The Dunkirk City School District’s $83.7 million capital project, which broke ground in October, is well underway.

Superintendent Brian Swatland and Tim Abbey, the school district’s buildings and grounds supervisor, recently offered a tour to the OBSERVER.

The addition just off the main entrance still awaits plywood, electrical and flooring installation. Framers, masons, electricians and drywallers were all working towards that. They labored away in torch-lit spaces devoid of any walls — it took a bit of imagination to envision the administrative and counseling offices that will occupy the area.

Abbey said one of the highlights of the new building is that parents will have a separate entrance they can use for counseling sessions. He was expecting a big delivery of drywall on the day of the tour.

Lit by an electric torch, a worker carries on at a new administrative building addition under construction in Dunkirk’s secondary school.

The STEM classroom is more towards the interior of the building. It’s basically a concrete shell at the moment, blocked off from a previously existing hallway.

Abbey said that overall, construction of the classroom and addition are on schedule.

Swatland said they are part of Phase 1.1 of the district’s capital project, approved by voters last year. Phase 1.1 is supposed to be complete “sometime in August,” he said.

There is also a plan for reusing old football field turf in a new outdoor eating area, he added.

Phase 1.2 “will go out to bid soon” and “should start right around September, earlier if they can,” Swatland said. That phase includes air conditioning and ventilation improvements for the intermediate school, School 3, and School 5.

Tim Abbey, the Dunkirk City School District’s buildings and grounds director, stands in a STEM classroom under construction at the secondary school.

Phase 1.3 should begin “in the fall,” the superintendent continued. The phase will add a new connection to the 100 wing at the secondary school. A new kitchen and cafeteria will be constructed at the school. The secondary school will also see air conditioning and ventilation improvements.

District officials also intend a new family health center at the secondary school for Phase 1.3. They envision an area where students, their families, and district employees can visit a doctor or a dentist without leaving school grounds.

Swatland said improvements to the baseball and softball fields have been pushed back.

“We had to adjust our phases to maximize our reimbursement from the New York State Department of Education,” he said.