years.”

Grande added the repairs would not only be for aesthetic purposes, but the current state of some of the fixtures also serve as a safety hazard.

“You look at the toilet bowls and sinks and you see all these hairline cracks,” he said. “We’ve had some incidents over the past few years where students have leaned on things and they’ve broken, and that sharp porcelain that’s there, I could see it being a huge safety concern.”

Another matter of safety is the doors on a few classrooms in the building. Hazel said that there are doors that are beat up, out of date, and Grande added the doors provide an immense safety hazard should the school ever face an emergency situation.

“I always look at safety issues,” said Grande. “If we were to have a real event where we lock down and first responders say we have to evacuate as soon as possible, the only way to get the students and staff is to physically open up those doors. It’s very difficult to do it in a hurry. Teachers have a very difficult time locking the door.”

Hazel said that the goal would be to make all door hardware uniform and accessible to everyone, including replacing any knobs, which can pose issues to those who have issues gripping doors, with levers, for ease of opening.

In total, the proposed project would require a total of nearly $8.5 million, with $750,000 of that coming from the school’s capital reserve fund, while the state covers the remainder of the project. Members of the public will have their chance to approve the capital outlay project at the school’s budget vote on Tuesday, May 17, from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The next Forestville school board meeting will be held on Thursday, June 9 at 6:30 p.m.