DILLONVALE-Officials at Buckeye Local School District have wrapped up a slew of upgrades they conducted throughout the summer to improve facilities.
The scope of projects ranged from painting, flooring and carpeting to replacing heating and cooling units and updating restrooms in the schools, as well as adding new fencing and gates and repairing the asphalt walk track at World War II Memorial Stadium. Work also concluded on an estimated $600,000 track at the high school to replace the original.
Superintendent Coy Sudvary said the track will provide a safe surface for athletes and also lead to opportunities for future meets at the site.
“It’s been over 20 years since the track has been replaced and it’s well over its useful date,” he said. “We completely replaced the base and surface of the track and added two feet to the perimeter of the track to further stabilize it.”
Sudvary noted that the district was trying to be fiscally responsible while maintaining its facilities.
“We’re trying to maintain and improve the aesthetics and function of our facilities and doing preventative maintenance to upgrade them.”
Some other updates totaled more than $397,000 and were financed through permanent improvement funds. Among those costs were $74,750 for fencing and platform work and another $44,495 for concrete and handicapped-accessible bleachers at the stadium; $69,980 for restroom upgrades at Buckeye South Elementary; $69,913 for auditorium restroom renovations and another $48,875 for girls’ restroom improvements at Buckeye North; $53,825 for upgrades in the high school auditorium; and $34,886 for painting at Buckeye West.
Buckeye Local Jr./Sr. High School improvements included replacing boilers in the stadium, heating units in the athletic wing which includes the weight room, wrestling room and boys’ locker room, basketball backboards winches, safety straps and cables plus all the fiberglass windows in both gyms; adding new paint, carpeting and handrails in the auditorium; placing new floor tile and stair treads in the main stairwell while handrails were removed, powder coated and reinstalled; and putting new floor tile and stall dividers in the boys’ and girls’ restrooms while painting was completed in the senior high restrooms. Paintwork in the theater was provided by Petticord & Son Inc. of Wheeling.
“We put fresh paint, new carpet and new sound-proofing carpet in the back with new woodwork and banisters,” noted BLHS Principal Luke Parsons. “The goal in the next couple of years is to replace the seating and we’re getting new stage steps this year. The goal was to have the steps by the time we do major events in the theater.”
He thanked the school board along with Sudvary and district Treasurer Merri Matthews for supporting the updates.
Additionally, Buckeye West had all of its fiberglass windows and six air conditioners replaced while the hallways, cafeteria, and gym were painted by Karras Painting of Wheeling and Zeroski Excavating of Adena demolished the old playground; Buckeye North Elementary improved the auditorium restrooms with new ceiling tile, LED lighting, stall dividers, toilets, urinals and vanities, plus the second-floor girl’s restroom gained new stall dividers and vanities while a new heater was added in the gym; and Buckeye South Elementary received updates to both third-floor restrooms with new toilets, urinals, stall dividers and vanities and concrete repairs to the front sidewalk and rear steps from the gym.
Work rounded out at the stadium in Yorkville, which included new fencing and gates around the football field and parking lot area, a new ADA-compliant handicapped-accessible platform, new entry drive-in gates and repairs to the asphalt walk track while the small bleacher section was moved to the visitor’s side with additional concrete placed.
