The Fredonia Board of Education will welcome architects from Young and Wright to its Tuesday meeting to discuss the conditions of the district’s facilities. Fredonia will receive information from its Building Conditions Survey, which Young and Wright conducted throughout the past year to assist in the formulation of the district’s next major capital project.

“I’m excited about our facilities report and moving things forward,” said Board of Education member Lisa Powell Fortna.

Board of Education member Aaron Marshall echoed, “I’m excited about moving forward.”

The Building Conditions Survey takes into account all aspects of the district’s facilities, from boilers, doors, roofing and windows, but also the hot topic in the district for many years, its athletic fields. Fredonia Superintendent Dr. Brad Zilliox noted ongoing discussions regarding athletic facilities throughout the district.

Ed Schrantz is shown speaking about the district facilities.

“Although this process has a global focus, this does not mean that there will not be discussion regarding individual areas of focus throughout our larger facilities, for example, perhaps our athletic fields or athletic facilities,” Zilliox said.

Zilliox continued, “We understand that there are a variety of subgroups of individuals in the community that may be honing in on one area to consider for improvements, but we also want to recognize that it’s difficult to look at things in isolation without considering the larger project or the needs of the district. … There’s obviously a balance between the big picture and those individual areas where we are looking to improve or our community is looking to improve. We will certainly pay attention to all of that in this process.”

Young and Wright will present its findings throughout the yearlong process and offer its suggestions for the district. Representatives will also field questions from the members of the Board of Education.

“They will be outlining work that they believe should be completed as part of this process, and work that could be completed as part of this process,” Zilliox said. “… We are looking forward to receiving this information and beginning the process of looking at next steps for our district.”

The district is evaluating ways to receive input from the community as a whole regarding its needs. Among the suggestions Zilliox listed was a survey to offer to all district residents, along with forums and committees to allow for additional input.

“We have been listening, and will continue to listen to thoughts, concerns, and questions from our school community. Input from our community causes us to assess, reflect, consider how we can adjust and adapt, and also how we can process what needs to happen or not happen moving forward as a district,” Zilliox said. “We will be building community input and feedback into our process for reviewing this information.”

In terms of a timeline, Zilliox shared a hypothetical scenario of reviewing and prioritizing the information received at the presentation through the end of 2023 and into early 2024. From that point, community feedback will be taken into account over the following months as the district evaluates what steps to take next.

“I’m excited that we are finally going to have some control over it,” said Board of Education Vice President Steven Johnston. “Young and Wright said it would be a year – it’s not like they are delayed, they said late fall last year – but the ball has been in their court the whole year. … Now it will come to us and it will be our motivation.”

A final scope and budget selection is targeted for next fall, with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and board resolutions pertaining to the project set to be introduced late next fall. December 2024 is the unofficial target for the district to go out for a vote on a capital project. Business Administrator John Forbes suggested a December vote because it puts the district out in front of the construction season for soliciting bids on the project.

The meeting featuring Young and Wright’s presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, at 6 p.m., in the Fredonia High School Library.