Mineola board of ed hears updates on facility projects

The Mineola Union Free School District Board of Education heard an update on the ongoing facility projects throughout the district at its Thursday, Oct. 22 meeting. Perhaps the most significant update was on the $1.6 million middle school gymnasium addition, which has experienced several setbacks, and is expected to be complete in the next five months, according to Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations Dianne Castonguay. The district terminated its contract with Borough Construction Group LLC in April 2026 after running into several conflicts over the quality of their work, almost two years after they were initially hired to undergo the project. In July of this year, Mineola entered a takeover agreement with Everest Reinsurance Company to complete the remaining work, which will be done by Beacon Merchants Construction at the same cost originally agreed upon. Board President Cheryl Lampasona expressed exasperation with how long it had taken but said there was not much the district could have done differently. "When we put out an RFP [Request for Proposal], a bid… we can't say 'oh we heard that you weren't good.' [If] they match the bid, according to New York State school law, we have to take them," she said. Most of the subcontractors will continue their work under Beacon Merchants Construction, except for the HVAC subcontractor. The project is an expansive one, including the addition of new coaching quarters, bathrooms, storage rooms, and a new retaining wall outside, in addition to the gymnasium itself. In one to two months, the outside masonry work is expected to be complete, along with the installation of an elevator. In two to four months, gym equipment and the PA system should be installed, and in four to five months, the final door, flooring, bleachers, and railings are set to be complete. Other ongoing projects include the three capital reserve improvements that voters approved in May which amounted to $3.3 million to be spent on the high school: a $1.7 million boiler replacement, an $875,000 HVAC upgrade for the fabrication lab, and a $725,000 HVAC upgrade for the auditorium. The district is preparing to submit documents to the State Education Department for the boiler replacement and hopefully start the project in the summer of 2027. The district has submitted the documents for the two HVAC updates and is awaiting approval. The district also plans to undergo those improvements next summer. The district has completed parking lot improvements at Cross Street School and playground resurfacing and second grade bathroom partition replacements at Meadow Drive School. The main office floor replacement and gym floor repainting at Jackson Ave School are currently put on hold. The district is also rethinking how it plans to hit its mandatory zero-emission bus goals since the state legislature pushed back the timeline by five years. Now each district in the state must purchase its first electric bus by 2032 and have its whole fleet electric by 2037. "We're reevaluating the timing of this design, and what it means for us," Castonguay said. The district is also undergoing its mandatory building condition survey, which must be done every five years. A draft is expected to be ready in December and will be presented to the public in January. The board also heard an overview of the school's literacy programs and goals presented by Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Learning Sara Ortiz and English teacher Georgia Amigdalos in response to questions from parents. Students in pre-k to third grade use a program called Fundations to help them "hear sounds and decode words," and children in kindergarten through third grade also use Geodes which has "decodable books that perfectly match the phonics rules kids are learning." The district just recently introduced Fundations to the third grade and they now use Spellography and Morphology, programs that explain why words are spelt the way they are. Most of these programs have an emphasis on teaching phonics, and they showed examples of assignments from a Spellography workbook. The two also said that in the secondary school, students are "reading for sustained periods of time," doing annotations throughout their readings, making double entry journals to compare documents, and engaging in book discussions. The district reviews literacy data for students every Fall and Spring. It evaluates state tests after fourth grade; NWEA, adaptive assessments that get harder as you go; and EasyCBM, which are one-minute timed assessments given to kids in grades K through two, three times a year. "They help give us a snapshot of information of where children are within their literacy learning," said Hampton Street School Principal Amaris Melendez of EasyCBM. Teachers can use these assessments to track students' improvement, or lack thereof, and address the situation if there is a problem. The district also made literacy resources available on the website for parents and guardians to look over. The board of education will hold its next meeting on Thursday, Nov. 5.

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