Lansing superintendent presents updates on $17 million project

The Lansing Central School District (LCSD) is looking to launch into the third phase of its capital project next spring, aiming to bring what district administrators consider much-needed upgrades to school facilities.

LCSD Assistant Superintendent of Business Administration Kathryn Heath presented updates on the nearly $17 million project, approved by voters in 2023, at the district’s board of education meeting Oct. 28.

Heath said that the third and final phase of the project was recently approved by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) in mid-October, which has prompted the district to move toward requesting bids from contractors.

The scope of phase three includes improvements to the Lansing High School courtyard, a new public announcement system for R.C. Buckley Elementary School and new doors for Lansing Middle School.

“We will be removing all the plastic in the high school courtyard, fixing the walls so they don’t leak and, ideally, updating the windows as well if we can fit it into the budget,” Heath said. “We are also looking for some outdoor access to bathroom facilities by the tech building, giving access for anyone at the tennis courts, baseball fields or during recess during the school day.”

Heath also said the doors at the middle school are outdated.

“They are original to the building, and we are hoping to get that up to code,” Heath said.

A full breakdown of the district’s plan can be found here:

Construction on the rest of the project could potentially extend into 2026, Heath said. The district posted notices to local bidders in local newspapers last week. A pre-bid conference is expected Nov. 7, she added.

“That gives the contractors who are looking to bid a chance to come in, walk the facilities, ask questions and get answers,” Heath said.

Sealed bids are due Dec. 5, she added.  

“We get better pricing in early winter,” Heath said.

Heath explained that contractors tend to look for work more assiduously in the winter, as the weather sometimes shrinks demand. 

“Most of those contractors already have work set up for the spring, summer and fall,” Heath said. “They are not looking for work the way they are now. Going out to bid now is really ideal.”

Construction would begin in early spring, potentially late winter.

Voters approved the project, dubbed Building Opportunities for Branding, Capital Improvements, Athletics & Teaching (BOBCAT), in January 2023 by a one-vote margin. The vote passed 447-446 after two recounts. Prior to that, a more expansive version of BOBCAT had been turned down by voters in November 2022. It was initially set to cost $23 million. 

The project is split into three phases and two different areas of improvement. The areas of improvement are infrastructure and safety upgrades, and physical education, athletics and community.

The district has already completed phase one and is in the process of closing out phase two. 

Construction on the project as a whole started in April 2023. Phases one and two, Heath said, included a wide array of improvements to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems at the middle school, as well as roof work across the campus.

“That was very much needed,” she said. “We also improved the high school gym floor.”

The middle school gym floor should also see upgrades over the district’s winter break. These include wall pads and new basketball hoops. 

An element that has made construction move perhaps slower than usual is state approval on design work. NYSED, the agency that approves construction work on public schools, used to have a backlog of about four to six months prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Heath said. 

“Then it became much longer because of all the people who submitted projects during COVID,” she said. “[Approvals] got backed up; NYSED are having staffing issues. It took way longer than we would have hoped, but we received approval about a week and a half ago.”

Lansing at Large appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter): @ezvelazquez.

In brief:

The book for the Lansing Community Library Book Club for Adults in November is “The Women” by Kristin Hannah. 

Discussion will take place Nov. 19 at the library, starting at 7 p.m. For more information on Book Club for Adults, contact Christina Forties at christinaf@lansinglibrary.org.

“[The discussion] is a fantastic chance to connect with fellow book lovers and talk about Kristin Hannah’s novel, ‘The Women,’” according to the library’s website. “This incredible read delves into a tumultuous period in history, offering an epic account of the role of women in the Vietnam War.”