Parents Concerned With NY Mills School Cafeteria Project

Parents and taxpayers are starting to lose their patience with a standstill that has occurred with the New York Mills School District and their cafeteria renovation project. The project began at the end of the school year in June 2016, and after soon after school began, things halted. Now the kids are limited on their recess options, and are eating in the elementary school gymnasium.

Despite what many may think, it appears to not exactly be the fault of the school district. According to a letter sent home to parents, there is an issue with one of the original contractor agreement. In the letter it says, "One of the Contractors on the project has raised questions about what is required under the contract documents. We are wroking with the Architect, the Contractor, and the representatives of the various partie to resolve those questions and move forward at the earliest possible time." This letter from NY Mills Superintendent Katherine Houghton basically explains that the school is having to deal with legal red tape, and that their hands are essentially tied at this point.

Don Smith is a father of children in the district, and a tax payer. He tells us his concern was more so the lack of communication initially into why there was a delay. He says, "As far as the delay in the project I feel both as a parent, and a taxpayer, that I shouldn't of had to contact the school about why I have seen zero progress, or work being done on the site." He also says that kids are forced back to classrooms for recess to play board games, and read instead of getting physical activity. Hopefully the school can come to a resolution on this before the winter weather creeps in. The lack of progress has left the interior of the building susceptible to the elements.

With regard to actual lunches, the students have not had hot meals until recently. Smith says, "Yesterday was their first hot lunch of tacos. The superintendent stated that they were exploring options to get warm meals a few days a week." The problem that remains is with minimal equipment it's hard to keep the food warm from the start of lunches at 10:30 a.m. until the last shift at 1:30 p.m.

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