Milford’s Menagerie: The MCS 2025 Capital Project

By BILL BELLEN
MILFORD

Nestled neatly between the rolling hills of Oneonta and the baseball-infused Americana of Cooperstown lies the quaint Village of Milford. This is the proud home of Milford Central School, where 342 students commute across the district to enrich and enhance their education.

However, as anyone who has been to the school knows, the physical quality of this educational facility has begun to wane in recent years. This is the driving motive behind the district’s highly anticipated capital project; an initiative intent on bringing new life to this upstate community.

Windows with broken seals seep wintry air and chill classrooms. Kitchen utilities predate the building they reside in. Ventilation is inadequate and outdated. These issues will all be addressed in energy-saving measures via the capital project, providing a more insolated building with technology that will make possible a variety of new meal options for Milford’s dedicated cafeteria staff to prepare. Upgrades and refurbishments are also planned in the performing arts center and the upper playground, giving students revitalized environments in which to play and perform.

“I gotta tell you, the bus garage is in real need of some love,” Kristen Shearer, superintendent of the Milford Central School District, answered when asked about the most integral parts of the project.

The bus garage will see full renovations, including roof replacement and technological revamps.

Energy efficiency, maintenance and repair, and expanding curriculum opportunities are the cornerstones of this endeavor. Capital projects are integral to maintaining and improving educational environments across the state. The process starts with the New York State Education Department’s Building Conditions Survey that occurs at each school every five years—seven in the case of Milford, due to a backlog. This survey helps officials draw up recommendations regarding what should, or needs to be, renovated on school property. Meetings with architects can take more than a year following this survey, where plans are created to maximize the life spans of new additions and address safety and environmental concerns, such as the replacement of the outdated fuel tank.

Given the condition of some school facilities, members of the MCS student body have questioned how officials allowed certain aspects to fall so far behind.

Aidan McWaters, a senior at Milford, believes improvements to the parking lot are crucial.

“When I heard the school was addressing the parking situation I was ecstatic. I think it’s been an issue in dire need of being addressed,” McWaters said.

His sentiments are echoed by a number of students, as the condition of the lot has continued to decline due to the excess water flow from the hill above.

Delilah Levinson, a senior at MCS and a representative of the Milford Education Foundation, believes the playground is the most important of the school’s facilities being addressed in the capital project.

“An inclusive playground ensures that children of all abilities, including those with disabilities, have the opportunity to play, socialize and engage with their peers. This not only promotes physical activity and development, but also promotes a sense of belonging and equality,” Levinson said.

Being ADA compliant is a major focus of the capital project and is something that many believe would benefit the educational experiences of a sizable portion of the student body.

While some students feel the school has fallen behind, many issues are more complicated than they may first seem.

When asked how she felt about the archaic state of some portions of the school, Shearer said, “I think I can disagree with the wording of it. I think that this building, it might be old, but it’s been really well maintained.”

Maintenance is not free, and some of the issues plaguing the school, like the heaving parking lots, are ones that can only be addressed with the expansive funding of a capital project.

Milford’s custodial and grounds staff work year-round to provide the best environment for students to learn in. The work that can be done with a project of this scale will dwarf that of what smaller, annual capital outlay projects like the new entry doors last year can muster.

Another aspect to consider is the role the capital project plays in a wider plan of district regionalization in the region. Numerous schools are beginning to tailor programs to better accommodate specialized courses. This is being done to draw students, whether in person or virtually, from other districts to access technology or classes otherwise unavailable to them.

The science room upgrades and replacements will give Milford an edge when it comes to Project Lead the Way programs, which prioritize STEM-based learning (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in the classroom. This will allow the school to promote more in-depth technology and science courses in comparison to neighboring districts. Milford’s administration hopes that offering courses like these will help inspire the student body to pursue fields involving these specialties. These specialized classes are also intended to encourage student migration from outside the district, helping to offset over a decade of enrollment decline.

Despite the many positives that come with the capital project, one word is attached to all these plans that strikes resentment into the mind of any American: taxes. This project will result in a marginal increase in school taxes in the district, with some caveats, from 2027 to 2041.

Many community members became concerned with excessive spending in the project, given this prospective hit to their wallets. The Capital Project Committee has been very transparent with plans and open with discussion to the community, addressing concerns such as the student suite renovations, as well as the bus garage.

“The bus garage was a question, but I think once we talked about how old the bus garage was and how the roof was over 60 years old, you know, the consensus was they don’t last that long,” said Marissa Christensen, the school’s business manager.

Milford has made many documents public for community viewing, and as the realization of the project approaches, numerous community events will be held to allow stakeholders to see progress and provide their input. A collection of all public documents relating to the capital project can be found on the documents page of the school’s website at https://www.milfordcentral.org/documents/district/board-of-education/capital-project/581595.

After talking to students on the ground and community members around town, it is clear that the community has gotten behind these ambitions. While the vote to pass the project budget may have been contentious, clear communication, strong motivation, and evident benefits to much of the community and their children have won many over.

It is just a few short months until the first active stage of the capital project begins, and the buzz around what is to come can already be felt in the air.

“We give updates at every board meeting,” Shearer said. “If you have questions or need more information or want more information, you can contact me anytime.”

The Milford Central School of today may look very different to that of tomorrow, but one thing will surely remain consistent no matter what: the presence of an active, dedicated community that is committed to enriching the minds of their next generation.

Bill Bellen is a senior at Milford Central School.