Work progresses at Number Six School

When Efrain Hernandez looks out the front door of his Church Avenue home in Woodmere, the sight of the Number Six School, where he attended first through fifth grades, unleashes a flood of memories.
“I can remember all my teachers’ names, and when I was in second or third grade there was a big car accident on Peninsula Boulevard — a helicopter landed on the school field,” recalled Hernandez, a 33-year-old father of two daughters and the owner of a Franklin Square auto repair business, who grew up in the house where he now lives with his family.
Closed since 2009, the 80,170-square-foot Lawrence School District building and its 6.67-acre property were purchased by the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach for $8.5 million, along with $2.7 million that will be held as a guarantee that Lawrence will realize more than $565,000 in annual savings in transportation costs. The sale, which was finalized this year, followed a required public referendum in March 2014 in which the transaction was approved.
HALB anticipates moving its Long Beach-based elementary school — kindergarten through eighth grade — to the Woodmere location in the 2016-17 school year. More than 90 percent of HALB’s elementary students live in the Five Towns. HALB also operates the Davis Renov Stahler High School for Boys, also in Woodmere; the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls, in Hewlett and the Lev Chana Early Childhood Center, on the SKA campus.
For Hernandez — who said he opposed the 2013 referendum to sell the school property to Simone Healthcare, which would have converted it into a medical specialty center — having it remain a school is a positive for the neighborhood. “I’m glad it’s going to be a school,” he said. “It will still be there for education, and it was always a school. We’ll still have the playground, and it will be better with the traffic on Branch Boulevard. There is no issue; I feel this is better for the community.”

Demolition and abatement
Phase One of the renovations began in July and should be completed in early October, according to Christopher J. Hunt, the architect from the Port Jefferson-based John A. Grillo Architects who is overseeing the project.
Hunt said that much of the asbestos in the building had been removed, but the abatement phase was “lasting a little longer than anticipated, as unforeseen asbestos was found behind the plaster walls.” As the asbestos was being removed, he explained, the air was monitored, and the material was wetted down and then taken off site.
Demolition included knocking down walls to redesign classrooms and office space. “For a 60-year-old building, its shell and structure are good,” Hunt said as he led a reporter on a tour of the site last Friday.
The second phase of work, he said, will include the installation of an elevator on the Peninsula Boulevard side of the building to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the construction of two swimming pools, the updating of electrical wiring and the installation of a new heating and ventilation system, Wi-Fi and drop plugs for computers and other electronic devices.
Bus and car drop-off and pick-up will be on the Branch Boulevard side of the school, Hunt said. The existing basketball hoops will be moved near the playground to create more parking for teachers and administrators, bringing the number of spaces on campus to about 100, he said.
Phase Two may have a long way to go, but that is not stopping the HALB community from looking forward to Phase Three — moving into a renovated building and beginning a new school year — Board President Lance Hirt said.
“Obviously there’s a lot of work to do between now and then, but this is truly a labor of love,” he said. “The level of excitement among our administration and faculty is growing every week as we begin to contemplate all of the educational opportunities the new facility will present for our student body.”