ELBRIDGE - Some changes may be coming to the Jordan-Elbridge Central School District.

The district will ask the community to authorize a capital project of about $26 million in school renovations dealing with instruction, athletics and drainage over the next several years.

“It's a very important priority to make opportunities for kids at J-E in line with other schools that have fantastic facilities,” Superintendent Marilyn Dominick said. “I don't want us to be thought of as the poor western suburbs.”

Renovations would occur at all three of the district's campuses with extensive work expected for the high school if the project is approved by taxpayers.

A vote is likely in June with a tentative date of June 10.

The district is looking to add spaces for a new technology/engineering curriculum as a way to introduce underclassmen students interested in manufacturing and technology to those areas before they are eligible for delving further at the Board of Cooperative Educational Services as upperclassmen.

“Our vision is that we become a prep center here in western Onondaga County,” she said. “We have terrific manufacturers in our community and right here on our borders.”

Dominick has contacted Joseph Vargo from Partners for Education & Business and Steve Maloney from the Manufacturing Association of Central New York, asking them to help the district form a think tank to create a curriculum and outline what materials and equipment the space would need to compare to the professional workforce.

Additionally, spaces will be added for special education and physical fitness. Auditorium seats and stage curtains will be replaced and high school administrative offices will be relocated to the front of the building.

The district is also looking to enhance its athletic program by creating a new athletic complex, which features the relocation of off-campus high school fields to the high school and the construction of a new stadium equipped with artificial turf. There are plans to resurface the existing track, replace the existing stadium grandstand, installation new parking and constructing a new building to house concession, locker rooms, restrooms and storage.

Dominick said that athletics have always been important to the school and enhanced facilities will promote achievement and attract good coaches.

She is aware of the controversy regarding the health and safety of synthetic turf and noted that, should the vote pass, the district will be looking at turf that hasn't yet been created. With that said, the district will look at natural grass should turf be officially deemed unsafe.

“If we find out that it puts our students in peril, we won't do it,” she said.

Also incorporated in the project is removing the existing aboveground water waste treatment plant and working with municipalities for an underground sewer system; fixing the water drainage problem at the southeast corner of the property; add signage and landscaping; and reconfigure the traffic flow to the front of the building.

Dominick says the project, currently estimated at $26 million, will come to virtually no cost to taxpayers. Almost the entire project is state aidable at 91 percent, she said, with aid also coming from the state Education Department's Expanding Our Children's Education and Learning program. By the time the district is ready to start work, she believes there will be $1 million in capital reserves, and there is still money left over from the last capital project completed last year.

Preliminary numbers indicate that, should voters approve, the local share will be “a penny or two per thousand,” she said.

“It's good news for the taxpayers,” she said, “of which I am one.”

Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net