Major projects at William Floyd almost ready

The William Floyd School District is seeing the completion of major parts of its almost $40 million capital project, which voters approved in fall 2017. The full scope of the project includes millions of dollars in building upgrades, and big-ticket items like a new multipurpose field at the high school, an adaptive playground accessible to everyone, and a refurbished auditorium.

The football field behind Nathaniel Woodhull Elementary School is expected to see some players just before homecoming, according to district spokesman James Montalto. The football team is expected to play there for the first time at the homecoming game Oct. 5. It’s an all-turf field with a new track that is adaptable to multiple sports like football, field hockey and soccer. The teams have been playing on an alternate field, which will also be redone. When both are completed, multiple teams will be able to play at once.

As the Advance reported before the 2017 vote, the Lincoln Avenue sports field and sports area would be upgraded with synthetic turf, new rubberized track, new prefabricated press box and lighting upgrades, and the sports area near Nathaniel Woodhull Elementary would be enlarged to include lacrosse, soccer and field hockey and a six-lane rubberized track. The Lincoln Avenue field will be completed next.

“In addition to the infrastructure improvements that are continuing to happen across the district, we are excited to be able to highlight the more prominent ones to the community such as the new adaptive playground and, in the near future, the first multisport turf field and the high school auditorium, to name a few,” said William Floyd superintendent Kevin Coster. “I am grateful for the community’s support on this project and the foresight of the board of education and my administrative team in helping this project come to fruition, with zero additional tax impact for residents.”

The capital project was approved without additional taxes, due to state aid for the district and monies from the district’s capital reserve.

The adaptive playground was recently opened at Nathaniel Woodhull Elementary, an initiative prompted by local resident Debbie Metz, founder of the Mastic Sports Club Kyle Sports for Special Needs Program located at the Moriches Sports Complex. The playground is wheelchair accessible and has different features that can be a good fit for any student who wants to play. It will be open to other district students as well, and community members have already tested it out.

“Our community is worth investing in; it’s important that our families realize there are resources in and around this community for our kids — and kids of all needs and all ages — to enjoy a little play time,” said Robert Vecchio, president of the board of education.

The auditorium at William Floyd High School is also almost complete. The space has all new seating, a new stage, new lighting and sound equipment, and updated acoustics. Students will be able to use the space in the coming weeks as workers put on the finishing touches.

While these major projects are almost done, upgrades from the capital project will continue over the next couple of years.