Good and bad news greeted the Secaucus Board of Education at its Aug. 21 meeting. While members learned that the cleanup of the oil contamination at the site of the new high school auditorium was complete, the collection of bids to actually construct the building has been delayed a week partly on account of the August 14 power outage.
The contamination, which tests showed to be from heavy heating oil, was found in April during routine test borings conducted in anticipation of seeking bids for the construction of a 1,000-seat auditorium. Acting quickly, school district administrators brought in the environmental firm PMK to gauge the extent of the contamination. The contamination was not found to be dangerous, but it needed to be cleaned up.
Board President Michael Schlemm said the cleanup, authorized at a July meeting, was done more quickly than expected because the source was found after digging.
“It was a 55-gallon drum of oil,” he said.
The drum – which may have been buried at some point during the school’s construction in the mid-1970s – had begun to decompose, spilling its contents. Because the oil was of an extremely thick variety, it did not spread far, and cleanup was a matter of picking up and relocating the soil.
The cost of the cleanup is expected to fall below the $77,500 cap the board set on it last month.
It remained unclear as to whether or not the cost of the cleanup would come from the general operating budget or from the $14 million construction bond. This issue is still being discussed, Schlemm said.
Just as the board solved the contamination, which had delayed somewhat the expansion of the middle school/high school complex, a power outage throughout the Northeast caused contractors to ask for an extension of the bidding deadline.
The original deadline for construction bids was August 26, at which time the board had scheduled a special meeting.
Board Administrator Ed Walkiewicz said requests to delay the bid collection came from several potential bidders who claimed the blackout had set their schedules behind. The board agreed to extend the bid deadline to Sept. 4 and set a special meeting for that date instead.
The board also scheduled a special meeting for Sept. 11, at which time members expect to award the bid.
Last September, voters approved a $14 million expansion bond to cover a range of repairs and changes to the schools including the conversion of former workshop spaces into classrooms, and other educational-based projects.
Work on the roof is already underway under a separate contract. The roof has been plagued with problems since the school’s construction and needed to be fixed before wet weather sets in, officials said.
The plan for expansion also includes turning two large workshops into eight regular-sized classrooms, and two special study rooms. Part of the reconstruction of the shops includes building an access corridor from a loading area to the cafeteria kitchen, allowing people to transport supplies and meals without using student hallways.
The project also set aside $400,000 to upgrade kitchen equipment from electric to gas and allocated more than $1 million to reconfigure rooms on the second level of the high school for science labs.
A huge amount of work was supposed to have been scheduled for this summer, but numerous difficulties arose, mostly due to a slow approval process from the state. The project will move ahead as soon as bids are awarded, with much of the interior work slated now for next summer instead.
Other board business
In other business, the board approved a resolution hiring Sterling Consulting and Technical Services as a consultant to the district’s new technology programs, and approved the purchase of a handicap-accessible bus from Jersey Bus Company.
In a move that has some implications for teachers planning their retirement this year, the board also voted to reject a state approved buyout plan. Board members said the new buyout comes too soon after a previous buyout was offered slightly over a year ago, and would not have a significant enough benefit to the school budget.
The board also authorized the posting for two positions recently vacated: an assistant volleyball coach and a sophomore class advisor.