Conference calls for school monitoring

Real Estate Weekly, May 5, 2004

School Superintendents and other advisors of 60 Westchester, Putnam and other lower Hudson Valley communities were recently invited to participate in an all-day presentation about ways to lower costs and improve delivery of school construction projects.

Thirty school superintendents and their facilities managers, representing 20 different school districts, worked side-by-side with construction professionals to help make the school construction process easier and more productive in the future.

Sponsored by the Industry Advancement Fund of the Building Contractors Association of Westchester and the Mid-Hudson Region, the seminar was entitled "Building Tomorrow's Schools Without Turmoil and Problems" and was offered, free of charge, to school officials in all school districts within the region.

All four speakers had extensive experience in school construction and were led by Speaker-Moderator, Charles A. Szuberla, coordinator of school operations and management for the NYS Education Department.

Szuberla oversees the administration of school building aid throughout the state. He said his participation in the program was an example of the importance the state places on fostering cooperation on a local level by all members of the school construction team, from the pre-planning phase through final field inspection and occupancy.

Speakers on the panel covered a wide range of important aspects necessary for sound fiscal solutions to the difficult task school districts face when facilities age or become overcrowded with new students. The speakers included Vincent G. Riverso, P.E., Esq., president of Riverso Associates, Construction Consultants and Owners Representatives; architect Russell A. Davidson, AIA, president of Kaeyer, Garment & Davidson; Thomas H. Welby, P.E., Esq., Managing Partner of the law office of Welby, Brady, Greenblatt, LLP, specialists in construction law; and Dr. Donald A. Antonecchia, superintendent of the Pleasantville UFSD. Antonecchia has been widely acclaimed for his leadership in managing the development and construction of a variety of school facilities.