Long awaited overhauls to some of Syracuse’s oldest public schools could finally be completed.

The Joint School Construction Board has announced an estimated $300 million in funds for the Syracuse City School District to renovate 15 schools as part of a citywide project.

“With our aging school infrastructure, we had a lot more needs than we did borrowing capacity, so the state created the joint school board,” said Joseph Barry, secretary to the JSCB.

On Jan. 22, the state Senate unanimously passed an amendment that would ensure Mayor Stephanie Miner control of the JSCB as they oversee the funds for the second phase of the project.

The bill has not been voted on in the Assembly, said a spokeswoman for N.Y. State Sen. John DeFrancisco, who sponsored the bill. Van Robinson, president of the Common Council, said he doesn’t have any doubts about the bill’s passage.

The budget is a tentative “wish list,” Barry said. He added that it depends on a plan that doesn’t get schools too deeply into debt. The current bill could take several months until it is disbursed.

Robinson said round one of renovations was a “learning process,” adding that the board has learned from both their own mistakes and from those of Buffalo’s school renovation projects. Despite slow progress at times, Robinson said these missteps had a silver lining, as the city of Rochester is using Syracuse’s pitfalls as a learning lesson.

Phase two, like all improvements, must pass through the bond process.  After the budget is approved, contractors conduct a “need assessment” for each school. After the state of disrepair is gauged into a repayable amount, schools rebuild what is needed and are reimbursed by the state department of education. The bonds can be paid off in a span of 20 to 30 years.

“The average age is 78, but there are some schools that are close to 100,” Robinson said, adding that some schools, such as H.W. Smith K-8, have never had major renovations due to lack of funding.

Built in 1960, H.W. Smith is not a “cookie cutter school,” said Sharon Birnkrant, the school’s principal. Looking like a “Piet Mondrian printing,” its terrazzo floors, stainless steel banisters and white tiled walls give it character that could have easily been lost during extensive renovations. Contractors worked to keep the vision of the school while sustaining the updates needed for a 21st century building.

“They had good bones, as they say on HGTV,” she said with a laugh. “You have to build on what’s good and solid in the building.”

The last of four schools renovated in phase one, H.W. Smith had single-paned glass, no insulation and encased asbestos in its walls. With the renovation money, the school was able to remove the asbestos, as well as upgrade its library, roof, bathrooms and electricity.

“The needs and upgrades have changed,” she said. “Brick and mortar is more than just bricks and mortar. It’s desks. It’s furniture. It’s all kinds of things.”

Birnkrant added that students were proud to “come home” when the school re-opened this winter.

“One Channel 9 reporter said it looks ‘classy,’” she said. “I went for classy, I like classy. And that’s the other thing — you want the neighborhood to be proud of it.”

Robinson, the Common Council president, said he’s extremely proud of what the board has accomplished.

“I would invite you to look at the faces of the children who have left their school for a year and have returned to that school after its completion,” Robinson said, when asked how the renovations could affect students. “I think that would answer your question.”

Published on January 29, 2014 at 2:01 am