After hearing about the needs of each school in the school district, the Seaford School Board voted to approve Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds Doug Henry’s recommendation to apply for a certificate necessary to make renovations to Seaford High School during last Monday’s meeting.

Henry presented the following building assessment figures for renovations to the schools: Blades Elementary School, $25,960,000; Central Elementary School, $32,972,000; Frederick Douglas $36,268,000; West Seaford Elementary School, $40,092,000; Seaford High School, $18,666,000; and Seaford Middle School, $83,087,000 (which would include a sprinkler system if do work).

Henry said the district decided to go with the high school project, adding that the Delaware Department of Education (DOE) will cap renovation funding at $15 million in order to address multiple school districts.

He said the high school building’s roof was installed in 1997, which is close to the 30 year life expectancy of a school roof. Other work planned at the school, if DOE approves the certificate of necessity and a referendum passes, includes: roof replacement ($7,437,800); replace HVAC system in gym ($2,031,905); replace cafeteria HVAC system ($943,341); replace HVAC in auditorium ($1,274,129); insulate kitchen refrigerant piping ($7,942); replace existing exhaust fans on roof ($479,287); and perform CHPP generator feasibility study ($20,175) for a total of $14,389,226 ($12,194,259 in renovations, $2,194,967 in soft costs).

The board voted unanimously in favor of applying for the certificate of necessity. If the CN is approved, the referendum will probably take place in February or March. The certificate necessity, vote, bidding, and the rest of the project is expected to take place in three or four years.

The board voted to approve the athletic director’s recommended athletic ticket prices. They are as follows: 

General Admission Varsity Football and HS Volleyball $5; JV Football, MS Football and MS Volleyball $3 and Winter Sport General Admission JV/Varsity Contests (BBB, GBB, BW, GW) $5; MS Contests (BBB, GBB, Wrestling) $3. All tickets will be sold online only through GoFan, no money will be collected at the gate.

The board also voted in favor of the following changes to the Nutrition Services Meal Prices: Adult lunch and breakfast increased to $3.40 for breakfast and $5.20 for lunch and adult entree from $2 to $2.25.

Increases to the FY Nutrition Services Salary Schedule for 10 year staff was also presented and approved by the board. At the beginning of the meeting the board held a moment of silence for Jeff Johnson, who coached in and ran the Seaford youth basketball league.

All district students will be in school by today (Thursday). Schools will be closed Sept. 4-7 for Labor Day. The next board meeting will be Sept. 14.