GUILDERLAND — Under a new construction manager, the $17.3 million project to upgrade Guilderland’s seven school buildings, passed by voters a year ago, is proceeding on schedule, according to Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders.

Sanders told the school board Tuesday that a design estimate has been completed and is “essentially within budget.”

This fall, Sanders said, the architect, CSArch, and the construction manager, Turner Construction, will develop the phasing of the project and bidding specifications.

Over the summer, Wiles told The Enterprise, the district switched construction managers, from Sano-Rubin Construction Corporation to Turner, because “things weren’t going quite the way we hoped…It seemed they didn’t have the capacity,” she said of Sano-Rubin, which had managed the district’s last multi-million-dollar project. “We decided to go back to the runner-up,” Wiles said of Turner.

Gloria Towle-Hilt, who heads the board’s business practices committee, praised Turner Construction for so quickly stepping up and said, “They gave us a broad picture of the process….They really sound like they’re on top of things.”

The project will take 18 months to complete over the course of two summers, Sanders said. Bid specifications will be developed soon, he said.

The lion’s share of the $17,324,650 project includes $14 million for items like fixing roofs,  replacing or upgrading heating systems, paving, replacing floors or windows, and upgrading electrical and plumbing systems.

Another $1.5 million is for safety and security improvements. This includes $593,000 to restructure school lobbies, with the biggest changes at Guilderland Elementary and the high school, so that there are double sets of doors. Visitors will enter a door into a vestibule, where staff can see them, before they open a second door into the school.

The security portion also includes $393,900 for office and classroom locksets that can be quickly locked from the inside; $259,000 to add more surveillance cameras; $177,500 for electronic swipe card systems; $31,300 for computer server upgrades; and $28,300 for visitor management tracking software.

Finally, $1.8 million is for technology improvements with the biggest portion, $618,000, spent on mobile labs.

Sanders on Tuesday listed these target dates for the project: State Education Department approval is expected by January 2015, bids are to be awarded by March 2015, and construction is to begin that May.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Approved a memorandum of agreement with the Guilderland Administrators’ Association, which creates a single tenure area for assistant principals and house principals. Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Lin Severance called it “a very positive step forward,” recognizing the work that is done equally.  She commended the association for coming to the district with the idea;

— Approved a memorandum of understanding with the Technology Personnel, clarifying contract language. The negotiation cycle got stretched out over two years, Severance said, and “one of the newest members got caught in the middle.” He had received the old contract when he was hired and by the time the new contract was provided to him, it had changed, with, for example, fewer personal-leave and sick days. The memorandum allows him to be included under the old contract, said Severance, affirming that it was “a fairness issue”;

— Heard from Wiles that the opening of the school year was “excellent” but “not without challenges.” Grubs and poison ivy were mentioned; the board held emergency meetings to approve the use of pesticides to deal with grubs on the high school athletic field and poison ivy at Pine Bush Elementary. However, Wiles stressed that teaching and learning went well in a gleaming physical plant. “We’re off to a great start,” she said;

— Heard from Jack Scaccia, owner of Town ’N’ Country Lanes in Guilderland, who was distressed that he was not allowed to send flyers home with schoolchildren about his bowling programs while a competing program was allowed to. “How can I get my stuff in the backpack mail?” Scaccia asked.

Wiles responded that, for the flyer that went home with students, the sponsoring organization, the United States Bowling Conference, was a not-for-profit while Scaccia maintained that the money still goes to the bowling for-profit center. “We do have to follow the policy,” said board President Barbara Fraterrigo, recommending that Scaccia come in to talk about it;

— Learned that the New York Public Relations Association gave Guilderland an award of merit for its 2014-15 budget newsletter. More than 330 entries were judged by communications professionals and about one-third received awards. Wiles congratulated Amy McGeady, Guilderland’s publicist;

— Approved service agreements for students with disabilities with St. Catherine’s Center Day Treatment Program and with the Schenectady County Chapter of the New York State Association of Retarded Citizens Inc.;

— Approved federal IDEA Flow-Through funds agreements with Achievements, Advanced Therapy, Capital District Beginnings Inc., Center for Disability Services, Hillcrest Educational Centers Inc., Mountain Lake Academy, Parsons Child and Family Center, Springbrook NY Inc., Story Place Preschool Inc., Summit School, and Upstate Cerebral Palsy;

— Approved internship agreements with The College of Saint Rose School Psychology Program, The Sage Colleges Esteves School of Education, and Ithaca College School of Health Sciences and Human Performance;

— Extended for three years an agreement with other Suburban Council schools to buy football equipment together to save money. In the first three years, Sanders said, Guilderland had saved about $3,000 annually;

— Agreed to retain Girvin and Ferlazzo to represent the district as it bargains with the Guilderland Employees’ Association;

— Heard from Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Demian Singleton that the organic garden at the middle school donated over 419 pounds of fresh vegetables to the Regional Food Bank;

— Learned that Nancy Brumer, a Farnsworth Middle School teacher, co-authored an article, “Teaching the Talk, Not the Text,” which was published in this month’s Voices From the Middle, put out by the National Council of Teachers of English;

— Heard that Stacey Haas, a Guilderland High School science teacher, co-authored an article on incorporating literacy skills into instruction, in ChemMatters magazine;

— Approved a February 2016 trip to Paris, France and Barcelona, Spain, led by social studies teacher Jon Kauffman, which, Wiles said, aligned with the curriculum and the Common Core standards;

— Approved the formation of a Model United Nations club to be led by social studies teacher Frederick Kopff;

— Agreed to meet on Oct. 15 to vote to fill a vacancy on the board of the Capital Region Board of Cooperative Educational Services;

— Agreed to buy rock salt at $4.45 per bag for asphalt and “environmentally friendly ice melt” for concrete at $8.15 per bag from John Deere Landscapes, the lowest of five bidders. During a typical winter, Sanders said, Guilderland uses 850 bags of rock salt and 400 bags of ice melt;

— Accepted eight backpacks of school supplies from School Systems Federal Credit Union, which had already been given to needy students;

— Heard from board member Christopher McManus ideas to upgrade the section of the district’s website on school board members and activities. He suggested a biography and colored picture of each board member. “I like my photo from 10 years ago,” quipped O’Connell. “I know my good looks peaked in first grade,” McManus rejoined;

— Heard from board member Jennifer Charron that the district’s fall recycling event will be held on Saturday, Oct. 25, at Farnsworth Middle School. “We get paid on poundage,” said Charron, noting $2,500 was raised last time;

— Heard praise from Towle-Hilt for Farnsworth science teacher Alan Fiero whose latest grant for Pine Bush Preserve student projects brings to $300,000 the funding he has applied for and received over 15 years. The board applauded; and

— Went into executive session to discuss the potential discipline or dismissal of an employee and to talk about negotiations with the Guilderland Teachers’ Association.