Trending
The departure of one partner with the Fredonia Central School District will allow for another partner to grow.
At a recent meeting, the Board of Education approved a rental agreement of eight classrooms at the Wheelock campus, to be used for the Little Seeds preschool program through Children's Educational Services, for a total of $52,000.
"The Little Seeds partnership has been amazing," Wheelock Principal Amy Piper said. "It really has been a game-changer. They are a class act."
Superintendent Dr. Brad Zilliox noted a previous concern at Wheelock was the amount of individuals entering the building with Wheelock, Little Seeds, and BOCES professional development services all utilizing space on the campus.
"We thought a lot about that, and eventually decided that we would move on from our agreement with BOCES, to no longer have them be part of Wheelock," Zilliox said. "... To compensate for some of those rooms that BOCES occupied, Little Seeds expanded their footprint in the building, along with also trading off some spaces with us that gave us a little more space for some of our special area classes. It was sort of a win-win all the way around."
Another agreement at Wheelock, however, has not gone as smoothly.
Regarding the district's Capital Outlay Project, Fredonia has moved on from its original contractor, Siemens, based of Jamestown, for part of the project. Zilliox referred to the project as "an ongoing saga," as he described the district's intent to improve the entryway of the school.
"We started off with a great plan that seemed to be crystal clear with all kinds of assurances that this would happen sometime over this past summer and be done for the opening of the school. Unfortunately that did not happen," Zilliox said.
The contractor that submitted the lowest bid, Siemens, was unable to fulfill the scope of the project, which was later broken into two phases, Phase 1 and Phase 2.
"We are doing our best to work through it. Part of the solution was to break the project into two pieces, Phase 1 and Phase 2," Zilliox said. "... It's been a process, and we are sorry that there's been delays."
At the recent meeting, Fredonia's Board of Education approved the bid from a new contractor, Transit Construction, to work on Phase 2 of improvements at Wheelock. Young and Wright Architecture is overseeing the Capital Project.
Phase 2 of the project includes the installation of a teller window at Wheelock and a coiled fire shutter, at a total cost of $35,000. The remaining work for the project is yet to be settled.
The work on Phase 2 will begin as soon as possible, according to Zilliox, who hesitated to give a definite timeframe. "ASAP," Zilliox said.