A construction crew works on the retaining wall on School Street in front of the Lake Placid Middle/High School on Tuesday, May 12. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

LAKE PLACID — Students may be learning from home during the coronavirus pandemic, but there is still plenty of activity at the two Lake Placid Central School District buildings.

“It’s a very busy place,” LPCS Superintendent Roger Catania said Wednesday, May 27, referring to construction projects at the elementary and middle/high schools. “We actually sped up the progress here. So there’s more activity going on at the school than there would have been if students have been here in person.”

Voters approved a $19.1 million capital project proposal in May 2017. The plan includes three main areas: infrastructure, increased security and enhancements.

“This capital project was a number of smaller areas bundled into one,” Catania said, “areas we had identified over the years — many, many years.”

Infrastructure improvements include building maintenance such as new roofing for both buildings, window replacements, a new retaining wall in front of the middle/high school on School Street, the replacement of a pedestrian bridge at the Cummings Road exit and a “huge” replacement of the middle/high school heating system, taking out the steam heating system and putting in a hot water heating system.

Workers from the Elmer W. Davis commercial roofing company work at the Lake Placid Elementary School on May 12. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

“We replaced all the pipes. We replaced all the heating systems within each classroom,” Catania said. “They were not going to be able to get started until students were gone in the spring, but they actually made a ton of progress this spring.”

Increased security includes building new secure entrances at both buildings and putting bullet-protective film on all the windows.

“We’re either installing new safety glass, or we’re putting film — this is all high-tech stuff — on all of the existing glass as a way to really prevent intruders or any kind of threat from the outside,” Catania said.

Enhancements include a renovated front office and the addition of conference space at the elementary school, and the renovation of the middle/high school auditorium.

“It started with expanding the wings of the stage so that student performances and productions could be better carried out,” Catania said of the auditorium project.

Work continues on new roofing at the Lake Placid Elementary School, as seen here May 12. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

The auditorium work is currently underway, and it will include improving the sound system and the replacement of all the seats.

Construction began in the spring of 2019 and is expected to be completed by the end of the calendar year.