Livingston Public Schools

Learning cottages or trailers have arrived at two Livingston Public Schools as part of the construction for the $55.9 million Livingston Public Schools facility upgrade project, of which $22.4 million will be funded by State Aid.

Board Administrator Steven Robinson and Construction Project Manager Jamie Perrette of Turner Construction Company inspected the eight new learning cottages and bathroom facilities that arrived at Mount Pleasant Elementary and Middle Schools last week. Perrette said he expects trailers to arrive at the other schools in the near future and workers will begin preparing them to house classrooms this fall.

Also at Heritage, utility workers installed new poles to accommodate utility lines for the new trailers.

Individual work on classrooms in eight of the District’s nine schools will mean that some classes will need to be housed in trailers temporarily while the work is being done, Robinson explained.  Phase two, work on individual classrooms, will begin Sept. 1 with a completion date for all of the work on target for the summer of 2012.

Work on Phase one of the project is under way as workers are busy installing attractive new windows with blue trim and Integral Blinds at Heritage Middle School. This means that the windows will have blinds between the glasses and are safer for children.

Workers are also demolishing the staircase at Harrison School to prepare for an elevator and doing other preparation work at Riker Hill School to install a wheelchair lift. The elevator and wheelchair lift are required improvements so the District can comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Also at Riker Hill, laborers are building a new storage room in the back of the school to make up for storage space lost by the new wheelchair lift.

Ceiling tiles are also being removed across the District to prepare for electrical service upgrades in the eight schools. Laborers are removing old air conditioning systems and working to install new ductwork and special HVAC units which will provide air conditioning in all classrooms as well as new Automatic Temperature Control Systems.