The Seaford School District will ask the state’s Department of Education for more than $11 million for upgrades to electrical and HVAC systems at Seaford High School.
The district is one of several throughout the state filing a certificate of necessity to help it cover expenses for maintenance or new construction. In the case of Seaford High School, district officials contend that the building is in dire need of new heating and air conditioning equipment.
Doug Henry, the district’s buildings and grounds supervisor, says they want to upgrade systems in some classroom wings, the cafeteria, and the auditorium.
“We also went for the gymnasium at $2 million,” he told Board of Education members. “I'm pretty sure everybody was at graduation last year and our units there can barely keep up anymore. We had capacity in there and it got warm on us and there wasn't a whole lot we could do.”
Henry also stressed the need for upgrades to address air quality, something that state officials have been pushing lately.
“We're basically pumping in outside air into our buildings,” Henry said. “So what's that mean? The mold score count is 600 outside. What is it inside our building? Because we're just pumping that air and that's the air we bring.”
If the certificate of necessity is approved by the Department of Education, the district would need to pay some $3.5 million of the project’s cost, and to do that, they would have to go to the voters, said Superintendent Sharon DiGirolamo.
“So if approved for the CN, we would then have to go to the public for referendum for the CN process,” she said.
The district’s last successful referendum, for operating expenses, was in 2020.
Board of Education members approved the certificate of necessity application unanimously, and a decision is expected later this year.
