Dear Parents and Guardians:

It is hard to believe that in one week from today students will be returning to school on Wednesday, September 4.  Summer always goes fast, but this year’s construction has made the summer days fly by even more quickly.

Construction at all three schools started on the last day of school in June and has continued throughout the summer.  A booming construction market has made it difficult for the contractors to staff to optimal levels and resulted in a heating/air conditioning equipment production delay.  Construction will continue to the last moment before our staff return. Despite these struggles, school will be open to receive students on time.  In no short measure, this is due to the efforts of our Facilities Director, Mr. O’Beirne and the custodial staff.  They have worked diligently to clean and reorganize classrooms and will continue to do so through the holiday weekend.

This summer construction included:
• Installation of a new heating and air condition system at all three schools. Behind the scenes work will continue on these systems at night and these will be ready for the Fall heating season and Spring cooling season, as planned.   
• Existing classroom bathrooms (vintage 1950’s and 1960’s) were renovated and some were totally reconstructed to be ADA compliant. 
• Chatterton had additional classroom renovations and hallway bathrooms were completely updated (work that will occur next summer at Birch and Lakeside). 
• The Chatterton extension continues to progress and will be weather tight in the upcoming weeks.  This will allow interior construction throughout the Fall and Winter.

Because of this extensive construction, the cleaning of classrooms will continue through the Labor Day weekend.  Teachers, teaching assistants and aides will have first access to set-up their classrooms on Tuesday.  I greatly appreciate the efforts they will make to prepare for opening day.

Classrooms will be clean, safe and ready for learning when students arrive.  However, they will not be fully unpacked.  We will begin the year as we ended last year, with some boxes in classrooms.  I am confident that within a short period of time, everything will be up to the highest standards and the students will all be delighted the first day we use the air conditioning.

I thank you for your patience.  I am excited to see the children return to school as we have another fantastic year planned for our students.
Enjoy the remaining days of summer!

Sincerely,
Dominick Palma, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools