Children in the Bradford Area School District will be arriving
to school today to see some noticeable and new changes.

Eugene Woodmansee, supervisor of maintenance and custodial
services, and a crew from the district, which included kitchen
help, teacher aides, custodial workers and maintenance personnel,
worked on many different projects this summer in the district.

The biggest project for the crew was to take out the seats in
the auditorium at Bradford Area High School – resulting in a
savings for the district.

“We started immediately with taking out the seats. Thursday was
graduation and Friday we started on the seats. It took 12 people 12
days to remove 1,500 seats,” said Woodmansee, adding the crew was
also able to take out the electrical wiring to save money.

He said there are now areas for handicapped accessible seating
in the auditorium as well. The flooring in the auditorium was
replaced, too.

Ati Air Technology removed asbestos from the auditorium floor
for $16,975. Meanwhile, stage lighting and sound system
improvements were made by Pure Tech Inc., for a total of
$231,388.

Woodmansee said the walls in the auditorium had been painted
before Christmas.

Also in the high school, work was done on five classrooms, a
teacher’s lounge and nurse’s suite.

He said every five or so years, the district tries to replace
lights.

Two new science labs are set to go for students at the high
school, also.

“They have a new revamped everything, except ceilings and
lights,” said Woodmansee.

“They have new water, gas and electric running. Fume hoods,
exhaust fans – everything,” he added, saying that an automatic gas
shut off was also put into place.

“The teachers are already excited,” he continued.

Woodmansee also said the rooms will be worked on one or two at a
time until they are all complete. There are six chemistry labs.

There is also a new scoreboard in place for sports events.

Meanwhile, an “old” area was fixed up like new for students.
There are new Bradford Owl banners set up with a bench for students
to sit at in an area off of Interstate Parkway. Sam Heyler’s class
helped to complete the project.

Elsewhere, George G. Blaisdell Elementary School received
2,200-square-yards of carpet, with work completed by the Carpet
Store at a price tag of $70,601.58. The school also received a new
gymnasium ceiling.

They also completed painting the backs of the grandstands as
well. The school also has a new outside sign.

At Floyd C. Fretz Middle School, ceiling fans were installed in
the gym and painted and replaced the water lines.

Lastly, at School Street Elementary School, students will be let
off from their buses at the back of the building in a brand new
parking lot, done by Wayne Paving.

This will make the system of dropping off students safer. Wayne
Paving received the bid award in June in the amount of $193,347,
with an additional $7,350 for subgrade and backfill added earlier
this month.

Landscaping was also done at the various school buildings.