BOCES makes progress on $48M project

NORWICH – With less than 30 working days remaining to complete construction at the Delaware, Chenango, Madison, Otsego BOCES campus in Norwich, administrators say it is crunch time.

While the $48 million project continues to meet schedule and budget demands, Director of Career and Technical Education (CTE) Stephen Perrin said during a building tour Thursday, “The contractors are trying to finish a lot of work in a little amount of time.”

Perrin said contracting crews – Bette Cring LLC (Watertown) and Sarisian Brothers (Binghamton) – have worked hard to condense roughly a four-year project into one and a half years.

“They work very fast,” said Perrin. “At times it seems as though the contractors chase each other around in order to get everything done.”

Perrin said between 50 to 75 contractors are on site at any given time and special work crews have been coming in to complete assignments.

Since breaking ground in May 2007, the entire BOCES campus on East River Road has been expanded by approximately 40,000 square feet.

By Memorial Day, employees and students were moving into the new, two-story structure that houses special education and Career Academy students. The new building allows Career Academy students, who attend BOCES like a regular high school in order to achieve a Regents diploma, to have a designated learning space.